Student News
Students Score Success and $10,000 at Case Competition
A team of undergraduate
business students won 1st place and $10,000 at the Greater L.A. Chamber of Commerce International
Business Case Competition held at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, October 28.
This is an outstanding achievement, given that we just began organizing undergraduate case teams last year, said adviser Pat DeMouy, lecturer of management.
“We have proven ourselves to other schools and put South Carolina on the map,” said junior Brad Hocking, a member of the winning team who has participated on two case teams this semester. Hocking was told by a dean from another business school, “I can see why your school ranks #1 in international business.”
Team members included Jenna Gonsalves, a marketing major from Columbus, Indiana; Mark Godfriaux, a finance and international business major from Allentown, Pennsylvania; Hocking, an accounting and finance major from Greenville, South Carolina; and John McKinney, an accounting and finance major from Charleston, West Virginia.
The team arrived in L.A. on Wednesday, October 25, received their case on Thursday, and had until Saturday morning to prepare their presentation, with little time to sleep or eat. The case involved the Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams) and a strategy for expanding into Asian markets, particularly in China. On Friday, team members ran a gauntlet of 16 meetings with representatives of business and trade in Asia.
The Moore School team determined that distribution was the key concern for Asian markets, and proposed a joint venture with Anheuser Busch for distribution purposes. The judges agreed and awarded the team 1st Place and $10,000. Each student received $2,500.
Each student generously donated a portion -- $500 – of their winnings back to the Moore School of Business.
The win was made more remarkable by the fact that the team is composed of three juniors and one sophomore and they competed against teams of seniors from other schools. “Gaining hands-on experience will better prepare me for coursework ahead,” said sophomore Jenna Gonsalves.
Another, three-member case
team from the Moore School recently placed 2nd at the Global Business Summit Investment Competition
held at Stern School of Business at New York University. Team members, in addition to Hocking,
included Vanessa Plaka, an international business and finance major from Greer, South Carolina, and
Jefferson Fuller, an international business and finance major from Charlotte, North Carolina.
--Gail Crouch
November 13, 2006