Rutgers Business School undergraduates from Newark impress judges in two case competitions

The Rutgers Business School Department of Management & Global Business recently hosted two undergraduate case competitions on the Newark Campus. As it did two years ago, Target Corp. sponsored a competition and awarded $2,000 in scholarship monies to the winning team.  The second competition was sponsored by AT&T which also awarded $2,000 in scholarship monies to the winning team.

The Target case attracted 28 students who were divided into six teams. The retail company asked the teams to review its current strategies and propose new or adjusted approaches to attract additional customers. The teams also had to consider Target's various competitors, including online retailers like Amazon.  The winning team of Michael Darrow, Johanie Jean Louis, Jason Ng, Madeline Meibauer, and James Vandenbos presented a phased strategy that the Target representatives judged as professional, focused, and very well-tailored to the company's needs.

The AT&T case attracted 31 students who were divided between five teams. The AT&T case focused on the use of "Big Data” such as customer network data, and encouraged students to propose innovative strategies. The winning team of Jeremy Karl, Jeremy Kahn, Yaling Chan, Hanan Abdel Hamid, and Edward Day presented a two-prong approach to the case which the AT&T judges felt aligned with the company's overall strategy.

AT&T also invited the participating students to take a tour of the AT&T world network main control center in Basking Ridge on December 6. During the visit, the winning team will give their case presentation to all student participants plus several AT&T senior executives.  AT&T has focused on Rutgers Business School as their primary recruiting school for the Northeast, and this case competition is one of many approaches the company uses to select possible student recruits for their various management training programs.

The Department of Management & Global Business hosts several undergraduate case competitions each year on the Newark Campus as part of the department’s goal of exposing students to real business issues. The next case competition is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and takes place during the spring semester.

For additional information, contact Joseph Markert, faculty member in the Department of Management & Global Business.