Business students take first

Students from the School of Business took top honors in national competition in San Francisco recently.

The business case competition was part of the 36th annual meeting of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an organization that provides scholarships and assistance to under-represented minorities in graduate business schools.

The competition, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, involved teams of students preparing and presenting solutions to a business problem which involved introduction of a new laundry product into the European market.

A panel of experts awarded first place and $6,500 in scholarships to UW–Madison students Aileen Hagert and Sheryl Kennedy. Their advisor for the competition was Mark Matosian, director of graduate student services.

Hagert and Kennedy won over teams from Dartmouth College, the University of Virginia, New York University and the University of Michigan, among others. Both are second-year MBA students majoring in marketing. They were part of another team that took second place in Big 10 competition at Ohio State University at Columbus in April.

This is the latest in a series of strong showings by UW–Madison business student teams. Earlier this year, student teams took first place in venture capital investment competition in Austin, Texas and second in international graduate logistics case competition in Chicago. Other teams of UW–Madison students made the finals in business competitions in Copenhagen and Singapore .

“Our students really enjoy these competitive experiences,” says Philip J. Miller, assistant dean for master’s programs. “These competitions not only showcase the ability of the students to work through these business cases, but also help prepare them for post-academic careers.”

UW–Madison is a charter member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which was founded in 1966. It is made up of 14 top U.S. university business schools.