Undergraduate case competition mixes challenges and rewards.

Alejandro Euse, left, and Giovanni Rondon, right, at the national Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition at the company’s headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ.

Two teams of students from the College of Business Administration donned the hats of employees of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as participants in the 2006 Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition. Their task: to recommend future plans for MindEase, a drug for schizophrenia, whose patent was about to expire, thereby opening the door for other companies to use the formula to produce competitive products.

“We had three choices,” said Alejandro Euse, vice president of the Florida International University Accounting Association (FIU-AA), who served as strategic analyst. “We could recommend that J&J go generic and compete; change the delivery system from a pill to an injection, which is a more stable method that’s been researched for more than ten years and that would give them a new ten-year patent; or obtain a license to market to a whole new group, in this case, autistic children.”

The team, which also included Paola Hernandez, who hopes to graduate in the spring, 2007, with a management major and who was the team’s marketing strategist; Anneli Hilpinen (BBA ’06) a magna cum laude graduate who has started the college’s Evening MBA program and was the financial analyst; and finance major and team finance specialist, Giovanni Rondon, opted for the third choice. They then spent an intense month—about twenty-five to thirty hours per week—preparing. In addition to their research and analyses, they reviewed last year’s case and got some much-appreciated advice from members of the 2004 team, which won the national competition, held annually at J&J headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ.

Competition uses and refines many skills.

Paola Hernandez at the national Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition.

“Preparing for the case competition made us use all the knowledge we have acquired during our studies,” Hilpinen said. “The biggest challenge was to balance the daily hours between classwork and the project.”

According to Euse, “I learned how to work on a team, how to apply what I’ve learned in class, how to present well, and how to manage my time, which was probably the biggest challenge.”

He admits that, “the local presentation was intimidating, particularly the Q&A, but we had prepared. Presenting at headquarters also was intimidating, in part because we presented tenth, so we got to see most of the presentations before we made ours. But it’s all about practice. That helps quiet the butterflies.”

Hernandez agreed.

Anneli Hilpinen at the national Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition at the company’s headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ.

“Once we had the case prepared, we had to practice, practice, practice for the presentation on campus,” she said. “As soon as we arrived in New Jersey, we started practicing again and stayed up practicing until about 3:00 a.m.”

The payoff: winning team gets to compete at national level in a field of twelve top schools.

After their all-expense paid trip to New Jersey, the foursome got to meet key people at the company’s headquarters, tour the site, and network with students from the other schools. In addition, the experience was an eye-opener for Hilpinen.

“My view of America is now more diverse, since the atmosphere of New Brunswick is very different from that in Miami,” she said.

“I made great friends,” Hernandez said. “It was an amazing experience!”

Team members urge others to participate.

Not only does participating in a case study develop analytic and presentation skills, it also can have a positive impact on students’ futures.

“Students may get internships that enable them to apply what they’ve learned in the case study,” Euse said. “I knew it would really challenge me and felt it was important for me to do before I get a graduate degree. Also, if your team wins, you’ll get exposure on the national level, meet top executives, have a great item for your resume, and be able to represent the university.”

A second team composed of six juniors and seniors from various disciplines within the college participated in the local event. This year’s panel of judges consisted of three from Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company; and two from the college: Ellie Browner, director of student and alumni services, who works with graduate students participating in case studies; and Andrew McCosh, eminent scholar, Department of Finance.