MBA Blogs

On April 27^th, Penn State beat five top schools, Georgetown University, Cornell University, Rutgers University, Ohio State University, and University of Maryland to win the 2^nd Smith Strategy and Operations Case Competition with a cash prize of $2000.

Five first year MBA’s Andrew Driscoll, Ankit Mahajan, Iqbal Aasim, Jyotinder Singh and Marcus Cullen drove to University of Maryland to compete in the competition, which was held in collaboration with the Carbon War Room. The Carbon War Room is a non-profit with a mission to seek to accelerate profitable, entrepreneurial solutions that reduce carbon emissions at Giga-ton level. The Carbon War Room harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to unlock Giga-ton-scale, market-driven solutions to climate change.

The case was provided on 20^th April and the submissions (Executive Summary and a 10 min power point presentation) were due at midnight of April 26^th. The case was focused around real world problems facing the trucking industry, specifically in regard to green technologies and their usage in this industry.

The team had a tough time coming up with a feasible, well rounded and entrepreneurial solution to the problem. The team visited a local gas station to better understand the problems that transportation personnel were facing. The input from the drivers helped greatly in shaping the recommendation.

The Smith School played perfect hosts for the event and organized the event without any glitches.

The team would also thank Prof Doug Thomas for his inputs in the whole competition.

-Ankit Mahajan, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On April 5^th, a team of four Smeal MBA students, Rahul Panicker, Sridhar Vijay Kumar, Ian McSpadden and Ankit Mahajan traveled to Rutgers Business School to participate in the Rutgers Regional Supply Chain Case Competition. The team took home the first prize with a check of $750.

The Supply Chain case competition hosted by the Rutgers Center for Supply Chain Management provides an opportunity for MBA students from top supply chain schools to demonstrate their skills in analyzing a real-world supply chain management case.

Penn State was competing against five other schools, namely Syracuse University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, Rutgers University and Lehigh University.

The case was provided on Tuesday evening and the team had two days to prepare. The case focused on issues of inventory management, forecasting and general management issues. The team made a conscious effort to stick to timelines and came up with a solution that was innovative and also implementable.

Directors and members of Senior Management from Deloitte, Merck, Pfizer, and other fortune 500 companies along with Supply Chain faculty from Rutgers University evaluated the presentation. Every team had 25 minutes including Q&A to present their recommendation. After what seemed like a long 1 hour wait, the judges declared that Team Penn State won the first prize – for the second time in a row!

-Ankit Mahajan, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

The School of Management of Yale University held an Integrated Leadership Case Competition On April 6^th and invited the top business schools in North East US region to join the competition. The team consisting of four first year MBA students — Andrew Barnes, Carrie Zhou, Effie Li and Monira Linda — represented the Smeal College of Business MBA Program from Penn State and went to New Haven to face off against other MBA students from leading programs such as Wharton, NYU Stern and Yale SOM. Before we were selected by the Yale committee, we tried to organize our team through a strategic mix since Yale University has a diversified culture with more focus on humanity and non-profit spirit. Our four team members had different backgrounds but shared similar values and we made a good story which matched the qualifications that the Yale committee was looking for. Finally, we got the opportunity and we felt very excited to learn from and exchange opinions with other MBA programs.

Due to the visitation weekend in Smeal, our team left State College pretty late and arrived at New Haven at 3am on the competition day. The team members rested a little then went to the Yale School of Management in the early morning. The MBA students there held a warm reception and led eight teams to the individual team rooms. Different from the other case competitions, each team was accompanied by an observer who would give feedback to the team at the end of the presentation.

The raw case we used was about the investment banking industry and involved a lot of information, data and media coverage. We had only three hours to finish brainstorming, power point design and presentation practice. During the intensive team work period, we tried to leverage everyone’s knowledge and ideas, and finally finished the work right before the deadline. After we entered the final round, our team facilitator told us that our team did good job on active communication, respect and patience to all members and creative ideas.

We entered the final round with a creative approach and implementable recommendations and won second place of the competition. The champion was a team consisting of second year Wharton MBA students and we learned a lot from their BCG style power point design and strong presentation skills. After the competition, we also communicated and interacted with many other participants and made new friends through this event. Yale MBA students also expressed their strong interest in taking part in a case competition held by Smeal in the next year and we hope we will organize one and attract other MBA programs to come to State College in the future.

