LeBow MBA Students Finalists in 2010 Pioneer Employer Case Competition

A four-member team of Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business MBA students has been chosen to be among the finalists to compete at the 2010 Pioneer Employer Case Competition: “Raising Wages, Increasing Profits.” The team is comprised of Two-Year MBA students Jason Phifer, Joseph Zaccardi, Carolina Mendoza, and Joseph Cicali.

There are two aspects to the competition. First, the team analyzed a case study related to a pioneer employer, which is a company that has developed a concrete strategic advantage as a direct result of investing in its front-line workforce. This case focuses on the story of Al Fuller, the co-founder of Integrated Packaging Corporation (IPC), who dramatically improved the standard-of-living for his employees while also turning his company’s fortunes around.  

For the second aspect of the competition, the team designed a curriculum-change proposal for incorporating more corporate social responsibility case studies and classes into LeBow College’s MBA curriculum.

“The most important factor to our success so far was the collaborative efforts of every team member,” Phifer says.  “Each member contributed excellent ideas which were incorporated into our final analysis and proposal. Another important factor to our success was the tremendous support we received from Drexel’s faculty and staff, which had a huge impact on the thoroughness of our analysis.”  

In October, the team will present its analysis and proposal to a panel of judges that includes IPC co-founder Fuller at the University of Michigan, competing for the top prize of $10,000. The competition is sponsored by the Hitachi Foundation and Net Impact.