For the second consecutive year, a team of undergraduate students from Fisher took home the top prize at a national competition designed to test their global trade and international business skills.

Angela Fisher, Alexander Klosterman, John Stewart and Linh Tran represented Fisher at the 2022 NASBITE International Case Competition, hosted by the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE). The Fisher students topped teams from 17 other universities and colleges from across the country in the first round, and beat out George Washington University, Michigan State University, North Seattle College, Western Washington University, and Youngstown State University in the final round when they presented the best export strategic plan.

The competition provided teams of undergraduate and graduate students with a global trade challenge sourced from the event’s sponsor company, Werner G. Smith Inc. The Cleveland-based company manufactures green chemicals used as industrial additives in everything from markers to ceramics, varnishes, caulks, lubricants, putties and more.

“The choice was extremely difficult for us,” judges from Werner G. Smith said in announcing the winners. “All of the submissions were professional and thorough. Many of the suggestions were recommendations our company would have taken years to compile. The proposals were all valuable to Werner G. Smith. But in the end, we had to choose one proposal, and we felt that the presentation from The Ohio State University was the most polished, the most comprehensive, and the most compelling undergraduate submission.”

The victory highlighted once again a unique, global trade-focused collaboration between Fisher and the Central Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) which is hosted at Columbus State. Roberta Winch, export assistance network director for the Central Ohio SBDC, served as the Fisher team’s case competition coach.

The NASBITE International Case Competition provides college and university students the opportunity to work collaboratively on creative solutions to real-world international business challenges to expand global markets, and to put their research, presentation and networking skills to work.

For sponsoring companies, the competition connects them to the very best business students who understand the exporting function and offers potential solutions to their international business challenges.

“Every member of the winning Fisher team participated in the state-wide Ohio Export Internship Program and was well-prepared and well-coached as a result of this unique program,” said Joyce Steffan, senior director of Fisher’s Office of Global Business. 

“This collaboration with the Ohio Department of Development, 19 universities and colleges across the state, and many small to medium-sized businesses in Ohio has proven to be an extremely effective way for students to apply global trade theories learned in the course to opportunities at Ohio companies, which benefit by expanding their global markets. Fisher is proud to have been a part of this OEIP program since 2012, and we are certainly proud of our students who worked extremely hard to win this competition again.”