MBA Students From The University of South Alabama Win First Place In Multi-State Business Case Competition
A team of three MBA students from the University of South Alabama took the top spot in a Master’s level business case competition, beating out students from Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, and Florida.
April 13th, 2019 - Pensacola, FL - The University of West Florida hosted a Master’s level business case competition on Saturday, April 13th with a live case from a global Fortune 300 company. The competition was open to all graduate students from AACSB-accredited schools.
Teams of up to five students from five different universities had the opportunity to present their recommendations to the company’s executives in-person on Saturday morning. During the afternoon award ceremony, each team received a cash prize and the first place award of $4,000 went to a team of three MBA students from the University of South Alabama: David Hinson, Jaikishan Maru, and Rachel Smith.
The business case was from a company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with over $50 billion in annual sales. A graduate student from the University of South Alabama, Rachel Smith, said, “The cases we study in the classroom are usually from the past, so our recommendations aren’t as relevant, but this was a live case and we got to make recommendations to the company’s executives in-person.”
The students had approximately six weeks to review the case and prepare their recommendations. Presentations could be no more than twenty minutes long and each team’s university was disguised with a code name in order to prevent bias during the judging process. Also, students were not permitted to sit in on one another’s presentations.
When the three MBA students from the University of South Alabama asked the company’s executives for feedback on why their presentation earned the top spot, they said their team’s recommendations were the most strategic and in line with the company’s overall strategic direction. They also praised the team for providing clear recommendations with a detailed implementation plan.
The second place award went to the University of West Florida (Pensacola, FL). Other participating schools included Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois), the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Fort Hays State University (Hays, Kansas).
To learn more about the University of South Alabama Mitchell College of Business MBA program, visit https://www.southalabama.edu/colleges/mcob/mba/ or email mcobgraduate@southalabama.edu.