Students from Morgan State University’s Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management edged out their counterparts from Howard University to place first in the 2015 Boeing Business and Information Technology Case Competition. The MSU and Howard teams advanced to the final “face-off” after each successfully competed against four teams on their home campuses. The finals, held this past November, took place at Boeing’s state-of-the-art Collaboration Center in northern Virginia. Senior executives of The Boeing Company judged the two presentations and selected MSU as the winner.
Members of the MSU team were Simphiwe Denalane (Information Science and Systems), Shawn Elliott (Business Administration), Morgan McKie (Accounting and Finance) and Mariah Spencer (Business Administration), who presented innovative solutions to the business case, which focused on production of the CH-47F Chinook helicopter. The team recommended ways to increase factory production, ensure contact deadlines were met or exceeded, cut costs and introduce new technology on the production floor. Judges cited the MSU team’s professionalism, depth of analysis and thought leadership as key factors in the decision to award first place to the team.
The Boeing Case Competition is hosted by Leo Brooks Jr., vice president, Government Relations at Boeing and executive-in-residence for the Graves Honors Program. Boeing has strong partnerships with both Morgan and Howard and would like to foster more interaction between the two campuses. Students from both universities gained valuable experience as well as exposure to senior-level and hiring managers of Boeing.