CoB MBA Team Wins Third Place in National Field Case Competition

UC MBA students Sarah Ramsey, Stephanie Trautwein and Chris Roesing achieved Third Place in the 2006–07 National SBI Case of the Year in the Graduate Specialized category for their excellent field work for the Winton Place Community Council. The results were announced at the Small Business Institute® Case of the Year awards ceremony held at the annual joint conference of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and the Small Business Institute® (SBI) in Orlando, Florida.

UC’s Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research, in conjunction with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), each year holds an internal best field case competition, “The Cecil Boatright Business Plan Competition,” to select the top field cases completed by CoB teams. The winner of the Boatright competition goes on to represent UC at the national level.

“Over the past six years, we have been most fortunate to bring home three National titles for Best Graduate Case of the Year in the comprehensive category along with a third place and an honorable mention,” says Chuck Matthews, director, UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research.

“The team's analysis for the Winton Place Community Council Cincinnati Neighborhoods Initiative Project provided an insightful and in-depth overview and benchmark of the structure, policies and practices of the relationship between the City of Cincinnati and its 52 neighborhoods,” Matthews notes. “This is an outstanding accomplishment given the quality and scope of the competition.”

From over 150 eligible schools across the U.S., 28 of the top cases were whittled down to the final six at the national graduate level. In addition to receiving a plaque from the Small Business Institute®, the team will also receive a cash award sponsored in part by the national office of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE).

“It is also noteworthy that this year's MBA team included two arts administration students (Roesing and Trautwein ),” Matthews adds, “and the winning field case was part of a new Service Corps Net Impact initiative started on the UC campus in 2005–06, led by MBA alum Abhishek Gupta, and MBA students Miah Schneider and Sarah Ramsey.” The Net Impact initiative seeks to leverage business and community service. The UC CoB Service Corps course was recently featured on the Net Impact web site as a Best Practice program.

The Winton Place Community council team will be formally recognized at the 9th Annual UC Entrepreneurship Recognition Banquet, May 17, 2007, at the Kingsgate Conference Center.

About the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Small Business Institute® (SBI) Program

The University of Cincinnati SBI program operates a field case-study program that provides no-cost counseling to area businesses and non-profit organizations. The focus of the field case study program is twofold:

• To provide a meaningful learning experience for students interested in small, entrepreneurial corporate, and not-for-profit ventures; and
• To provide personalized, confidential management  counseling to Greater Cincinnati businesses and organizations participating in the experience.

Under faculty guidance, teams of graduate-level or senior undergraduate-level students meet with business owners/managers over the 10-week academic term to assess problems and issues confronting the business and make recommendations for improvement.

UC's entrepreneurship program was ranked among the top 50 programs of its kind in 2001 by Success magazine, and was nationally ranked in 2003, 2004, and 2005 by Entrepreneurship magazine. A major thrust of the E-Center is to foster and facilitate entrepreneurship across the campus.

About SIFE

SIFE is an extensive network of 1600 college and university chapters in 40 countries that provides students the opportunity to develop and apply leadership, teamwork, and communication skills through learning, practicing, and teaching the principles of free enterprise.