|
Villanova School of Business
Takes First Place in International Business Competition
VILLANOVA, PA, 15 November 2007—The
Villanova School of Business (VSB) congratulates VSB students Brian Cotroneo,
Meet Doshi, Sarah Cognetti, and Victoria Kent. The foursome won the top prize in
the second annual International Business University Competition hosted by Loyola
Marymount University’s Hilton Business School in Los Angeles. Team VSB—all
international business co-majors—was sponsored by VSB’s Center for Global
Leadership.
The international case competition was sponsored by the Los Angeles Chamber of
Commerce as part of World Trade Week and involved the development of a global
market entry strategy for a specific company; in this instance, Dole Foods.
Business school teams including University of Southern California, Santa Clara,
and University of South Carolina were presented with a real-world scenario faced
by Dole Foods, Inc. and asked to look at various expansion options for the
organization. The focus of the scenario was to investigate opportunities in
Amazonian and exotic fruits with high nutritional value; also known as super
fruits.
“While most groups researched and chose an exotic fruit to simply import to
the U.S., our group took a different approach,” says Daniel Wright, Assistant
Professor of Management and Operations and team faculty advisor.
Brian, Meet, Sarah, and Victoria cleverly launched a line of healthy smoothies
in the U.S. and Europe. They proposed new facilities for smoothie production in
Costa Rica that would receive fresh fruits from surrounding countries and
developed a comprehensive business plan which addressed marketing, supply chain
and distribution, import and trade restrictions, and financial implications for
Dole Foods.
The innovative strategy earned VSB the top spot in the competition along with
$8,000 of scholarship money to be applied to the students’ business education.
Jonathan Doh, faculty advisor for the VSB team and director of the Center for
Global Leadership states, “The Villanova School of Business is strongly
committed to globalization and internationalization. We want to provide
opportunities for students to engage in global business issues in the classroom,
through competitions such as this one, and by studying and working abroad.”
The Villanova School of Business has been at the forefront of business
education since it was founded in 1922. Today, VSB is ranked the #12 business
school in the nation by BusinessWeek, and serves over 2,500 undergraduate and
graduate students in 7 business fields. The VSB study-abroad participation rate
is nearly 50 percent among undergraduates, compared to a national average of 1
percent. The school offers an international business co-major, which enables
students to deepen their foreign language and global business competencies and
to study abroad. The new Center for Global Leadership at VSB is led by Jonathan
Doh, the Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair of International Business.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Andrea Carter, Marketing & Public Relations
Villanova School of Business
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Avenue
Bartley Hall
610.519.6715
andrea.carter@villanova.edu
|
