MBA Sustainability Case Competitions
2016 Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition
The Smeal College of Business is pleased to announce the third MBA sustainability case competition late this summer. Smeal is in its eighth year of integrating sustainability into its teaching, research and outreach missions. The MBA sustainability case competition is one of its recent teaching initiatives.
Developing the ability of students to make a compelling business case for integrating sustainability into a company’s operations, products, or governance is essential to Smeal’s approach to teaching sustainability. This approach is strongly endorsed by the Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board that consists of representatives from companies with distinguished sustainability records, including membership in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. One of these companies, Verizon, will be the subject of a case that is being written specifically for this competition. IBM, SKF, Alcoa, International Paper, PepsiCo, and Verizon are sponsors of the Third Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition.
The case setting is Verizon’s Global Supply Chain Operations, which is concerned that severe weather events are increasing in frequency and severity, especially in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states where Verizon has its largest customer base. Verizon personnel have learned much recently about reacting promptly and effectively to imminent weather threats, but now think that they must develop a comprehensive resiliency and recovery plan to deal with ever-increasing climate impacts. Registration is open to teams from any AASCB accredited MBA program in the US and Canada. There is a $100 registration fee per team. Teams may consist of four or five members with a maximum of two teams per MBA program. At least three members on each team must be MBA students. Registration will begin on Wednesday, August 24 and end on Monday, September 12. Please REGISTER HERE during this window.
The competition will consist of two rounds. The case will be available to registered MBA teams on Friday, September 16. The preliminary round will consist of electronic submissions of case analyses by 12 noon on Friday, September 30. Submissions will include a PowerPoint summary of the case analysis (maximum of ten slides) and an Executive Summary (one page). A panel of judges will select five teams to be finalists and announce the results on Friday, October 21. These teams will be invited to Penn State to compete for first ($10,000), second ($5,000) and third place ($2,500) prizes. Finalists may use any audio-visual medium (including but not limited to PowerPoint slides) to supplement their oral presentation. A panel of judges from the sponsoring companies will select the winners. Smeal College will cover expenses for lodging and meals while finalists are on campus. Finalists are responsible for their own travel expenses to University Park, PA. The final round will be held on December 1-2, 2016.
For further information, contact: Dr. Gerald Susman; email address gis1@psu.edu