Terpedoes Consulting Wins Smith's Part-time MBA Case Competition

Terpedoes Consulting, LLC comprised of part-time students Kennedy Jennifer Kern, Felipe Moreno-Hines, Andrew Sachs, Jeffrey Wells, and Karen Zee won the 2006 Smith School Part-time MBA Case Competition. The final round of the grueling seven-week 39-team competition was held on March 3, 2006 in Van Munching Hall. The final round was judged by Dean Howard Frank, Mark Ordan (COO, The Mills Corporation), and Professor Ken G. Smith (Deans Chaired Professor, Department of Management and Organization, Robert H. Smith School of Business).

The eminent body of judges found Terpedoes Consultings recommendations to the Carnival Cruise Company for the implementation of their customer relationship management program to be the best in what was clearly a highly competitive contest.

Professor Ken Smith said, The competition between the four finalists was really tight. The oral presentations were all very good. Given the high quality of the presentations, I think it was the written report that made the difference. Terpedoes paper was very detailed and specific. It answered almost all the questions that the judges were consistently asking.

The Terpedoes were naturally delighted with their victory. An elated Moreno-Hines said, I think we owe this success to setting really high standards as a team. We worked together really well and had great team dynamics. And that really matters when things get stressful.

Wells agreeing with Moreno-Hines added that, Also the different skills that we brought to the table, nicely complemented each other.

When asked to give advice to the full-time MBA students who will be competing in a similar case competition in the fall, Zee said that make sure that the team works together and has a story that is consistent. Sachs added that it is important to push hard upfront and not waste a minute.

The other finalists were CruzControl (Vincent Audric, Deepak Hariharan, Deepak Misra, Nehra Sanjeev, Chirayu Shah), Drink from the Firehose, LLC (Moshe Cohen, Jason Davis, Nathaniel Forgotson, Shad Imam, Thomas Whelan) and Oceans Five (Ryan Higgins, Aaron Gage, Kirk Waldrop, Alon Kupferman, Jim Bogan). The second-place team, Drink From the Firehose, received the audience award for "Best Team." Nathaniel Forgotson was awarded "Most Consulting Potential" and Shad Imam was awarded the "Bull Smith" award.

There was a reception for the Smith community following the presentations in the Thomas G. Pownall Grand Atrium immediately after the winners were announced.

The Smith MBA Case competition is designed to integrate both oral and written assignments and individual assessments culminating in a seven day competition. During this competition students integrate elements from their various courses and demonstrate mastery of their communications skills. A Harvard Business Review case is selected and kept secret from all students and judges until the event begins.

Teams of four to five students are then given this case that deals with the broad strategy issues facing a company. The teams present their analyses and recommendations in written and oral presentations. In a multistage competition, teams are selected to advance to the final round, which is judged by a panel of business leaders who play the role of the company's board of directors.

During the opening round held on February 20, 2006, eight faculty judges evaluated 39 student team proposals from 188 students in four programs at three campuses. In Round Two held on February 24, the 39 teams from Round One were reduced to 16 and given four days to prepare their second round presentations. At the end of the day only the top four teams went to the Final Round held on March 3.

▓Smith Media Group, Sachin Agarwal, MBA Candidate 2007