Third Smeal MBA Sustainability Case Competition

The Smeal College of Business is pleased to announce the third MBA sustainability case competition. IBM, SKF, Alcoa, International Paper, PepsiCo, and Verizon are sponsors of the 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.

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.

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. They will be invited to Penn State to compete for first ($10,000), second ($5,000) and third place ($2,500) prizes.

The 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.

There is a $100 registration fee per team. Registration will begin on Wednesday, August 24 and end on Monday, September 12.