A team of MBAs from the University of Texas at Dallas – Naveen Jindal School of Management recently took top prize in a national sustainability case competition.
The competition was sponsored by the Penn State Smeal College of Business and focused on developing solutions for IBM’s Corporate Environmental Affairs staff to manage growing global responsibilities. The Jindal School team included Full-Time MBA students James King, Rajarshi Roy, Gopinath Palanisamy and Wenet Wu, and professional (part-time) MBA student Richa Bagaria. The students championed 27 other teams from 18 different universities. In addition to first place, students took home $10,000.
Preparation for the competition began in October, when students were required to submit a case analysis and executive summary. The competition’s challenge was rooted in the need of IBM’s corporate environmental affairs staff to evaluate all suppliers to provide nonhazardous and hazardous waste disposal in addition to end-of-lifecycle product materials services. Since these suppliers are constantly being evaluated for environmental compliance, it can present a tremendous challenge.
The Jindal team were commended on their presentation, especially during the question-and-answer session. Before announcing the winners, judges told the students that the winning team had been selected because they had developed solutions which IBM was actually going to implement.
“We were able to play off each other,” said team member Wenet Wu, “answering questions as one cohesive team showing the judges we had thought through the logistics of implementing our idea as a real business solution.”
After winners were announced, IBM executives reportedly asked the team to stay in touch. Four of the six judges at the finals were from IBM, the other two from SKF and PepsiCo.