Wisconsin MBA Students Win International Case Competition

April 11, 2006

Wisconsin MBA students placed first in the annual Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) MBA International Business Case Competition from April 6-9 at the Fluno Center for Executive Education. The Wisconsin MBA team of Richard Collumb, Oleg Kolosov, Eugene Yang and Melissa Wychocki were presented with the 1st place trophy at the award banquet on Saturday evening in the Fluno Center. The team advisor was Mark Matosian.

MBA student teams from Bocconi University, Italy; Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Copenhagen Business School; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; The Ohio State University; University of Connecticut; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison had 24 hours to analyze a case concerning the international business strategy of Lenovo, an international technology company formed as a result of the acquisition by the Lenovo Group of the IBM Personal Computing Division.

Students presented strategic solutions and recommendations to a panel of judges from the business community. Wisconsin MBA students won first place, The Ohio State University took second and third place went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“Event judges were impressed by the analysis and quality of presentations during the competition and this helps to show that CIBERs are working effectively to prepare the next generation of corporate leaders to compete in the global economy,” said Sachin Tuli, assistant director of the UW-Madison School of Business CIBER. “Also, Wisconsin’s first place finish in this challenging global business competition helps illustrate why our graduates earn top-level management positions around the world: Through our specialized model, MBA students gain deep experience that produces winning results in classrooms, competitions and boardrooms.”

In 1998, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was selected as a CIBER joining a distinct network of universities nationwide, all of which are known for the strength of their international programs. Created by Congress in the late 1980’s, CIBERs were established to help increase and promote the nation’s capacity for international understanding and economic enterprise. Spectrum Brands provided gold-level sponsorship of the event and Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Arrow Financial Services sponsored at the silver-level. The five participating CIBER schools also co-sponsored the competition.

Recent articles in BusinessWeek and CNN.com have noted that the Wisconsin MBA is at the forefront of a trend toward specialized MBA programs. The mission of the program is to be the school of choice for students who have a clear career objective. The focused program facilitates real-world experiences and effective career networking.