THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE UNIQUE CASE COMPETITION BLENDS INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
At the Wake Forest University School of Business, our students develop an openness to and awareness of diversity across cultures and markets. These lessons come inside and outside the classroom. Our global immersion courses combine the best of both. The School has traditionally offered opportunities for students to gain experience with overseas markets in countries like Nicaragua, India, and China. This year, for the first time, School alumni traveled with students on two of the global immersion courses. Building on a successful international case competition with the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) in India last summer, the number of Wake Forest participants doubled this year. Eighteen students in the School’s MBA programs in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, and alumnus Charles Kienzle (’74, MBA ’80) traveled to India this May. Six teams of six students, with three each from Wake Forest and BIMTECH, were asked to present strategies on two real business cases for IBM India. The first case sought solutions on 14
cyber security myths and reality, while the second case focused on cognitive analytics. The students had one month to make connections, review and frame their approach to solving their assigned case, do the research, develop recommendations, and prepare their presentations. “They worked in teams despite a nine and a half hour time difference and did not meet in person until the morning of the competition,” said Roger Beahm, WestRock executive director of the Center for Retail Innovation. Beahm served as the faculty lead on the course. For the case on cyber security, the winning team was Wake Forest students Chelsea Cullen (MBA ’17), Lyndsey Fredericks (MBA ’17), Michael Spataro (MBA ’17), and BIMTECH students Faisal Zia, Himanshu Jaiswal, and Premalatha Maddirala. The cognitive analytics case first-place team included Wake Forest students David Brooks (MBA ’18), Stephen Garrett (MBA ’18), and Jordan Hawks (MBA ’18), along with BIMTECH’s Mimanshu Malhorta, Satyam Pandey, and Aakriti Mahajan. Alumnus Charles Kienzle served as a competition judge.
B U S I N E S S .W F U. E D U