The MBA program at the BYU Marriott School of Business hosted an internal case competition during winter semester, giving students the opportunity to apply teamwork and problem-solving skills and compete for cash prizes. For some of the 78 MBA students who participated, this event was the first and only case competition they participated in.
“Congratulations in advance to everyone here who put themselves out there to try something new and different and to take a risk, regardless of whether you win or lose,” said MBA Director Daniel Snow. “It is a huge privilege to be associated with a group of people who are pushing themselves, who disrupted their lives to leave great jobs and come back to school, who are stretching to grow and become the leaders the world needs.”
Students in the MBA Supply Chain and Operations Association (SCOA) coordinated with global supply chain advisory board members—and the competition sponsor, Savage Companies—to organize a case and judges. “In the past, the advisory board has participated in internal undergrad case competitions, but this was the first case competition for our advisory board to interact with MBA students,” says Kaue De Maria, a SCOA presidency member and MBA student.
In the planning stage, MBA student and SCOA president Luana Tu’ua explains they set a goal of getting eight teams of students to participate in the competition. They met that target within four hours of posting the sign-ups, and after three days they capped registration at 15 teams. On February 26, those 15 teams presented to the competition’s judges: a mix of Savage employees and advisory board members.
“Seeing this case competition come together was one of the highlights of my MBA experience,” says De Maria, a native of Santos, São Paulo. “Being able to watch presentations from my peers and seeing them excel after putting so much time and effort into their presentations was amazing. I enjoyed every minute of that day, even though it was busy.”
At the end of the competition, participating students, judges, faculty, and organizers gathered with their families for a closing banquet. Matthew Nelson, senior director of program management at Savage Companies, spoke at the banquet and remarked on the quality of the presentations he’d seen. “The focus [went] beyond just what the cost is to, ‘What is the safest thing that we can do? What is the most reliable thing that we can do? What focuses on the customer?’” Nelson said. Addressing the participants, he continued, “You saw and acknowledged the importance of long-term relationships.”
Snow then announced the first-place winners of the case competition: John Essig, Chase Clement, Richard Lindsay, and Ammon Jensen. After the three winning teams stepped up to accept their awards, Nathan Savage, a member of the Savage Companies' Board of Directors and BYU Marriott adjunct professor, shared closing remarks with students. “I have tremendous confidence in each of you; I can’t think of a better place to invest resources than in this university—and particularly in all of you—because you are the future.”