Southwest Airlines execs to judge MBA students’ business strategies Nov. 21

11:50 a.m., Nov. 13, 2003--Executives from Southwest Airlines and from the Delaware corporate community will serve as judges when some of the University’s top business students present business strategies the airline might consider for its future operations.

The occasion will be the final round of the annual MBA Case Competition, to be held at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 21, in Alfred Lerner Hall. Teams of students enrolled in the master of business administration (MBA) program will make presentations to a panel of business leaders, who will select the winning team later that afternoon.

The competition is held in conjunction with the MBA SUCCESS program, an acronym for “strategic utilization of case competitions to enhance student skills.” The program began last fall as a way to give students in UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics more experience in analytical and presentation skills and to showcase those skills to the larger business community.

This year’s case is titled, “Southwest Airlines: An Industry Under Siege.” It focuses on Southwest, one of the world’s most successful airlines and often considered a model of efficient, customer-oriented service. The case raises questions about what Southwest should do to maintain its position in a global industry that has been rocked by international economic uncertainties and the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

Teams, each consisting of three or four MBA students, have researched the company and the industry and have prepared 25-minute presentations to deliver to the airline’s executives. A preliminary round of presentations will be made Nov. 14 to judges who are alumni of the MBA program. Four teams will be selected as finalists to make their presentations again Nov. 21.

“This kind of competition is an excellent experience for students because it gives them a chance to tie together the great variety of things they’ve learned in all of their individual classes,” according to Gary Weaver, associate professor of management, who organized this year’s competition. “It also gives them a chance to think comprehensively about business issues in front of a distinguished panel of people who will ask them challenging questions. Talking to a business professional in the field can be very different from talking to a professor.”

Weaver said the case was selected specifically to encompass a variety of issues, allowing students to address such areas as marketing, business strategies, operations and other topics of their choice. After each presentation, the judges will have 15 minutes to ask the students questions.

Judging the final round will be Michael Miller, Southwest Airlines’ director of operations at Baltimore-Washington International Airport; Karen Price-Ward, district marketing director for Southwest; William F. Frame, president and CEO of Ballymore Co.; Alexander F. Giacco, chairman of Axess Corp.; Peter A. Lankau, president and COO of Endo Pharmaceuticals; and Robert A. Matarese, senior vice president of Wilmington Trust Co.

After hearing all the finalists’ presentations, the judges will confer and then announce the winner at an awards reception that will begin about 4:15 p.m.

Article by Ann Manser

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