Freshmen Present Plans to Corporate Sponsors at 7th Annual Strategy Board Competition

Showcasing their business savvy for more than a dozen high-powered companies, 74 freshman College Park Scholars (CPS) students studied and made strategic recommendations for real-world companies. Each team illustrated its recommended strategy on a display board, which was evaluated by a team of judges, including a representative from the company.

The Ryan Homes team won the 7th Annual Strategy Board Competition, held on Dec. 9, 2004 at the Smith School. Team members include freshmen Clara Abdurazak, Joe Green, Sohail Itani, Zachary Mellman, and Surya Shivakumar.

The competition is the culmination of a semester-long project that is a highlight of the introductory business class required in the University of Maryland's CPS Business, Society, and the Economy (BSE) program. Students spend the first half of the semester researching their assigned company and conducting an analysis of the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For the second part of the semester, students analyze the information they gathered and devise strategies. The assignment requires a comprehensive written report in addition to the strategy board.

Many judges are Smith alumni and represent companies that have been involved with the competition since it started in 1998. This year, four CPS alumni, who participated in the Strategy Board Competition when they were freshmen returned as judges: Michael Rettinger, American Express; J.D. Fielder, The Pepsi Bottling Group; Nony Odum, Hechts; and Rachel Lovelady, Booz Allen Hamilton.

Rettinger, who was also a judge last year, was impressed. Some of the recommendations from the American Express team, we are just in the beginning stages of implementing at American Express. They have a good vision, he said.

Students find the project challenging, but they recognize its learning value and enjoy the hands-on work of creating the board. Kayode Lewis, a student on the USA Today team, said that it took about 10-15 hours and a couple of sleepless nights to make the board, but it was worth it.

It was great team work. Its an awesome program, added Reginald Reed Jr., also on the USA Today team.

"This is a chance for the students to try real-world applications of the concepts they learn in class," said Roxanne Lefkoff, director of the BSE program and teaching professor of marketing. "It's also an opportunity for them to learn about conducting research, and about working together on a team."

Lefkoff developed the competition in 1998 and received the Smith School's Krowe Award for Classroom Innovation for it in 1999. She made a presentation about the project at the 2003 Hawaii International Conference on Business.

Second place went to the Comcast team: Mary Chiu, Vlady Entin, Alberto Ledezma, Tom McMenamin, and Jacylyn Shishkoff. There was a three-way tie for third place between American Express: Dason Atkins, Anita Dudek, Josh Heibein, Shania Lin, Nicholas Singer; DeWALT: Kelly Anderson, Richard Franks, Li Hou, Andres Morinigo, Xiaofei Pei, and David Wieseneck; and Sodexho Inc.: Alex Denny, Leayne Freeman, Julie Jung, Daniel Oakley, Zachary Walker, and Yifan Yang.

The winning teams received gift certificates to the University Book Store. Participating companies (14 in all) included: American Express, Black & Decker, Booz Allen Hamilton, Boston Consulting Group, Comcast, DeWALT, Hechts, Hewlett-Packard, Marriott International, Pepsi Bottling Group, Ryan Homes, Sherwin-Williams, Sodexo, Inc., and USA Today.

For more information about the College Park Scholars (CPS) Business, Society, and the Economy (BSE) program, visit: www.scholars.umd.edu/bse.