Three NVIT students have some extra cash to spend after solving The Doughnut Offensive, but it is unlikely the money will be spent buying thousands of donuts.

“It was one of the hardest cases we had to do,” says NVIT associate of arts student Stacy Thom.

Thom, along with Merika Sam and Emma Joe, formed the team of Excellent Managerial Services that competed in the annual NVIT Business Case Competition at the Merritt Civic Centre last Thursday night.

The ladies, returnees to the Case Competition, took first place and pocketed a total of $3,000 in prize money.

“I'm going to save it for tuition for next year,” said Joe, a student in the language teacher program.

“I'm going to New Zealand,” said Sam, a general studies student.

The case to crack this year was Tim Horton's: The Doughnut Offensive – “the slow and stealthy invasion of America has taken on a new urgency.”

In short, it is the ongoing doughnut war in the United States of America between Tim Horton's, the new kid on the block, and doughnut giant Dunkin' Donuts.

After a few hours of preparing for the case, the participating teams had just under a half an hour to provide a solution to the Doughnut offensive and come up with their best pitch before a crowd of a few hundred.

“All the teams did very well,” said Matt Pasco, NVIT department head of administrative studies.

“There's a direct correlation between wining this and a step down the road.”

Not only do students have to delve into a business state of mind, they have put in hours of preparation and develop public speaking skills for the Case Competition.

Pasco, a former assistant professor at the University of Regina, has seen what it takes for students to make the transition and apply their education to real life business situations.

“The preparation is the most difficult,” said Pasco.

“The vast majority of students who have won are working in a variety of businesses.”

The Three Best Friends came in second place while Solid Business Solutions places third.

“We had a lot of groups of first year students competing against senior students,” said Pasco.

The Case was decided by a panel of three judges.

The evening also featured several speeches and a dinner.