UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of MBA students from the Penn State Smeal College of Business finished third in the second Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition, which the college recently hosted in its Business Building on the Penn State University Park campus.
The University of Texas at Dallas won the $10,000 prize for first place. Duke walked away with $5,000 for finishing second. Smeal was awarded $2,500 for third place. Teams from Dartmouth and Texas Christian University were the other finalists.
“I think we worked out a very effective process for the first competition in 2014. The only difference this year is that we proceeded more confidently with less need to improvise once the event began,” said Gerry Susman, Klein Professor Emeritus of Management at the Penn State Smeal College of Business.
“Four of the judges were from IBM, one was from SKF and one was from PepsiCo. I think all of the teams felt like winners, which they should since they were among five finalists selected from 28 registered teams.”
Each team was allotted 30 minutes for its presentation on the case, which focused on corporate environmental affairs at IBM. Another 15 minutes was devoted to questions and answers with the panel of judges that included senior executives from IBM, PepsiCo and SKF.
“The teams were impressive, but the judges were especially outstanding,” Susman said, “asking penetrating questions, and giving very helpful feedback to all teams.”