BYU, Indiana University Top 2013 Business Language Case Competition

PROVO, Utah – Dec 02, 2013 – Teams of three from universities across the country gathered at Brigham Young University to present practical solutions to real-world business cases in the 2013 Business Language Case Competition.

BYU garnered first place in the Chinese division of the annual competition for the second consecutive year while Indiana University took the title in Spanish for the second time in three years.

The day-long competition hosted by the Whitmore Global Management Center at BYU’s Marriott School of Management featured model business plan presentations from students to a panel of judges in Chinese or Spanish.

“I was impressed at how well the students prepared for this competition,” says Laura Ricks, GMC international program coordinator. “They did this on top of their school work, jobs and other activities, and they all did an incredible job.”

Teams were composed of non-native speakers and were allotted only 15 minutes to present their business plan to the judges followed by a rigorous question-and-answer session. After three rounds of presentations the top three teams faced off in the decisive final round.

BYU’s Chinese category champions, consisted of Jace Stoker, a senior in history from Henderson, Nev.; Braden Nielson, a senior in Chinese from Doylestown, Penn.; and Chad Faulkner, a senior in economics from Provo. The University of Notre Dame took the second and third spots, respectively.

“The judges really enjoyed our analysis and how we presented it,” Nielson says. “The competition inspired me to put more effort into improving my Chinese daily.”

The Spanish winners from Indiana University were led by Nathan Lohrmann, a senior in operations management and marketing; Brianna Terrell, a finance and international business senior; and junior Paul Gilson, majoring in business economics and public policy. Emory University and the University of Washington followed up in second and third place.

“It feels really good to win,” Lohrmann says. “We lost a close race last year so we had very high hopes. To actually win is great.”

The combination of presenting an engaging business solution and doing it in a foreign language was a confidence builder for students considering a future in international business.

“After successfully presenting to three panels of native Chinese businesspeople, I really feel I can effectively use my language skills to solve problems in real business environments,” Faulkner says.

The competition was co-sponsored by the University of Colorado Denver and Michigan State University. Other participants included Emory University; University of Connecticut; University of Washington; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; University of Pittsburgh; and American University.