Fox Students Take Part in International Business Competition
Four Fox School of Business students attended the fifth annual CIBER Case Challenge at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business this fall, competing against 15 leading business schools from around the world. The CIBER Case Challenge brings teams from across the globe to compete in analyzing and presenting an international business case to judges. “Temple CIBER is pleased to sponsor a student team each year to participate in this exciting program, where students have an opportunity to apply the IB theory and methods they have been learning in the classroom in a real-life, practical application,” said Kim Cahill, director of Temple CIBER and the Institute of Global Management Studies.
The Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and Fisher’s International Programs Office hosted the event, which is co-sponsored by Temple CIBER.
CIBER was established under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, to increase and promote the nation's capacity for international understanding and economic enterprise. There are currently 31 CIBERs around the country.
Jason Chen, Alejandro Herrera, Kari Dunbar and Shoab Tajak represented the Fox School in the competition, which was held Oct. 28-31 in Columbus. They were selected by Temple’s CIBER office based on academic performance, presentation experience, international exposure and major/area of study. Dr. Arun Kumaraswamy, assistant professor of general and strategic management, served as the faculty advisor for Fox’s team, and prepared the students in advance by providing them with sample cases and practice scenarios.
Shoaib Tajak, an international and business economics major, explained, “Dr. Kumaraswamy was very instrumental in helping us prepare for the whole event. He made sure we understood how to effectively analyze a case for the important details, and disregard anything that was not important.”
The four-day challenge began with exploring the city of Columbus and taking students to the Honda USA production plant to witness the process of a Honda vehicle becoming assembled. As Kari Dunbar, an international business and finance major, explained, “At first, I thought it was going to be an experience where I would just see cars being built. Fortunately, the experience provided me insight into how global companies are dealing with the implications of the credit crunch, from shutting factories down to minimizing the output of vehicles.”
Similar to the hit television show, The Apprentice, each competing university team had to complete a specific task in 24 hours. At the end of the competition, they were to meet in a boardroom for their presentation. Starting at 9:15 am on Thursday morning and working until 7:00 am on Friday, students analyzed the case presented by Beauty Avenues, a Limited Brands company, and prepared a solution.
Jason Chen, a Fox international business major with a concentration in economics, explained, “Our approach focused on the international expansion of Limited Brands, specifically through existing production and distribution networks by means of partnerships and buyouts.” Alejandro Herrera, an accounting major, added, “The biggest challenge was obviously the limited amount of time available to prepare our presentation. Despite the difficulty, the pressure to complete the plan substantially helped me develop the way I approach business challenges and value the input of our team, which worked very well together in our preparation.”
The final cases were presented to a panel of multinational corporate executives from Central Ohio on Halloween morning. Although the Fox team did not make it into the final round, the judges’ feedback was positive, and Alejandro Herrera was recognized as the best performer in the room. Each student remarked on how the experience enabled them to work as a team, network and build valuable business strategy tools that will be beneficial in their future business careers.
“Working under tight deadlines in a stressful situation helped students understand the challenges that often confront real consultants in the business world and enabled them to present their ideas to the very executives who are managing the business challenges described in the case,” said Melissa A. Torres, director of the International Programs Office/CIBER at the Fisher College of Business. “Students also had a wonderful opportunity to learn how their colleagues from other business schools analyze the same issues and present their strategies, and to compare that to their own approach.”
The 2008 CIBER Case Challenge winners were: Singapore Management University (first place), Washington University (second place), Canada’s Concordia University (third place) and Audencia Ecole de Management of Nantes, France (fourth place).
