BY Vicky Brito
EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapter has been named one of 10 finalists in the AMA Collegiate Case Competition.
The AMA Collegiate Case Competition is an annual, international Collegiate Case competition open to undergraduate teams at schools that have an affiliated AMA Collegiate Chapter.
The purpose of the Case Competition is to provide AMA Collegiate members the opportunity to work together on a problem that illustrates a real marketing situation, and to provide Case Competition sponsors direct contact with marketing students who have possible real-world solutions to their marketing problem.
Reto Felix, UTRGV’s AMA Chapter advisor and assistant professor of marketing, said schools are issued a “case” from the sponsor company – this year, The Hershey Company. The “case” this year is for the teams to develop a marketing solution for a new mint chewing product.
“It’s a real case situation with a real company’s product,” Felix said. “They want a marketing plan and directions to market this product. This is real case, real product, from a real company, and they want a solution on how to improve it.”
The UTRGV team is made up of:
Oscar Ramos, a senior from Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
Daniel Warner, a senior from Harlingen.
Gloria Ensinia, a senior from McAllen.
Fuad Chagollan, a freshman from Mission.
David Perez, a senior from Pharr.
And Julio Salinas, a junior from McAllen.
The other nine Collegiate Chapter finalists are British Colombia Institute of Technology; Chatham University in Pittsburgh; Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich.; Temple University in Philadelphia; Texas State University in San Marcos; University of Nevada-Las Vegas; University of Pennsylvania; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“It is an incredible achievement to get into this exclusive list of finalists,” Felix said.
The case went out in early September 2015 with a deadline of Dec. 5 for submission, allowing the chapters two and a half months to complete the task. Each team worked on a solution, then sent their solutions to a panel of judges, who selected the 10 finalists.
The UTRGV AMA Collegiate Chapter will present its case solution at the AMA Collegiate Case Competition, March 17-19 in New Orleans. A panel of judges will then choose first-, second- and third-place winners.
Groups cannot disclose their solutions until the proposal is presented at the conference in New Orleans.
Oscar Ramos, UTRGV AMA vice president and team leader, said making the top 10 is a thrill and a wonderful accomplishment. He has been on the team for four years, and last year the team got an honorable mention.
“It feels good,” Ramos said. “It is very rewarding, after some struggles and bumps and ups and downs. We finally made it. I’m really excited to represent UTRGV.”
