Neeley School hosts MBA Sales and Marketing Case Competition with Sony, March 27-28

Fort Worth, TX

3/18/2009

MBA students from across the country will converge on Fort Worth next weekend to compete for cash prizes and valuable face time with Sony Electronics executives in the Neeley Sales & Marketing Strategy Case Competition. The 2nd annual competition is sponsored again by Sony Electronics and hosted by the Neeley School of Business at TCU. 

The unique twist to this event is: There is no product. Students will have the opportunity to research a potential Sony product from conception to a go-to-market strategy.

“This will be an interesting event,” said Ed Riefenstahl, director of Experiential Learning at the Neeley School of Business at TCU. “Most MBA case competitions center on past performance of a product, the challenge being to decide what could have been done to change the outcome. This case isn’t in the past or even the present. It’s in the future. Students will predict what could/should happen based on their recommendations.”

“New markets emerge every day,” said Dennis McTighe, senior vice president of sales for Sony Electronics Western Zone. “This competition centers on a completely new product category and concept, one that has just emerged. The teams will select features, price points, design (if they like), functionality, and a targeted go-to-market strategy. In fact they will be writing the case as they present their ideas.”

MBA students from Darden, Michigan State, Kellogg, Purdue, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Wharton, Missouri, SMU, Howard and Georgia, along with TCU, have signed up for the event. Each student will be assigned to random teams, one business school per team.

They also will network with high-level Sony execs who will judge their cases, including Jay Vandenbree, president – Sony Consumer Sales.

The two-day event begins with an on-campus welcome dinner Friday, March 27, where the teams will be chosen. The competition takes place Saturday, March 28, at the Neeley School. Each team will have five hours to work on the case and 10 minutes to present their recommendations to Sony executives. Winners will be announced at an awards dinner that evening. Prizes are $6,000 for grand prize, $4,000 for second and $2,000 for third.

“Case competitions are an excellent means for MBA students to apply what they have learned in class, along with their own skills and experience, to a real opportunity or challenge,” said Bill Cron, associate dean for Graduate Programs at Neeley.

For more information on the Neeley Sales & Marketing Strategy Case Competition, visit www.neeleyMBAbusinesscase.com or call Ed Riefenstahl at 817-257-5668.