As a top-tier business school, Fisher College of Business provides students in its Full-Time MBA program with opportunities to hone their collaboration, presentation and teamwork stills through robust case competitions — on campus and across the country.

Those were among the skills put to the test as four MBA students took first place at the sixth-annual Deloitte Supply Chain Challenge, a case competition that was held on the campus of the University of Southern California. The team members shared a $5,000 prize, and Fisher will have the opportunity to host the competition in the fall of 2019.

The team was composed of first-year MBA students Alex Beutel, Andrew Rizkallah, Chris Scott and Ben Spragg. Michael Knemeyer, professor of logistics, served as the team’s faculty advisor and attended the competition in Los Angeles.

Fisher was one of eight business schools from across the United States to participate in the competition, which Deloitte hosts each year at one of the participating schools. The Fisher team competed against MBA students from University of Southern California, Brigham Young University, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, The University of Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Leading up to the national event, the team competed against nine other Fisher teams at a first-round case competition held on campus in October.

The second-round, national case competition occurred over two days in November and began as a 12-hour simulation structured to resemble a real consulting engagement. Each team reviewed a case brief, brainstormed and developed a solution deck that was due at the end of the day. Throughout the day, teams had opportunities to interact with a Deloitte consultant who served as a project manager. Teams presented their solutions the following morning.

For Beutel, the competition presented a unique opportunity to showcase what he and his teammates are learning in the Full-Time MBA program.

“We were humbled by the opportunity to not only represent our class, but the entire Fisher community on a national stage,” he said. “We all take a lot of pride in The Ohio State University and the Fisher MBA, and we were thrilled to have our work validated against other great MBA programs.”

Competing in the national competition was appealing because of the opportunity to network with current consultants and partners within Deloitte and its Supply Chain Network Operations practice, Scott said.

“The recruiting process for consulting is very competitive and selective across MBA candidates, so networking is one of the most rewarding parts of getting to attend the competition,” he said. “We also discovered that select participants would be given an opportunity to interview with Deloitte for a summer internship.”

Gathering client information, analyzing it and then presenting conclusions as a team was particularly impactful for Rizkallah, and it offered a practical opportunity to apply lessons learned in the classroom.

“This competition gave us the chance to integrate everything that we’ve learned so far at Fisher and to add in our unique career backgrounds,” he said.

For Spragg, the competition served as an exciting primer for the type of career opportunities awaiting the team members following graduation.

“It was awesome to get the chance to know that we’ll be ready for the next step in our careers,” he said. “For Fisher, we’re hoping that incremental successes like these can build long-term brand value for the college.”