The Kelley School of Business Indianapolis plays hosts Friday to the annual Kelley-Krannert Business Competition, a contest between bright business minds from two respected programs.
The competition, which has been held annually since 1999, will feature four teams of four students from each school. Kelley Bloomington is expected to field three teams and Kelley Indianapolis will field the fourth. The preliminary presentations will take place Saturday morning and finalists will present after lunch the same day before a winner is named.
“This competition will test the students’ critical career skills by seeing if they are able to think on their feet and use critical thinking to address a real business problem,” said Mark Ippolito, senior lecturer in operations management at Kelley Indianapolis and faculty sponsor for the team.
The case competition involves the teams conducting an in-depth analysis of an actual business issue faced by local companies and formulating a proper response to address the issue. The teams are judged by local industry leaders on the depth of their plan, solutions and the quality of their presentation.
The competition does include a cash prize, but “this is really about bragging rights,” Ippolito said.
“This experience also helps you distinguish yourself (as a new graduate) when you get into the job market,” he added.
The competition this year surrounds the Warsaw, Ind., based Biomet, a medical manufacturing company. Roger Schmenner, former Kelley Indianapolis dean and former chief of staff to the Chancellor’s Office at IUPUI, personally drafted the case this year by working closely with Biomet officials, some of whom are expected to be at the presentations.
Leaders in a diverse array of industries in Central Indiana will appear at the competition and judge the presentations. Some of the companies represented include Brightpoint, Redcats, Peerless Pumps, Fiserv, FinishMaster and Roche Diagnostics.
“They will be looking at ‘Did they seem to extract what the fundamental issues are?’ and ‘Here is what we think the companies should do and why,’” Ippolito said.
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