Allegheny College students Peter Adler, Clayton Morris, Mary Nagel and Jonas Skattum were among 41 undergraduates chosen to compete November 7-8 in the Early Leaders Case Competition at the Simon Business School on the University of Rochester campus.
In a highly competitive selection process, undergraduate students from across the country were brought together in a business case competition designed to simulate decisions faced by global business leaders. Teams competed for a total of $10,000 in prize money.
Students met their assigned teammates for the first time on Nov. 7 and immediately began working on the assigned case: a review and assessment of Cole and Parker’s start-up wholesale business, which facilitates microfinance lending through 1 percent of its sales.
Each team had 24 hours to analyze the case, develop a marketing strategy aligned with Cole and Parker’s growth plans for the next two to five years, and prepare slides for a 15-minute presentation to a panel of judges on Nov. 8. The winners were announced at an awards dinner that evening.
The first-place team – which included Allegheny senior Mary Nagel and three teammates from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Knox College and Ursinus College – shared a $5,000 cash prize.
“My team was able to excel because we created an environment where everyone was able to contribute his or her unusual combinations of skills and interests – including global health, economics, cultural anthropology and international studies – to develop an out-of-the-box strategy that wowed the judges,” said Nagel, a double major in economics and global health from Pittsburgh. “The leadership skills I’ve acquired at Allegheny gave me the confidence to voice my ideas during our team collaboration session, to think and process the new and unknown, and to recognize that I had everything I needed to succeed.”
A $2,000 cash prize was shared by the third-place team, which included Allegheny senior Clayton Morris and teammates from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Knox College and the University of Rochester. Morris, also from Pittsburgh, is an economics major and astronomy/astrophysics minor. “The Early Leaders Case Competition was an intense 48 hours,” he said, “but it was a great life experience to work with such a talented team.”
The Simon Business School has a Direct Admission Partnership relationship with Allegheny College. The Allegheny Gateway’s career education office works with Allegheny students who are interested in pursuing graduate studies at the Simon Business School.
Photo: Allegheny College students Jonas Skattum, Clayton Morris, Mary Nagel and Peter Adler (left to right) were among the 41 undergraduates chosen to compete in the Early Leaders Case Competition at the Simon Business School.
The Department of Economics has released its Summer 2013 Economics Newsletter, which describes all of the news and notes from the 2012-13 academic year. This includes a letter from the department chair, a summary of the Executive Roundtable and the Board of Visitors Meeting, a review of the department’s New York City trip, and updates on departmental efforts regarding internships, research and new initiatives. The newsletter can be downloaded here: