Sean Akamine, Louise Lin, Edward Manfre, Raymond So and Jeremy Zavoral advanced to the next round of the YUM! Brand Case Competition and will be flying to Louiseville, Kentucky to compete against teams from other top business schools. MBA.PM'ers from the class of 2013, their backgrounds span various industries specializing across a range of disciplines including consulting, marketing, IT and operations.
What did we win?
YUM! Brand Case Competition. 4 Marshall Teams competed for the privilege of presenting in front of YUM! executives @ YUM! headquarters in Louisville, KY. During the finals in Louisville, KY we will be going up against other MBA programs including Harvard, McCombs (UT Austin), Kellogg, Wake Forest and Michigan. Winner receives $250,000 donated in their name to the UN World Food Programme.
What was the case competition about?
Make strategic recommendations on how to help YUM! build awareness, increase donations and engage more volunteerism for World Hunger Relief.
Why we did it?
We took on this project because we saw a tremendous opportunity to contribute to an enduring legacy for future generations of a healthier, more productive, and hopeful planet. We also feel this experience is a terrific opportunity for us, as MBA.PM students, to bring more prestige to both the USC Marshall School of Business and our specific Professionals and Managers program. Recently, our fellow MBA.PM students have done well in case competitions and have received numerous offers for some of the most coveted internship positions available to our school. We believe that this moment is an opportunity for USC Marshall to be recognized amongst the top distinguished business schools around the world.
Who do we want to thank?
CSO: Anne Ziemniak, Onma Lwin, Latanya Seale and Elaine Sommers for helping to coordinate the event.
Professors: Special thanks to Professor Sasha Strauss whom taught 4 of our 5 team members the Branding Strategy framework that help us come up with our recommendations. Thank you Professor Hank Wasiak for helping us rethink the emotional and social aspect of the project. Also, thanks to Professor Adlai Wertman for challenging us to refine our recommendations.