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2009 SDSU International Sports MBA Case Competition SDSU, MALARIA NO MORE, AND THE SAN DIEGO PADRES ANNOUCE
SAN DIEGO – (February 24, 2009) – On Friday, February 20, in conjunction with the non-profit organization Malaria No More and the San Diego Padres Baseball Club, San Diego State University’s Sports Business Management MBA Program hosted the fourth annual Sports MBA Case Competition. The event was held at PETCO Park and featured teams of MBA students representing the University of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Georgetown University, New York University, Oxford University (England) and SDSU. This year’s case competition continued the event’s rich tradition of involvement with world-class organizations, but added the compelling element of non-profit work by Malaria No More on-board as the case partner. The challenge posed to teams from top MBA programs was to develop a strategy to help eliminate malaria deaths through the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The case challenged students to capitalize on the attention that will be focused on Africa during the World Cup, and generate world-wide awareness and action aimed at reducing malaria deaths on the continent. The Columbia University Graduate School of Business team of Eileen Ahasic, Jon Budish, Peter Simon and Ryan McRae came in first place with a dynamic and powerful branding strategy. Team Columbia recommended a partnership with youth soccer in the U.S. to raise funds to send anti-malaria mosquito netting to Africa by creating “Soccer Without a Net Day,” an event in which all youth soccer teams in the U.S. play a game without a net in each goal. The judges for the event included: Malaria No More CEO Scott Case; Malaria No More Director of Marketing Alix Wilson; San Diego Union-Tribune sportswriter Mark Zeigler; MLB Advanced Media Vice President Alexander Pigeon; CAA Sports Executive Scott Pruitt; Formation Sports & Media Marketing Director Eddie Salcedo; and O’Brien Marketing Executive Vice President Dondi Kingsbury. Malaria No More CEO Scott Case had high praise for the effort of the winning team, and invited the group to stay further involved with the efforts of the organization as they continue on in business school. “In just 24 hours, these teams presented strategies that rival those we would expect to receive from professional firms,” said Mr. Case. “Not only did the students display remarkable creativity and innovation to help us achieve our goals, but they also learned what a pivotal role marketing and business can play in the global effort to end malaria deaths.” The international team of Matthew Himelstein, David Harris, Graham Howe, and Ryan Macaskill representing the Saïd Business School from Oxford University finished second. The Oxford team proposed a strategy geared toward raising awareness in the U.K. through a fantasy soccer contest and a partnership with each team in the Barclay’s English Premier League. The team representing the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business finished third with a campaign that mirrored Nike’s yellow Livestrong bracelets, selling light blue shoelaces to the global soccer community to raise awareness for light blue lifesaving malaria nets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business received an honorable mention for its idea to generate anti-malaria awareness via a global kickoff concert similar to Live Aid. Upon completion of the competition, Malaria No More began mining the information provided to utilize as many of the ideas as possible in its forthcoming efforts to catalyze communities and raise malaria awareness in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup. Alix Wilson, Malaria No More’s Director of Marketing and a judge for the competition, said, “The students were remarkable. They provided us with sophisticated ideas that we can put into practice right away and great suggestions that will ensure the program’s success.” |
Alix Wilson, Malaria No More’s Director of Marketing and a judge for the competition, said, “The students were remarkable. They gave us sophisticated ideas that we can put into practice right away and great suggestions that will ensure the program’s success.”
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