For the third time in seven years, the Smith School reigns as champion of the Wake Forest Marketing Analytics case competition in the undergraduate division.
Marketing students Michael Barnett, Ashley Jager, Bridget McManus and Jack Rupple represented Smith, which also won the competition in 2013 and 2009.
Rupple, who previously participated on the winning team in 2013, credited “hard work” and the “amazing people you surround yourself with” for both titles.
Barnett said much of that support comes through TerpAMA, Smith’s chapter of the American Marketing Association. “We networked with association members who boasted about the amazing talent coming out of the University of Maryland,” he said. “It made me proud to not only be a marketer, but a Terp as well.”
Jager also won the $1,000 North Carolina Retail Merchant Association MVP Award for her content design and presentation skills. “Every creative mind needs a muse, and I was lucky enough to have three: my wonderful teammates,” she said.
Teams from the Yale School of Management and Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania finished second and third, respectively.
During the three-day symposium at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., thought leaders from multiple industries offered insights on the business impact of big data.
Case by Case
Smith School students achieved strong results at several case competitions in 2014-15, including the following:
Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (Aug. 5, 2014): Undergraduates Nicole Lopez, Fernando Ramos, Wendy Romero and JP Trejo advanced to a final round of six teams from a 24-school field in Orlando, Fla. Competitors had three hours to read, analyze and prepare a PowerPoint for a strategic management case.
Emerging Markets Forum (April 10, 2015): MBA students Katelyn Victor and Christine Lemyze captured the $2,000 first prize at Smith’s Washington, D.C., home in the Reagan Building. Competitors representing UMD, Georgetown University and the University of Washington developed and presented a business model for Global Alliance for the Improvement of Nutrition to scale its food fortification program using market forces.
Ohio State University Fisher Invitational (April 11, 2015): MBA students Ambudhi Manchanda, Ying Chen, Tony Uhl and Allison Davern placed second among peers from Big Ten Schools as teams designed and presented a growth strategy for Columbus, Ohio-based Caster Connection, a multimillion dollar firm specializing in caster distribution and manufacturing. The result marked consecutive top-two finishes by the Smith School for this event.
China Business Model Competition (May 29, 2015): MBA students Tiffany Chang, Prerana Dalal, Shuichi Manabe and Justin Taubman won a $3,000 top prize with a pitch for Style Star, a personal stylist mobile app. Other competitors represented host Peking University and Zhejiang, Tianjin and Nankai universities.
National Association of Black Accountants/KPMG Student Case Competition (June 11, 2015 ): Undergraduates Augustine Nkanka , Sharita Ray, Janae Savoy and Zalandria Spann took second place for a strategic management plan and presentation focused on fracking in Poland, in a seven-school invitational in Las Vegas.
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.