Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Global & Multicultural

Babson Undergrad Team Takes First Place In International Business Contest

This is a re-post from the News & Announcements blog. Congratulations to our Glavin Global Fellows and our Global Scholars!

 

Three Babson Undergrads, who are Glavin Global Fellows, took home the first place $2,000 cash prize in the Brigham Young University Business Language Case Competition last week in Provo, Utah. Babson won the Spanish division/category.The Babson team–Maryam Aram B’18 of Texas; Kamil Altintasoglu B’17 from Craiova, Romania; and Claudia Ogrezeanu B’16 from Moreni, Romania−outperformed at least seven other schools with strong international business programs, including BYU, American University, Emory University, University of Arizona, University of Washington, University of Nevada, and Indiana University.

Students with trophy

Virginia Newhall Rademacher, Babson Associate Professor of Hispanic Literature and Culture traveled with the students as team coach. Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Matt Allen, the Undergraduate Dean’s Office, and the Glavin Global Fellows Program also supported the students’ efforts.The case was based on a real dilemma facing Blendtec, an international manufacturer of upscale commercial and home blenders. According to Rademacher, “Though Blendtec had expanded its international operation as a result of their association with Starbucks and Jamba Juice, they lacked a focused plan for international expansion. Our team’s challenge was to determine in which international market(s) they should lead or expand their operations, explain the reasoning for this strategy, and outline a projected plan of action – all in Spanish.”

The competition’s judges noted “…the Babson students’ superb command of the topic and of the language”. Another judge observed the idea of using local platforms as a strategy and the team’s use of statistics to strengthen their case as “exceptional”.

While in Utah, the Babson team visited the Blendtec factory, Sundance Institute, and participated in team building exercises with the other competing teams.