-Wei Li, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On February 8^th and 9^th, Smeal MBA students Courtney Budd, Ankit Mahajan, Matthew Marshall and Sundeep Raja traveled to Urbana Champaign, Illinois to participate in the 2013 Illinois MBA Strategy Case Competition at the College of Business, University of Illinois.

The main sponsors of the event were Bosch, HD Supply, and Whirlpool. Ten schools (Arizona State, Baylor, Connecticut, Hong Kong UST, Illinois, Iowa State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue) participated in this year’s competition.

We arrived at the university on Thursday, February 7^th. A networking event was scheduled for the evening and students had the opportunity to network with other teams and company representatives. The case was distributed to us on Friday morning at 8 AM and we had 24 hours to come up with a strategic recommendation for it. The case centered on the data storage company, Dropbox and its expansion strategies. On Saturday morning all teams presented to a panel of judges. The top three teams – University of Connecticut, Baylor University and Purdue University – from the first round advanced to the final round and they presented in front of all other teams.

The competition was good learning experience for us, as it was our first case competition outside of Smeal. Some of the key take-aways –

1. Stick to a schedule
2. Be creative with solutions
3. Maintain energy levels within the team
4. Limit scope and reduce the time spent on research
5. Have fun – a certain frivolous approach to the competition helps be creative and maintain energy.

Lastly, the event is more about getting to know people from different colleges, the panel of judges and various other participants. So do try to go beyond the case competition.

Big thanks to 220 and Prof. Andy Gustafson for providing us with resources to take part in the event. Also, a special mention to Iqbal Aasim, who drove us to Illinois and back.

-Ankit Mahajan, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On April 6^th, four Smeal students Rahul Panicker, Sridhar Vijay Kumar, Arvind Dutta and Ankit Mahajan traveled cross country to Texas to participate in the 2^nd Annual Rice University Marketing Case Competition at Rice University.

Among the competing schools were Rice University, Southern Methodist University, University of Houston, University of Texas- Dallas, Texas Christian University and Texas Southern University. A total of 12 teams participated in the competition.

This competition was quite different from other competitions in that the teams had just four hours to read the case, come up with a strategy and to present the recommendations to senior team from Cameron Inc. 15 minute presentations were held in two rooms simultaneously during the first round. One team was selected out of each of the two rooms for the final round. Those two teams had to present to a larger set of judges as well as to members from other participating teams.

It was a fantastic learning experience for the teams and it was team Penn State that walked away with a trophy and $2000 prize money.

The results were:-

1st Place – Penn State University

2^nd Place – University of Texas- Dallas

3^rd Place – University of Houston

-Ankit Mahajan, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On April 12^th, the SCMA and Supply Chain Faculty visited Amazon’s Fulfillment Center near Allentown, PA.  The visit started with a tour of the fulfillment center.  The tour highlighted how Amazon manages its physical inventory, ranging from how product is received and stored to how individual customer orders are picked, packaged and shipped.  After the tour, we had lunch and a Q&A session with Senior Leadership.  This visit was a great opportunity to learn more about Amazon’s operations and gain a behind-the-scenes look at this fast-growing company.

-Angela Shershin, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

Wine Tour

On Sunday, April 21^st, the WMBA invited members of both classes to a tasting and tour of the Seven Mountains Winery just outside of State College.  For this visit, the group was split in half.  While one half toured the winery, the other half experienced a wine tasting.  In the tour, we saw the fermentation process and laboratory where the quality of each batch is checked.  Then we saw the aging process in Seven Mountains’ unique wine cave as well as the bottling process.   For the wine tasting, everyone had the option to sample seven wines out of Seven Mountain’s extensive portfolio.   After the tour and tasting, the entire group sat down together with cheese and crackers.  This event was a great way to spend time with our classmates before everyone parted ways this summer.

