The Manderson Case Team won third place in the SEC MBA Case Competition on April 3, hosted by the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. The team, represented by Grace Brandon, Aija Abele, Andrew Ravine, and Nicholas Perera, along with advisors Quoc Hoang and Meaghan James, were awarded $3000.
The SEC MBA Case Competition, established in 2013, provides opportunities for SEC business schools to showcase their students’ skills at solving simulated, real-world problems faced by a large corporation. WestRock, a leading provider of sustainable paper and packaging solutions, served as this year’s case company.
Participating teams had approximately 24 hours to prepare their recommended solutions, which they presented on Saturday to a panel of company executives in divisional and final rounds of competition. WestRock executives were tasked with considering each presentation, identifying four teams to advance to the finals and ultimately ranking the final four teams on Saturday afternoon. The students’ identities and university affiliations were kept anonymous to the judges to ensure the contest’s impartiality.
Although team advisors were not able to communicate with their students after the case was presented on Friday morning, they observed the presentations and offered support after the competition concluded.
“We were the only team that presented in the finals that didn’t win an individual award in the morning. I think it’s because the strength of our team didn’t come from one person; instead, it was our communication and ability to come together that made our team strong,” said Perara.
Manderson finished behind the winning team from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics.
“The SEC includes students from great MBA programs who have extensive experience competing in case competitions,” Hoang said. “To finish third in a field like this demonstrates that our Manderson MBA Case Team continues to produce quality graduates ready to make a big impact on the world.”