Rutgers MBA students hungry for more challenges after winning international supply chain case competition

Experiences at case competitions prove to be an important highlight for Rutgers MBA students, providing them with unique chances to collaborate, network and learn about their own abilities.

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For Rutgers MBA Sharath Adanur, doing a case competition was one of the experiences he hoped to have during his time as a graduate student.

Now, in his second year of the Rutgers Full-Time MBA Program, Adanur is contemplating a fourth competition, energized by a first place win earlier this year when he and his classmates bested 24 other teams with their solution to a multi-faceted real-world business challenge.

"The case competition is a really good experience," Adanur said. "You learn things about yourself. You learn to work people who have different backgrounds and perspectives and to put it all together to solve a problem.

"It's an opportunity to implement what you've learned in the classroom," he said, "and to see to what extent your learning applies to the real world."

Learn about all the opportunities a Rutgers MBA offers during an online information session on Thursday, Dec. 12 at noon. The session will provide information about both the Full-Time and Part-Time MBA programs at Rutgers Business School.

In an international case competition hosted by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Adanur and his team were given 10 weeks to develop a presentation detailing ways to minimize a fictitious aerospace manufacturer's problems sourcing raw materials, thwarting cybersecurity risks and developing an ESG-driven emissions reduction plan. Their ideas had to be explained in 10 minutes with no more than 12 slides.

In addition to Adanur, the team included Rutgers MBAs, Badri Venkat, William Denney and Yashvanth Thippeswamy.

After advancing to the final round, Rutgers faced teams from the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Maastrict University from the Netherlands. The final round was held during the ISM's annual world conference in Las Vegas. 

"This global competition allowed our supply chain management MBA students to show their grit and how they have internalized the messages they receive at Rutgers toward being resilient and resourceful," said Supply Chain Management professor David Dreyfus who coached the students.

The team's strategy was to assign an area to each student based on his strengths. "The fact that we knew each other well and we knew each other's strengths helped," Thippeswamy said. During regular meetings, they shared information and critiqued one another. "There was a lot of playing devil's advocate at every step," Venkat said.

Denney agreed, adding that while each team member focused on an area of the case, the team was well versed on every aspect. "I think it all came down to our preparation," he said. "When you know the material inside and out after weeks of research, that can totally build your confidence."

The win at the ISM case competition came on the heels of another competition at Texas Christian University. Three members of the team competed at TCU and while they didn't win, it made them better prepared, more polished.

Venkat and his teammates believed that by tying their proposed solutions to the company's financials – how much the actions would cost and how those costs would impact the company's operations – may have clinched their win. "Every point of the case was addressed," Venkat said, "and we tied everything to the financials in the end."

Venkat said everything comes into play in the experience. "Finance, supply chain, the aesthetics of a presentation, all of these things matter," he said. "The soft skills and the hard skills at the same time."

SOURCE Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick