Unique Academic Competition Requires Serious Study And Quick Thinking

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (March 23, 2006)—On April 11 at the Penn Stater, months of preparation and research by 10 Smeal College of Business undergraduates will culminate as they take the stage to compete in the sixth annual Smeal Survivor competition, the college's one-of-a-kind academic contest.

The contestants will be required to think on their feet, posing as CEOs of multibillion-dollar global corporations to answer questions about how their companies should respond to complex business crises and world events.

Several weeks of intensive preparation for the competition kicked off in February, when the students traveled to Washington for a rigorous day of study at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), one of the world's most-respected think tanks. The students spent the day learning from Erik Peterson, senior vice president of CSIS, about the coming "Seven Revolutions," which are major global trends identified by Peterson and his colleagues that will drastically alter international business throughout the next 20 years.

While in Washington, a former ambassador briefed the students on global economics and other CSIS scholars discussed the effects of global aging and issues like China's growing role in the world economy. At the end of the day, each student was assigned one corporation, which they will study up until the day of the competition, when they must employ the knowledge they gained in Washington to answer questions posed by Peterson.

Each student will have one minute to respond to the questions. A panel of judges will eliminate students in several rounds until there is one Smeal Survivor remaining.

"Although I am vying to win, I am grateful for the opportunity to compete against my peers in an event that has already made me smarter and has forced me to think about global issues in a way that all CEOs must," says Daniel Kokini, a contestant and senior finance major at Smeal.

After being nominated for the competition by Smeal College professors, 20 business students submitted applications and a letter of intent to a selection committee comprised of Smeal faculty and staff and three previous Smeal Survivor participants. The selection committee identified 13 students to travel to Washington and then narrowed the field to 10 contestants after evaluating the students' interactions with CSIS scholars.

The first Smeal Survivor was organized in 2001 by students Atif Ghauri and Ryan Newman after Ghauri learned of the Seven Revolutions during an internship with Peterson at CSIS. Through the ongoing commitment of Peterson, CSIS and Smeal, the event has become an annual, public competition judged by corporate partners.

The panel of judges for this year's competition is made up of representatives from the event's sponsors and Interim Dean Kenneth Lusht. Joining Lusht as judges are Bill Demchak, vice chairman of PNC; Rick Bierly, vice president of finance, Centocor-Johnson & Johnson; and Tara Weiner, managing partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP USA.

PNC, the competition's lead sponsor, is providing the first place prize of a homecoming weekend package, including dinner, hotel, airfare, Penn State football tickets, and other prizes with a total value of more than $2,000. The second and third place contestants will receive, respectively, a Dell laptop computer from Johnson & Johnson and a $500 gift certificate to Best Buy from Shell Oil.

The public is encouraged to attend the competition, which kicks off with a powerful presentation by Peterson on the Seven Revolutions. It begins at 7 p.m. in Presidents Hall. For more information, please contact Robin Stevens at robinstevens@psu.edu.