By Nathaniel Luce
IOWA CITY, IA — A Vanderbilt Business team comprising Abhinav Verma (MBA ’18), Mai-Linh Hoang (MBA ’18), Tomohiro Nara (MBA ’18), and Trevor Proctor (MBA ’18) took first place and a $5,000 prize at the Iowa MBA Business Analytics Case Competition last Friday.
The competition featured 15 business schools from across the US. Teams from the University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business and Purdue’s Krannert School of Management finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Abhinav Verma, Tomohira Nara, Mai-Linh Hoang, and Trevor Proctor (L to R)
Competitors had two weeks to create an industry analysis, sales forecasting model, and financial modeling tool for 3M’s largest business segment. Teams presented their deliverables at the University of Iowa’s Pomerantz Center to a panel of judges that included 3M management.
“Abhinav and I were both extremely glad that we’re taking Business Forecasting with Professor Sal March this mod,” said Hoang. “We applied what we learned from the course to develop the forecasting models for the case, so we’d like to extend our gratitude to Professor March for making this win possible.”
“One of the judges from 3M, who led the project that inspired the case, talked with us afterwards. He was impressed that our business insight was spot-on, especially given the (limited) information provided in the case,” she added.
The Iowa MBA Business Analytics Case Competition seeks to create an environment in which students are able to help solve a real business problem while also getting real-time feedback from industry experts. Business school teams from across the country participated in the 2017 event, which was sponsored by 3M, the Minnesota Vikings, John Deere, UnityPoint Health, Kum & Go, and The Pella Corporation.
Contact Person: Nate Luce Director of Business News and Communications
Contact Phone: 615.322.3469
Contact Email: nate.luce@owen.vanderbilt.edu
