BYU CIBER Hosts Second Business Language Case Competition by Scott Hathaway
No translators needed. The Kay and Yvonne Whitmore Global Management Center recently held its second annual Business Language Case Competition. Seventeen teams from universities around the United States came to Brigham Young University to present recommendations for international businesses in Spanish and Portuguese. The six finalist teams were each awarded $1,000 from the Whitmore Global Management Center.
"This competition puts students in a real-life business presentation setting where they have to use their secondary language skills to communicate," says Patricia Gomez, professor and coach for students from Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. "The question-and-answer portion of the presentation is a real challenge; students have to learn to think on their feet."
Each three-person team received the business case two weeks before the competition. Teams were required to analyze the case, conduct research, and prepare solutions to the
BYU CIBER Hosts Second Business Language Case Competition challenges facing the international businesses represented in the case.
"We spent so much time preparing; it was great to finally see our hard work pay off," says Katerina Semida, a student from the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in finance and international studies. "Working through the questions in Spanish gave us a chance to show the judges the work we'd put into the presentation."
On the day of competition, each team presented their recommendations to a panel of three native-speaking judges in the morning, and six teams were selected to move onto the final round in the afternoon. At the awards banquet, Daniel Garcia, Jeremy Stoker, and Zach Neukirchen from BYU placed first in Portuguese. Perter Harris, Jair Hernandez, and Tyrel Fitzpatrick from BYU placed first in Spanish.
"This competition gives students a challenging opportunity to refine their language skills in a professional business setting," says Cynthia Halliday, managing director of the Whitmore Global Management Center. "We had an excellent competition this year, and we look forward to improving and expanding our program in the future."
Teams from Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Bryant University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, University of Tulsa, University of Washington, Utah State University, and Utah Valley University participated in the competition
