Minneapolis Case Competition
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Colorado State Minneapolis Case Competition group[/caption]
This spring, four College of Business Supply Chain Management students competed in the 5th Annual International Undergraduate Supply Chain Competition from March 29 to April 1.
The 2017 Competition took place at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. The competition welcomed 30 universities including Colorado State. The four students representing the university included Alexis Applegate, Doug Gaillard, Anastasia Pjevach, and Jonathan Schulein.
Colorado State Minneapolis Case Competition group
The team was asked to analyze and solve a distribution/retailer case involving perishable items for the case sponsor, Land O’ Lakes, in a 24-hour time frame. After a fierce competition, the students placed second, but their performance was strong enough to get the team recognized at the awards banquet.
Competition participant, Doug Gaillard, explained how he got involved with the competition. “I heard about the competition through Bill Shuster's capstone class,” he said. Seeing as Gaillard had already competed in the Denver Transportation Case Competition, he decided to take on the challenge.
The students had the opportunity to attend networking dinners, company tours, and meet countless influential individuals within the supply chain field. When describing how it felt after their presentation and analysis Gaillard stated, “We all felt amazing about what we accomplished in such a short period of time. Working on a real business problem and competing with my fellow Rams with a mentor like Bill during the competition was so rewarding.”
Although they did not make it into the finals, the group still received honorable mention for their outstanding performance. After finishing the competition, Gaillard said he is eager to compete again next year and to apply what he learned to the next case competition.
Bill Shuster, Honors Capstone Instructor[/caption]
The Honors Capstone partnered on a strategic project with executives from HP Workstations to create a process for mobile Workstations to penetrate the small-to-medium business sector. Teams of five were created with individuals from different concentrations. Each team was expected to solve the same problem over the course of the semester to resolve HP’s current business issue. Students were competing against the Asian Pacific Japan accelerator team from inside HP.
The accelerator program is a culmination of HP's top potential young managers in the region and they have an entire year to work on what CSU students tackle in a semester.
HP encourages students to excel at this project because the fresh perspectives on the issue helps HP’s strategy internally in an area of the market that provides great business opportunity. HP has partnered with the capstone course for the third semester which fits with its mission, “building innovative leaders.”
At the beginning of the semester, HP executives came into Bill Shuster’s capstone class and presented the case to students. After they walked through the challenges and opportunities of the project, they turned the project over to students to do an independent analysis on the HP and Workstation system. Shortly after, students went on a site visit with the Vice President of Workstations, Josh Peterson, and other HP employees, Andrew Willard and Alan Buckner to talk more in depth about the project.
Students toured the facilities, gained insight into the HP culture, and saw numerous products undergoing testing. Teams then split up to speak with different departments including, supply chain, sales, marketing, finance, etc. Within each department, questions were asked and direction was given so students could better tackle the current issue and make their solution executable.
The value for HP is in the approach students take to dive into the problem. HP leverages the intellect of students and provides the chance to gain real-life experience. Students are learning how interactions in the corporate world work, and for many this is their first experience in a business setting. The skills utilized in this project are a compilation of knowledge they have learned in the College of Business.
Lynn Shore, Professor and Chair of the Management Department, College of Business[/caption]
We are very happy to bring you news about the department. We have so many great activities to highlight, and we are proud of the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and students. My four years as department chair have been exciting and fulfilling. I want to update you on our management concentrations.
The enrollments in our three concentrations in Management reached 375 in Organization and Innovation Management, 130 in Supply Chain Management, and 90 in Human Resource Management. We are very pleased to provide these concentrations, as these diverse options support the varied interests and career paths of our students.
Students are also enrolling in our certificate programs. The popular, Entrepreneurship Certificate is designed for students both in the College of Business and across campus. This certificate allows us to support our undergraduate entrepreneurs, interested in starting a new venture, sustainability and new venture development, creativity and innovation, and business plan development.
We are launching a new program this Spring: an entrepreneurship minor. This will interest many more students, from all concentrations, in our entrepreneurship curriculum. Our courses will now be populated by business students and their entrepreneurial peers from a wide variety of majors. The minor will be a great incubator for innovation and entrepreneurial ventures. Look for updates on this new initiative. The programs we are offering in Management support our CSU students in their education, and help them excel in the marketplace.
Based on our strategic planning process, several important initiatives are underway. We are seeking to build stronger relations with our alumni and members of the business community to help us further our strategic goals. The Entrepreneurship Institute and Supply Chain Forum continue to expand our community of business professionals, to the benefit of our students, faculty, and programs. Especially important, are scholarship initiatives for our students and the continued support of faculty research. We seek to enhance the classroom environment for all of our students through the inclusion of business speakers, and offer hands-on applications of classroom material because our students learn by doing.
