Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

MTU’s DECA Soared at State Conference

Published April 18, 2016

Students from Michigan Tech’s chapter of Distributive Educational Clubs of America (DECA) attended the State Career Development Conference over spring break. The competition has three different types of events which include case studies, business simulations, and prepared events. The students are given thirty minutes to an hour to prepare the event depending on the type, and then present their findings to judges who grade them based on specific performance indicators. For the business simulations and case studies, no outside materials are allowed. The competition is designed to take the knowledge students learn inside the classroom and apply it to real world problems. The judges are professionals from that specific area meaning that the judge typically works for a firm within that industry and/or holds certifications which makes them competent to judge the event. This year, eleven members from Michigan Tech attended the conference, and nine qualified for the International Career Development Conference. Ken Arndt placed third in the corporate finance event, and Cassandra Barry (pictured below) placed first in the accounting event. In Michigan Tech’s chapter of DECA, placing first in any event had only occurred three times, once when the chapter was established, and twice in 2013.

Project Management Institute Competition

Published April 15, 2016

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Competitions

Each year Michigan Tech’s OSM4200 Advanced Project Management course competes in the West Michigan Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) competition in Grand Rapids Michigan. This year’s project plan was based on improving the health of children ages 5-18 years of age in the State of Michigan. Michigan Tech Team B placed 3rd out of 13 teams in THE Project 2016 project management plan competition on Monday, April 11, 2016 held in Grand Rapids, MI. The team’s mentor was Shawn Rathbun, a Michigan Tech alum. Dr. Dana Johnson, Professor of Supply Chain and Engineering Management was the teams Project Champion and Faculty Advisor. The team members were:

Erika Tenizbaeva, Undergraduate Student – Management major with concentration in Supply Chain and Operations Management

Kwang Suthijindawong: Undergraduate Student – Management Information Systems and Operations & System Management majors

Syed Awn Muhammad Jafri: Graduate Student in Electrical Engineering

Karan Gujarathi: Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering

Cody Waffle: Undergraduate Student – Engineering Management

This is the fifth year of the competition. Michigan Tech is the only University to place at least one team in the top four for all five years. This year’s team was awarded $2,000 to split between the team members. To learn more about the competition, http://www.mtu.edu/business/more/orgs-activities/the-project/.

– Story by Dr. Dana Johnson

SBE Faculty Recognized by Fraternities and Sororities

Published April 12, 2016

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Faculty and Staff

On Sunday, about 250 students gathered for the 10th Annual Greek Life Awards Ceremony in the MUB Ballroom.

In addition to the many student awards presented, Order of Omega, the Greek Life Honor Society that coordinates the awards, also took the time to recognize some exceptional faculty and staff.

There are more than 500 students in fraternities and sororities at Michigan Tech and Order of Omega wants to emphasize Outstanding Faculty and Staff Awards come directly from the students.

When writing a nomination for the Outstanding Faculty Award, students were asked to consider faculty who:
are dedicated to supporting students and helping them succeed academically
demonstrate a passion for teaching and/or research
utilize innovative teaching methods
promote academic integrity among students
When writing a nomination for the Outstanding Staff Award, students were asked to consider staff who:
are dedicated to supporting students and helping them succeed both inside and outside the classroom
demonstrate a passion for working with students
promote and inspire the Michigan Tech Values of Community, Scholarship, Possibilities, Accountability and Tenacity

The following faculty and staff members were nominated by members of the Greek community and were recognized at the 2016 Greek Life Awards Ceremony (winners in bold):

Faculty:
Dana Johnson (SBE)
Jeffrey Wall (SBE)
Ted Anderson (SoT)
Tony Rogers (ChE)
Staff:
Cody Kangas (Center for Pre-College Outreach)
Jannah Brandt (Center for Pre-College Outreach)
Mark Maroste (Auxiliary Services)
Whitney Boroski (Wellness)

These nominations were written by individual students and were supported by an entire fraternity or sorority.

In addition, Ellen Horsch, VP for Administration, was honored with the Outstanding Chapter Advisor of the Year Award. Ellen has served as an advisor for Alpha Gamma Delta Women’s Fraternity for 30 years.

Congratulations to all the faculty and staff who were nominated and thank you for inspiring and motivating students!

Story from Tech Today on Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Two Michigan Tech Teams Win New Venture Competition

Published April 12, 2016

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Two student teams from Michigan Tech each brought home $10,000 or more in venture funding from the New Venture Competition at Central Michigan University last weekend.

Superior Filament, led by Cedric Kennedy, Aubrey Woern and Jos Krugh, brought home a $10,000 Best Technology Award, as well as another $1,000 for Best Pitch and the $250 Audience Choice Award.

The student-run company is developing filment for 3-D printers from recycled plastics to support growth in the 3-D printing industry while reducing environmental impact.

We Inspire, led by Arick Davis, won the $10,00 Korson Family Highest Growth Potential Award. We Inspire is developing an online system and community to help students make informed career choices by connecting them with profiles and feedback from practicing professionals.

Two other Michigan Tech teams participated in the annual entrepreneurial competition. TRU is developing a big data solution with proprietary algorithms to help performance athletes optimize performance through informed nutritional and dietary supplement choices.

Huskies 4 Hire is connecting students looking for short-term employment opportunities with community members seeking temporary employees.

The Pavlis Honors College helped sponsor the event financially. The student teams received support from Michigan Tech’s Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship, the School of Business and Economics and the MTEC SMartZone..

Story written by Jenn Donovan in Tech Today – Tuesday, April 12 2016

To read more, check out senior electrical engineering major, Arick Davis’ LinkedIn post.

Brown Bag Lunch Seminar

Published April 11, 2016

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The School of Business and Economics will have its third brown bag lunch research seminar from noon to 1 p.m. on April 21, in Academic Office Building (AOB) 101. Associate Professor of Accounting Robert Hutchinson will present his latest research. All interested members of the MTU community are invited.

Title: Intangible Resource Value and Tobin’s Q: Evidence from the Super Bowl.

Abstract:

The emergent resource-based view of competitive strategy is that companies survive in the long-run by developing unique capabilities that are firm-specific and difficult to duplicate. Brand equity represents one of the most valuable, unique, and potentially long-lasting of these resources, and the need for developing accounting measures that allow for the efficient management of such resources is increasingly recognized. This study uses a unique data set to empirically examine the impact of one of the most exclusive and coveted forms marketing activities, Super Bowl advertising, on long-term brand equity via the q ratio. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between the management accounting and marketing management literatures by providing a practical application of the q ratio and a resource-based perspective on the reporting of intangible assets.