Specialty Masters Students Compete in Case Competition

On November 13, 2015, the Smith School's specialty masters students participated in a case competition in Van Munching Hall. The event was hosted by the Office of Career Services in collaboration with lead faculty judge Barney Corwin, Associate Clinical Professor & Senior Fellow, CHIDS.

The competition featured the case Evergreen Natural Markets 2012, and allowed students to demonstrate strategic thinking skills around human resource management, acquisitions, organizational culture, and growth management in the United States retail industry. Ten teams—a total of 41 students—participated in the competition. Judges included faculty from the accounting, finance, information systems, and supply chain management programs.

Members of the winning team were Hao-Wei Lo (accounting), Daniel Petrenko (supply chain management), Rishabh Rathod (information systems), and Abbas Roshan (marketing analytics). The winning team’s key recommendations were focused on effective communication, employee motivation, employee training, and integrating financial and accounting systems and supply chain operations. It was a close competition between the winning team and the second place team. The second place team, comprised of Chen Fang (accounting), Wilma D’souza (information systems), Bo Jin (accounting), and Vivek Vepa (information systems), also impressed the judges.

“I believe this competition has provided the students with an invaluable experience. They are now better suited with skills and knowledge that will help them tackle issues they may face in the future as business leaders,” said Moneca Surida-Clyburn, Assistant Director, Master of Science Career Programming.

- Amy Swann, Masters Programs Office