Sunday, Apr 1, 2012
The College of Business Administration students competed against teams from nine other teams in March.
by Meaghan Haugh
Four students from the College of Business Administration represented Rider in the national phase of the Johnson & Johnson National Business Case Competition on March 29 and 30 at J&J’s Worldwide Headquarters in North Brunswick.
The Rider team was composed of Eric Elgin ’14, an Accounting major; Bryan Griffith ’13, a Marketing major; Victoria Marquardt ’14, an Accounting major; and Jonathan Moyer ’13, an Accounting major.
The team was selected during a preliminary round of the competition, judged by J&J executives, on February 23 on the Lawrenceville campus where four other Rider teams also competed. This year, 18 accounting, finance and marketing students participated in the preliminary round. Dr. Larry Prober, associate professor of Accounting, and Dr. Cynthia Newman, director of International Partnerships and associate professor of Marketing, served as advisers to the Rider teams.
As part of the case competition, the teams were required to make a recommendation on whether to lease or buy a skin care product line from an internationally based company and on how to position, price and promote that line to the United States market.
Last year, a team from Rider captured a third place victory at the competition. Though this year's team did not place in the top three, Newman said the students represented themselves very well.
“The team’s presentation was a very professional and compelling analysis of the situation,” she said. “They presented a strategically motivated recommendation that was justified by financial analysis as well as a consideration of the company’s mission and values.”
The Rider team competed against teams from nine other institutions, including Rutgers University, the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania, Seton Hall University and Florida International University.