Golf Workshop

On Wednesday, April 24^th, the WMBA hosted a Golf Workshop at the driving range at the Penn State Golf Course.  Our instructors were 2^nd years, now official Smeal MBA Graduates, Rahul Gupta and Phil Ayoub.  Despite the impending threat of rain, Rahul and Phil were able to show us the basics in how to hold and swing a golf club.  Then everyone had an opportunity to hit a few golf balls.  Although the workshop was cut short due to the rain, Rahul and Phil did a wonderful job and everyone enjoyed learning more about golf techniques.

-Angela Shershin, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On March 22^nd, Chevron and the SCMA hosted an internal case competition for the Smeal MBA Program.  There were nine teams of four, making a total of 36 participants.  The case was distributed two days before the 22^nd, on the evening of March 20^th.  This year, the case was written by Chevron and loosely based on a real business case that Chevron faced.  The teams then had approximately 36 hours to read, analyze and develop a recommendation.

On the morning of March 22^nd, each team presented their recommendation to a small panel of three judges.  Two of the judges were representatives from Smeal’s faculty and the third judge was a representative from Chevron.   Each presentation had a ten minute formal portion followed by a ten minute Q&A session.

After the morning round of presentations, all of the judges came together and decided which four teams should move onto the final round.  The teams to move on were: Delta, Echo, Tango and Zulu.  Then each of these four teams presented their recommendations to all of the judges.  After this final round of presentations, the judges deliberated one last time to determine the winner.

Once the judges reached a consensus, the winners were announced.  After this announcement, the representatives from Chevron debriefed the case and explained what course of action Chevron took given the real case.  Then everyone had the opportunity to ask the Chevron representatives questions about the case and Chevron’s operations.  Overall, the case competition was a great opportunity to practice our communication skills and learn more about Chevron.

1^st Place: Team Delta

Yasar Awan

Arvind Dutta

Shridhar Vijay Kumar

Ankit Mahajan

2^nd Place: Team Zulu

Andrew Driscoll

Isaac Gabay-Blitz

Tom Impellitteri

Josh Mathis

3^rd Place: Team Echo

Binh Nguyen

Lynn Nguyen

Brian Plowman

Sean Quinn

4^th Place: Team Tango

Syed Rabbul Nawaz Khazi

Xiao Hui Li

Linh Peters

Shaun Thangaraj

-Angela Shershin, Penn State Smeal MBA ’14

On April 21, 2013, members of the WMBA, as well as a few fellow MBA students ran a 5K or walked a mile as a fundraiser for the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania.  Through our Date Auction in February 2013 and a few personal donations, the WMBA raised over $2,000!  While not everyone ended up being able to attend the run/walk, Courtney Budd, Josh Gertel, Julie Golofski, Maryam Shahri, and myself (Diane Merzbach) joined over 3,700 participants which ended on the 50 yard line of Beaver Stadium.  The entire event raised more than $360,000, which is the largest fundraiser for Special Olympics PA to date!

Overall, the experience was amazing.  They let the Special Olympics participants being walking first, then a few minutes later, gave the countdown and let a flood of people loose on Curtin Road.  Myself, Julie, and Maryam sped walked to make sure that we got to the finish line in time to cheer on our classmates, Courtney and Josh.  I could definitely see why the football players love running onto the field – the experience of walking through the tunnel into the center of the field was simply amazing.  The first running came in at just over 16 minutes, and while we were waiting for our friends, another runner was surprised by her boyfriend – who proposed!  All in all, the experience was one that only one word could describe: inspirational.

On April 9^th, the WMBA joined forces with the Women in Business (WIB) Association, Smeal’s Undergraduate Women’s Association, and the Women’s Law Caucus for a session called Career and Cupcakes.  The purpose of this session was to present post-undergraduate options for the WIB members while eating delicious cupcakes and cookies.

First, MBA Admissions Director Stacey Dorang Peeler gave a presentation on the general MBA admission process and tips for success.  Next, representatives from the WMBA gave an insider view of the MBA experience.  Then representatives from the Women’s Law Caucus spoke about the admission process and daily life at law school.  Lastly, MBA alum Julie Infantino, spoke about her career journey and gave her nuggets of wisdom.  This event gave the WIB members the opportunity to ask any graduate school or general career questions.

-Angela Shershin, Penn State Smeal MBA ‘14