March 24, 2006

Springfield , OH -On Friday, March 24, Wittenberg welcomed sixteen teams from six schools to compete in the annual Tau Pi Phi Case Competition. The two-day competition was held at the Marriot Courtyard in historic downtown Springfield . The schools competing included Capital University , Juniata College , Marietta College , Mount Union , Ohio Northern University, and Wittenberg . The case competition actually consisted of two parallel competitions-one with two-person teams and the other with three-person teams.

The weekend competition concluded with an awards banquet in Shouvlin Center on Wittenberg 's campus. For the two-person team competition, Gerald Miceli and Nicolas Sefchok of Juniata College , advised by Professor Dominick Peruso, took first place. The Wittenberg University team of Patricia Recalde '06 and Lesley Waldsmith '06 , advised by Ron Lucchessi , captured second place. The third place winners were Brandon McGuire and Karla Geise of Ohio Northern University , advised by Michele Govekar.

For the three-person teams, Brian McCoach '06 , Zach Kobie, 06 , and Clint Pergram '06 of Wittenberg University captured first place. Marietta University , advised by Dave Meade, took second place with the team of Debra Story, Jeremiah Kuhn, and Adam Spencer. Andrew Klatt, Adam Sues, and Chad Johnson of Mount Union College, advised by Martin Horning, captured third place.

Students and advisors armed with laptops, printers, and management textbooks ate lunch in one of the ballrooms assessing their competition as they anxiously awaited the distribution of the first case. As the clock struck 12:30, the teams were off, racing back to their rooms, thumbing through the thick packet of papers on the elevator. Each team was allotted exactly four hours to analyze the case, write a one-page executive summary, and prepare a fourteen minute presentation for the case.

"We had to use our time wisely-four hours may seem like a long time, but we used every minute of it and could have worked longer," stated Wittenberg 2-person-team member, Patricia Recale.

The first case, BRL Hardy: Globalizing an Australian Wine Company , described two new product decisions facing Christopher Carson, managing director of BRL Hardy's European sector,. In his past few years of managing the European operations of BRL, Carson had begun to implement a more global strategy for the company, moving beyond selling only the parent company's wines. After a struggling joint venture with a Chilean wine source, Carson proposed launching an Italian line of wines. At the same time, Carson 's local team was developing a new Australian brand that would directly compete with the parent company's global brand rollout.

After four hours of analysis and discussion, the teams emerged from their hotel rooms ready to present their findings. Each team presented their analysis of the case to a panel of two judges drawn from the Springfield business community. Students then answered questions for five minutes. The last team presented its analysis at 7:00 p.m. and students began to prepare themselves for the second day of the competition.

This year's judges included Lin Ericson, Westcott Foundation; Charlie McFarland, Turner Foundation; Mark Grimes, Sweet Manufacturing; Ed Leventhal, Valco Industries; Bill Johns, an accountant in independent practice; and Andy Irick, Security National Bank.

On day two of the competition the case was distributed at 8:00 a.m. Teams prepared for the next four hours. The second case, Molded Dimensions, Inc. , describes the acquisition of a Wisconsin-based plastics manufacturing company by Mike Katz and his wife. The Katzes main objective was to ensure a smooth transition for employees without jeopardizing employee jobs. Immediately following the acquisition, MDI experienced a sudden and unexpected drop in business.

At the end of four hours, teams once again turned in an executive summary of the case and presented their analysis to the judges.

"After hearing the questions the judges asked the first day," explained Brian McCoach, "we had a better idea of what to expect." McCoach, along with teammates Zack Kobie and Clint Pergram, read the judges well and walked away with the 1 st place award.

The Tau Pi Phi Case Competition, held since 1978, is celebrating its 18 th year. It rotates among member chapters. A WittCAM project team, coached by Professor Wendy Gradwohl, planed and hosted the event, assisted by a group of management student volunteers. Wittenberg University will host the competition again in the spring of 2007.

Wittenberg University founded Tau Pi Phi as a business and economics honorary in 1931. The university's Tau Pi Phi chapter is advised by Professor Ron Luchessi .

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