The Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University recently served as host for the 1st Annual PepsiCo International MBA Business Competition. On September 18th and 19th, students from thirteen universities across the United States came to Neeley for the opportunity to earn prizes, internships, and to demonstrate their skill to PepsiCo executives.
For the competition, teams of four students from different universities worked together to develop a solution for a business problem scenario. The competition was judged by a number of PepsiCo executives, led by Frito-Lay CEO Tom Greco, and KPMG’s global head of innovation and investment, Steve Hill. The teams were randomly assigned the night before the competition.
According to Greco, the teams approached the business problems to be solved with great promise. “I have a lot of confidence that the ideas that came out of this competition are going to be implemented out in the marketplace. It is very rewarding for MBA students to ultimately see their idea come to life and see the success of the work that they’ve done.”
The first place team, with students representing from the University of Illinois College of Business, the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, was awarded with $7,000. The second place team, which included TCU Neeley student Morgan Ferguson, was awarded $5,000. The third place team was awarded $3,000 and included TCU Neeley student Kyle Tilley. In addition to cash prizes, participating students now have the opportunity to be recruited for PepsiCo’s 2016 internships.