Students at the University of St. Thomas – Cameron School of Business recently presented their solutions for real-world business problems at the school’s annual Case Competition.
At this year’s case competition, students assisted CSAT Solutions — a company which repairs laptops, smart phones and tablets for companies like Apple and Dell — in deciding where to establish their next European repair facilities. Ten groups of students participated in the competition, recommending such locations as Finland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
The winning team of Marcella Arrendondo, Megan Rosales and Chris Guardado took home the top prize of $500. The winning team selected Ireland as the next destination for CSAT’s repair facility, considering such factors as cost, access to freight transportation and proximity to the company’s customer base. Smaller prizes were also awarded for second and third place.
According to Neil Dunch, CSAT Solution’s vice president of global operations, was impressed with the student’s presentations, and their ability to back up their decision with actual data. Not only did the winning team analyze characteristics like distance from an airport and labor costs, they also identified potential site locations and produced building plans.
According to Dunch, the competition allowed students not just to think critically and analyze real-world data, but also to get a better understanding of global business. For example, he says, Eastern Europe was a popular area for business at the time when he was working in the technology sectors over ten years ago. Things have changed in Europe since then, however, and students were keen to detect these changes. “[C]ost of labor has definitely changed from Eastern [countries], and productivity in certain other countries has gone up.”
CSAT Solutions was so pleased with the student’s recommendations and presentations that they have been invited to attend a meeting with Dell, CSAT’s customer, to discuss new European facilities.