Smeal College Undergraduates Take Top Honors In International Case Competition

A team of undergraduates in Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration took first place in the Marshall International Case Competition, finishing ahead of teams representing 18 other top business schools from around the world.

The Marshall International Case Competition took place February 22 and 23 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. The competition brings together teams of undergraduate students from outstanding business schools throughout the country, as well as some teams from select international business programs.

The Smeal College team placed first, followed by teams representing the University of Texas at Austin and the Copenhagen Business School. Other business schools represented in the competition included the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, University of Southern California, the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and the University of Michigan.

"The team's performance capitalized on many of the strengths of Smeal College: its commitment to developing students' competencies in international business, teamwork, and professional business presentations. Their success is evidence of their seriousness, focus, and dedication to one another and Penn State. We're extremely proud of the team's achievement," says Duane A. Gustafson, assistant professor of managerial communication and director of undergraduate and graduate case teams in Smeal College.

The Smeal College team consisted of:

• Jeni Brake, a senior majoring in accounting from Mount Airy, Maryland.
  
• Devon Delmonico, a senior majoring in both management and psychology from Downingtown, PA.
  
• Lauren Randall, a senior majoring in marketing from York, Pennsylvania.
  
• Christine Rinaldi, a senior majoring in management from Long Island, New York.
  

The competition, which is sponsored by the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, allows students to apply a broad spectrum of business skills to a real-world problem. In the competition, teams were presented with an international business case study and had 24 hours to research, analyze and develop a set of actions plans, make recommendations, and prepare their presentations. A panel of industry experts, including CEOs, top management executives, academics and consultants, and judged the teams. Each team had 20 minutes to present their case analysis and recommendations from a required written overview and then answered questions from the panel.

The judges based their decisions on such criteria as the depth and comprehensiveness of analysis, relevance, originality, persuasiveness and overall presentation, says Gustafson.

"Participation in the Marshall International Case Competition is both an honor and a supreme challenge. Solving real world business problems under stressful conditions and strict deadline requirement of the competition is a test of individual's creativity and problem-solving abilities," says Gustafson. "These students have already demonstrated that they are prepared to meet the challenges of changing business environments in the converging economy."

The Smeal College of Business Administration is a pre-eminent learning community, shaping business practice for tomorrow's converging economies. With 6,400 undergraduates, Smeal College has the third largest undergraduate business program in the country. In addition to the nationally ranked undergraduate program, Smeal College is home to both an internationally ranked MBA program and Executive Education Program. Smeal College's seven academic departments, as well as its research centers

and institutes, represent leading-edge programs and studies in areas such as converging economies, supply chain management, e-business, business-to-business marketing, technology management, entrepreneurship, finance, real estate and others.