On Saturday, January 28, 2012, three teams of MBA students faced-off against each other by presenting their analyses of a merger and acquisition case to an expert panel of M&A professionals during first round of the ACG Cup competition.
In what was called, “the best and closest competition in its three year history at UM-Flint” by lead judge Michael D. Malaga the team consisting of Xiaoyi Chen, Jaylen Etefia, Damir Galic, and Masih Siddiqui pulled out a narrow victory over their competitors.
“It was quite suspenseful,” noted professor Dale Tuttle, “as the panel of judges deliberated for nearly an hour before returning” to one of the new case rooms in the Riverfront Center where this year’s competition was held. “All the teams did a great job with both analyses and presentations. Knowing everyone had put so much effort into the process, it was a bitter-sweet moment when the winners were announced.”
Along with the satisfaction of winning, Xiaoyi, Jaylen, Damir and Masih will share a $1000 scholarship and go on to represent UM-Flint’s School of Management on February 11 during the regional ACG Cup Championship to be held at Wayne State in Detroit. Our students will be competing against teams of MBAs from UM’s Ross School, MSU’s Broad School and others as they vie for the $5000 first prize scholarship.
Tuttle noted that this year’s competition was part of a two-pronged approach to qualifying the MGT 589 Strategic Management MBA capstone course as a civically engaged course. “Aside from providing students with a very realistic case study judged by highly experienced professionals, each team was provided with three hours of mentoring over a two-week period by a member of a M&A professionals group. This kind of exposure is invaluable in preparing our students for successful careers post graduation.” In addition to the ACG Cup, MGT 589 students will taking part in a Community One project, analyzing the competitive positioning of a local business, meeting with its owner, and presenting their findings and recommendations at the end of the semester.
“It’s an exciting outcome to see a diverse team of MBA students representing China, Croatia, India, and the U.S.A. coming together to achieve success.”