I am very proud of the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, alumni, and students. As you will see in this newsletter, our students continue to be amazing. Be sure to also read about Professor Dan Krause, who is conducting some interesting research on his sabbatical next year. We are also very happy to feature alumnus John Weber who shares some highlights of his time at CSU and his career since graduation.
I hope you get an opportunity to visit the CSU campus and see some of your favorite faculty members. When you have a chance, please send us any news you have about your career and life experiences. We would love to feature you in an upcoming newsletter.
Elizabeth Morgan, President of the Society of Human Resource Management at CSU[/caption]
Elizabeth Morgan, president of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) student club at CSU, had a brilliant idea on how to achieve a SHRM Merit Award. The importance of receiving a Merit Award is in the potential growth and an opportunity to create a bigger organization. According to the Merit guidelines, the more initiatives the organization completes, the greater the chance they have to receive recognition.
After collaborating with the Career Management Center and talking to various professors within the Department of Management, members chose to engage both professionals and students by creating a new, two-hour event called the “How to Get Hired” Workshop. They modeled the workshop structure based on an HR conference Elizabeth attended with fellow SHRM members.
The workshop featured six different high-caliber professionals including Maggie Hirko, HR Manager at Wolf Robotics; Wayne D’Atoni, HR Consultant at MSEC; Justin Cross, New Belgium Brewing Recruiter; Lorie Humphrey, CSU COB Career Management Center Counselor; Peter Boyle, Director of HR at HP; and Mike Kohler, a Leadership and Workforce Development Trainer in Larimer County.
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Colorado State Society of Human Resource Management group[/caption]
There were three sessions held, each featuring two speakers. Students and professionals had the ability to choose which speaker to attend according to the topic that best fit their needs. Topics from planning your job search to comparing work environments were presented.
“The goal of the evening was to connect and empower students by giving them the opportunity to create professional relationships with those who can help them in their career and future,” said Elizabeth. Nearly 60 College of Business students turned out and many came out of the experience with a new mentor to call upon as a resource.
With succession planning in place for the SHRM club, students and alumni can expect this event to continue for years to come.
John Weber, CSU College of Business alumni[/caption]
John Weber came to CSU to be a member of the track team, study engineering and participate in ROTC. Although his time running track was short, the welcoming environment and his newfound friends kept him at the University. He also became very involved with a fraternity on campus, Sigma Nu. As a member, he created lifelong friendships with his brothers and continues to keep in touch with them today.
Shortly after starting college, he changed his major from engineering to business to pursue a concentration in strategic management. One major difference between the college experience that Weber remembers as compared with the campus today, was having many of his business classes in the Clark Building and the buildings surrounding The Oval.
Senior year, he applied and was hired as a communications intern for the Poudre School District. There, he quickly became the public relations guru for the school district. He anchored and recorded a weekly radio show, wrote articles for the school newsletter, and accomplished various other tasks. The internship drastically improved his writing skills and helped him overcome a fear of public speaking.
He worked in various other positions throughout his college career. Many of his work opportunities came directly from the College of Business including his internship. Weber worked for Professor Edward Prill his junior year, who taught real estate.
Only a few credits short of a minor, he planned to get into commercial land development after graduation, but economic conditions at the time made it difficult for him to pursue that career path.
Upon graduation, Weber joined EDS, a large systems integrator based in Dallas, Texas. He was hired into their Systems Engineering Development Program. Throughout the three-year program, participants of various backgrounds had the opportunity to learn and practice technical and customer-facing skills. Utilizing his business degree from CSU, Weber built a foundation for a career-long focus on technology leadership.
Weber later left EDS to join a smaller company, MetaSolv Software, which was focused on telecommunications. During his time, he experienced the company's rapid growth, an IPO and the eventual sale of the company to Oracle.
Weber, along with a few other team members, eventually left MetaSolv and went to Calpont Corporation, a startup that developed and released the open-source analytical database engine InfiniDB. Weber joined as the head of technology, and during his time at Calpont, he expanded his role beyond a technology focus into leadership and management.
The skills he developed along his career path and within the College of Business prepared him for his current leadership role as CEO and CFO for LRS, a global provider of technology solutions. Weber applies the management principles he learned at CSU and along the way to his everyday technical and corporate experiences. LRS’s goals are currently focused on growing its customer base and international presence.
As an alumnus, Weber also maintains strong ties to the University, and even created a scholarship with his wife, Julie, for College of Business students. The scholarship is geared toward out-of-state students who participate in club sports during their time at Colorado State University. The Webers focused their scholarship in this way to help CSU meet its enrollment goals and target more out-of-state students.
Last Labor Day, Weber and his wife, visited entrepreneurship and human resources classes and shared their knowledge and expertise with students. Expressing how thrilled he is by the growth he has witnessed at the school Weber stated, “The time you spend in college makes an enormous impact on you. To continue adding to the quality education CSU provides not only adds value to my own degree, it also helps the students.”