Teams from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business earned first and third place in the online BisNet International Case Competition. Several other business schools were represented in the competition, including the University of Maryland, which took second place.
Haslam students Nolan Beasley (junior in finance) Ainsley Scheidler (Smith Global Leadership Scholar and junior in business analytics and marketing), Brock Sooley (Chancellor’s Honors sophomore studying logistics and management consulting) and Yunfei Xie (junior in accounting) secured first place in the competition. The team of Michaela Bianco (junior in marketing), Sean Fritts (senior in accounting and finance), Haley Shimer (senior in finance and business analytics) and Katie Dugger (sophomore in finance) placed third in the competition.
Case Competitions Build Essential Real-World Business Skills
The challenge in this case competition was to assist Arcos Dorados Colombia consider options to consolidate its food delivery service in Colombia. To do so, teams had to determine which global region’s business environment offered the most suitability for the company’s consolidation and how it could leverage its strengths and bargaining advantages effectively in the global food delivery market.
Each team was evaluated based on the rationale for its recommendations, depth of understanding of the country and industry evaluated in the case, quality of presentation and responses during the question-and-answer session with judges.
A Year of Strong Competition Showings
Competition coach Eddie Armbrister, assistant department head and lecturer in Haslam’s Department of Marketing, said having the teams attain two of the top three positions in the BisNet was a testament to the dedication of the students and their diligence through hours of preparation on numerous practice cases and presentations. Their hard work is reaping rewards, he observed.
“When our teams enter a competition, they have trained hard in all aspects of it: analyzing the problem, developing solutions, presenting their findings and extemporaneously answering judges’ questions,” Armbrister said. “The teams in the BisNet competition brought all their training and creativity to the challenge, and the results speak for themselves. I am so proud of the way they conducted themselves and represented the college.”
The teams’ stellar showing in BisNet builds on triumphs from earlier in the year. A Haslam team recently won the CUIBE International Case Competition in San Diego, and another won the Northeastern University CUIBE International Business Case Competition in Boston.
Sara M. Easler, assistant dean for international programs and partnerships, called the students’ success in these international case competitions an example of the forward momentum of Haslam’s international studies programs.
“We continue to be so impressed and proud of our international business case teams’ high level of achievement in the BisNet competition and the other competitions as well,” she said. “Their success is a reflection of many hours of hard work and preparation, and their record speaks to the advances our program is making all around, with more students and faculty taking an interest and becoming involved.”
About Haslam’s International Business Program
Haslam’s International Business Program prepares students to guide organizations as they deal with complex, cross-border political, legal, economic, social and financial issues. Through course work, international programs, study abroad and hands-on experiences, students in the program will develop the knowledge and specialized skills to offer companies a worldwide perspective that allows them to succeed in the current and developing global business environment.
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CONTACT:
Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu
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