The College of Management was proud to host its first undergraduate Strategic Management and Business Policy Case Competition on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. The College of Management has been hosting business case competitions since 2014 to showcase the business analytical skills of their graduating MBA students. This year three groups of students from Dr. John Zhu’s undergraduate Strategic Management & Business Policy (MGT4213) capstone class analyzed and made strategic recommendations based on a published business case for consumer electronics industry, Best Buy.

This U.S transnational consumer electronics corporation is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb. The company was founded by Richard M. Schulze and Gary Smoliak in 1966 as an audio specialty store. In 1983, it was renamed and rebranded with more emphasis placed on consumer electronics. Internationally, it operates in Canada and Mexico. Best Buy was formerly operational in China until February 2011 (when the faction was merged with Five Star) and in Europe until 2012. Best Buy’s subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales.

Students focused on four strategy-related questions of:

(1) Should Best Buy provide customers with better sales force knowledge or products with low prices?

(2) How will Wal-Mart’s decision to ramp up its in-store electronics sales affect Best Buy?

(3) How will Best Buy compete against the expansion of Internet giant Amazon?

(4) How will Best Buy expand globally?

The two judges for the competition were Mr. Atul Kalia, Director of Engineering at Pontiac Coil, Inc.; and the Co-Founder of Certus Management Consultants, and Dr. Thomas Marx, Professor and Director of the Senior Service College Fellowship Program and the Center for Leadership, College of Management, Lawrence Technological University.

The event began with a welcome speech from Ms. Minakhi (Mina) Jena, Director of Business Programs, who talked about the case competition, how the College of Management integrates our mission of “Theory and Practice” into various case competitions and student organizations, and how LTU students distinguish themselves from other universities. LTU students were able to interpret the facts listed in the case, conduct research and analysis, and recommend solutions to a panel of professional business judges. This capstone course culminates into students experiencing the LTU model of Theory and Practice.

The competition was well attended by students, their friends and families, and faculty. The student teams did a terrific job! At the end of the presentations, the winners were announced and a $200 prize was awarded to the winning team of Abdulhameed Alshammari, Norah Alshihri, Tyler DeMeere, and Tyler Holt. The other students that participated were Lama Alabdulqader, Ahmed Alghamdi, Maha Alturkistani, Elliot Arnold, Hannah Gauthier, Pengjie Jiao, Ana Hernandez Munt, and Hannah Huff.

Congratulations and best wishes to all our graduating seniors!