An inherent part of the Broad community is our culture of success. Broad Spartans are hardworking, team-oriented and aspirational. It’s no surprise they’re often found in the winner’s circle.

Most recently, a team of five Full-Time MBA students representing the Department of Supply Chain Management took first place at the 25th International Case Competition, hosted by Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business.

“Our team’s dedication, perseverance, willingness to put in the effort, maturity and passion to achieve excellence were instrumental in achieving this success,” said Anand Nair, Eli Broad Endowed Professor and coach of the student team.

Together, Deepal Chhabra, Amritava Dasgupta, Hitarth Parmar, Karthik Rai and Shraoni Rangnekar outshone 25 teams representing some of the top programs around the world, including the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University and HEC Paris.

Teams worked on solving relevant business challenges related to operations strategy, supply chain management, technology and sustainability. The Spartan team spent more than eight hours — including nights and weekends — on Zoom practice sessions, preparing slides and a presentation that ultimately paid off.

“Our solution looked at aligning competitive priorities involved in the supply chain and operations of an organization to accomplish the objectives of maintaining gross margins, increasing operational efficiency and increasing flexibility,” Parmar said. “We identified solution areas in processes, technologies and company culture and structure. Our solution gave supplier management strategy, talked about technologies such as additive manufacturing and smart factories and looked at postponement and supply chain resilience strategies.

“We were determined to do well during the competition — our preparation was strong and that gave us the confidence to defeat the top schools,” he continued. “It was a thrilling experience, especially since our hard work and perseverance, along with the structure given to our preparation by Professor Anand Nair, was rewarded well.”

Nair shared that the judges appreciated the Spartans’ “well-structured solution that went several layers deep.” Beyond earning bragging rights, the team was awarded $5,000 prize money, and the event was a chance for MBA students to connect with ICC corporate sponsors Honeywell, Emerson, Fortive and Target.

Wayne Hutchison, managing director of the Full-Time MBA Program, added, “Our students in this competition have showcased how the Broad curriculum puts solving problems into practice each and every day, which is the foundation of a top-notch MBA education.”

This win arrived after news that MSU has just achieved a status as the No. 2 MBA in Operations Management worldwide, according to QS World University 2021 Rankings.

“Our team’s success at the 25th ICC re-validates the recent No. 2 global ranking of our MBA Concentration by QS,” said Vedat Verter, department chair and John H. McConnell Endowed Chair Professor. “It is certainly a testament to the quality of our students as well as our faculty.”

With these victories and more, the Broad College’s legacy of success shines on. Through superior work ethic, determination and grit, Spartans have what it takes to pull together, find solutions and make business happen.