Students from the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University are continuing their April case competition winning streak, this time with first-place victories in two of three categories at the International Business Ethics Case Competition 2015 in New Orleans on April 23.

The Ethics Case presentation was titled “To 3D and Beyond: An In-Depth Analysis of the Emerging 3D Printing Market.” The team consisted of four undergraduate students in management, management information systems and marketing, as well as one graduate student from industrial relations. Team members included Josh England, Deonna Gandy, Tim Kingsbury and Taylor VanScoy, with Katie Hannah serving as graduate coach.

Gandy said the team has worked together since the spring semester started in January, and the experience did a lot to confirm that her education at B&E is right on target with what she needs to know after she leaves the classroom and goes into the workforce.

“To be able to apply your education that you have worked so hard for in the classroom to a real world situation at hand truly does make it all worthwhile,” Gandy said. “As far as our victories, I feel as though our confidence and cooperation as a team is really what put us over the other competitors – we spent a lot of time together preparing and critiquing each other, and the unity that we had definitely showed in our presentations.”

The wins mark WVU’s first appearance at the international event, competing against schools worldwide. IBECC 2015 consisted of three separate competitions, including a full presentation, and 10-minute and 90-second presentations. Each competition consisted of three graduate divisions and four undergraduate divisions.

Other participating schools included University of Oxford (England), McMaster University (Canada), University of Melbourne (Australia), NEOMA Business School (France), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (China), Global Business School of Barcelona (Spain), Boston College, Fordham University, Loyola Marymount, Marist College, Marywood College, Mercer University, Montgomery College, St. Petersburg College, Texas State University, University of Florida, University of St. Thomas, University of Washington and University of Wyoming.

Suzanne Gosden Kitchen, who served as faculty coach for the WVU team, said the first place victories were collective efforts that relied on the students’ education received at B&E, and hopes to see multiple teams from the college participating from now on.

“Dr. David Cale was a generous benefactor for this event and made it financially possible for the college to send an undergraduate team,” Kitchen said. “I hope in future years, with the right budget, we can send both undergraduate and graduate teams to the competition. It is a great opportunity for the students to measure their own academic abilities against those of other peers from different colleges.”

Gandy said Cale and Hannah approached the four participating students to compete on the team.

“As one of the many students in the college that has the opportunity to take Dr. Cale’s business ethics course, I highly recommend that students get involved in similar competitions because of how much it prepares a student and gives them the competitive edge to succeed in business,” Gandy said.

To learn more about the College of Business and Economics, please visit be.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

mm/04/28/15

CONTACT: Patrick Gregg, WVU College of Business and Economics
304.293.5131; patrick.gregg@mail.wvu.edu

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