Smith Takes Second Place in the CIBER International Business Case Competition

A team of four Smith second-year MBAs traveled to the University of Wisconsin in Madison on April 16-18, 2008 to compete in the CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) International Business Case Competition. The team—Dan Bresette, Ike Kim, Liubov Luzhnova, and Sam Tang—walked away with a second place finish out of 11 competing schools. Ike Kim was also awarded the individual best presenter award, which made him one of three winners of this award.

First place went to the University of Washington, Seattle; the competition also included five international teams who represented Italy, Thailand, Denmark, China, and Mexico. All of the schools that participated were CIBER institutions and international partners. The international aspect was something that Tang really enjoyed. “To me the coolest thing was to meet students from all around the globe,” he said. “Being an international student myself, I was very excited by the international flavor of this competition.”

The case asked each team to identify where Disney should build their next theme park and resort. The decision had to take into account which location in the world would not only grow the reach and profitability of the parks and resorts section of the company, but also the media, studio and consumer products businesses. The Smith team took home second prize by recommending a joint-venture in Brazil with partners capable of providing insight into the region and ones that share the same corporate values as Disney. “Being able to pick a location that none of the team members came from and make a strong case of it, showed a strong global view,” commented Tang. There were a total of 17 judges that represented companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Emerson Network Power, Fiserv, GE Healthcare, Harley-Davidson, Kohler Corporation, and Land's End.

Bresette really enjoyed working through the case with his team members. “The case competition was a great time, and we're really lucky to have CIBER as a resource at Smith,” he says. All MBA students had the opportunity to apply to represent Smith in the competition. Vinod Jain, director of the Smith School’s CIBER and senior director of professional programs, served as the team’s faculty advisor.

The whole team thought the experience was one in a million. Kim says, “For me, the experience was a testament to teamwork. We started meeting a few weeks ago-to chat or share a meal-and starting forming a strong team connection. By the time we got to Madison, team dynamics were great and we were prepared to focus solely on the case. We worked hard and had so much fun that the time just flew by.”

To find out more about the competition visit http://www.bus.wisc.edu/mbainternationalcase.