How would you invest ten million dollars? This was exactly the question that BYU Marriott School of Business global supply chain students were expected to answer in front of a panel of judges at the Nissin Global Supply Chain Management Case Competition.
Nissin, a third-party global logistics company, approached BYU about hosting a competition after the company’s CEO, Mitsugu Matsusaka, noticed the work of Logan Wells, a BYU Marriott student majoring in global supply chain.
The panel of judges comprised of Matsusaka, two of his top executives at Nissin, and David Rasmussen, the managing director of supply chain for Intermountain Health Care.
“I was so impressed with the capabilities and maturity of the students,” Rasmussen says. “They truly accomplished a great deal in just one week. These types of experiences are so helpful in preparing them for their careers.”
Simon Greathead, a BYU Marriott global supply chain professor, helped write the case study that was presented to the students.
“We give these students a real case with real problems that have yet to be solved,” Greathead explains. “It heightens the reality of the issue for these students and trains and pushes them to think like a manager and to think outside the box.”
Greathead also states that these case competition can foster a mutually beneficial relationship between students and companies.
“Companies observe how our students tackle a problem,” Greathead says. “It opens doors in numerous ways for both the company and the students. The company is given insight to solve a problem, and our students are given a great networking opportunity as well as potential job offers.”
At the conclusion of the competition, the top three teams were announced and awarded cash prizes of $1,000 for third place, $1,500 for second place, and $2,500 for first place. The winning team included Brooke Squires, a senior from Stansbury Park, Utah; Spencer Tippets, a junior from Centennial, Colorado; Maren Hansen, a senior from Portland, Oregon; and Tristan Mourier, a junior from Champs sur Mame, France.
The BYU Marriott School of Business prepares men and women of faith, character, and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Named for benefactors J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, the school is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. BYU Marriott has four graduate and ten undergraduate programs with an enrollment of approximately 3,300 students.
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Writer: Kelly Brunken