Jenkins MBA Students Reach Final Round in Net Impact Sustainability Competition
Team captain Stacie Nagy (MBA ’11), Mark Kendall (MBA ’11), and Yung-Yun Huang (MBA ’11) graduated in May with a supply chain concentration. Team member Zachary Tinkler (MBA ’12) is in his second year in the MBA program, and is taking the Jenkins MBA program’s marketing concentration.
They were competing against teams from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and Marlboro College’s MBA in Managing for Sustainability program. The Ross team ultimately won, but this is the second time in this academic year that Jenkins MBA students made it to the top three in a national case competition. Last month, Jenkins MBA student Derek V. DeShane also helped an NC State University team come in second in the Triangle Global Health Case competition.
Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization of MBA and other students inspiring people to use business to create a more environmentally sustainable world. Poole College has a chapter based in its Jenkins MBA program.
xpedx, a top paper distributor and paper supplier, challenged the Net Impact community back in February, asked applicants to create a sustainability scorecard for its suppliers as part of the company’s major sustainability initiatives within its own operations and to promote sustainable business practices throughout its supply chain. [“Read about the challenge”: http://www.netimpact.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=3528.]
“Being one of the finalist teams was a huge honor,” Nagy said, adding that she especially enjoyed working on the completion in an area that she’d like to work in – supply chain sustainability- and in an area that is becoming increasingly important in corporate culture worldwide, she says.
A Rigorous Project
Kendall, who has accepted a position with a supply chain rotation program for Bank of America, said that while the contest was exciting, it was hard work. The team initially spent a week brainstorming and then hours writing and applying for the contest. To be considered, the team had to pitch what makes a good survey, what makes a good standard and how their ideas align with the company’s and suppliers’ goals.
As finalists, the Jenkins MBA students were asked to include a vendor survey, a sustainability scorecard and an analysis of why they believed this scorecard and survey will meet the company’s needs. Much was at stake because the results of the competition would be instrumental in strengthening xpedx’s sustainability program and laying the foundation for an ongoing dialogue with suppliers to enhance their commitment to sustainability.
Asked why the NC State University team did so well, Dave Wallace, xpedx’s director of sustainability said the NC State Jenkins MBA team’s entry did a great job addressing the company’s goal for the competition.
What the Students Got Out Of It
Kendall says that what he got the most out of the case contest was seeing that every supplier’s needs are different. He also says that the contest taught him that sometimes what the client asks for and what they actually want can be different. “Initially we thought we needed a simple solution when in fact the company wanted something quite complex.”
For all the students involved, the experience was well worth it, Nagy says. “Competing with MBA students across the U.S. and on such a helpful project was amazing. There really is no better learning than this.”
