UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of four Penn State Smeal College of Business undergraduate students won the NASBITE International Student Case Competition earlier this month in Cleveland.
The team consisted of:
- Preston Jones, a senior majoring in enterprise risk management and minoring in international business.
- Daniel Enrique Garcia Calao, a junior dual majoring in finance and economics and minoring in supply chain management and information sciences technology.
- Jiya Joshi, a junior dual majoring in management information systems and psychology.
- Patrycja Winnicki, a senior majoring in finance and minoring in international business.
Smeal placed ahead of teams from Bradley University, Michigan State, Ohio State, the University of Iowa, the University of Maryland and Saint Louis University.
Fourteen teams of undergraduates from international business programs were asked to identify the best international market and market entry strategy to meet a challenge presented by a United States exporter, as well as the best manufacturing location.
This year’s case company was SavetheGirls.com, a fashion with function company (purses, cross-body accessories, other women’s fashion products) that has been growing more than 100 percent over the last few years in the U.S. market.
“This year’s competition was especially challenging because students had to address global sourcing at a moment when the rules were changing moment by moment,” said Laurie Wolff, distinguished fellow and case competition lead for NASBITE International. “A container of product currently in the process of being shipped by the company literally went from tariffs of less than $30,000 to more than $110,000, to $57,000 in a matter of days as the students were completing and presenting their solutions.”
The Smeal team’s recommendation was to enter the European market initially through Germany, and to manufacture its products in Turkey.
“This was an outstanding team comprised of ‘all-star’ students who excelled in Smeal’s international business courses. This is only the second year that Smeal has participated in an undergraduate international business case competition. Last year’s team made the finals, and this year’s team took home the gold,” said Terrence Guay, director of Smeal’s Center for Global Business Studies, which sponsored the team.
“Lots of credit to assistant teaching professor Cassandra Ghinos and the other Smeal faculty who worked with the students all semester to help them to craft their recommendations and presentation. The results the past two years underscore the fact that Smeal students who study international business are well-prepared to apply their knowledge to real-life situations in the global economy.”
