DATE: April 25, 2008
 Even a freak Midwestern earthquake couldn't prevent a team of first-year MBA students at the University of Washington's Michael G. Foster School of Business from winning the CIBER International Case Competition – for the second-consecutive year.
The annual competition took place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison April 16-18. The Foster School team of Lauren Darnielle, Fran Lalas, Craig Wiley and Paul Zitarelli illuminated the field of domestic and international schools.
The competition's challenge was deceptively simple: pick a site for Disney's next international theme park. Approximately 21 hours into the 24-hour marathon of analysis and preparation, the Foster students learned firsthand that North American seismic activity is not limited to the Pacific Rim.
Unfazed by the rumblings of the 5.2 quake centered in south-central Illinois, the team polished its winning presentation and delivered a most compelling case for Disneyland India.
The Foster team's edge in analysis perhaps came from their assertion that the new park should serve as a brand center instead of a profit center, introducing Disney to a densely populated part of the world that has barely heard of Mickey Mouse.
But their presentation was peerless. The Foster MBAs used a method of storyboarding the presentation introduced by Dan Turner, associate dean for masters programs and executive education, and passed down from second-year MBA Kevin Kirn, a multiple case competition winner.
The result was a clear victory over the competition, which included Bocconi University (Italy), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (Hong Kong), Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), the Ohio State University, University of Connecticut, University of Kansas, University of Maryland and University of Wisconsin.
"One of the final round judges told us that the decision was easy and unanimous," Zitarelli says. "She praised the rigor of our analysis, the style of our slide deck, and the skill of our presentation. She emphasized how we presented a cohesive story, and behaved as a team that seemed to genuinely like each other."
An academy of Foster School faculty and staff helped prepare the MBAs for the CIBER competition, including Turner; Judith Kalitzki, director of the MBA Leadership Program; Kathy Dewenter, the Joshua Green Family Endowed Professor of finance; Elizabeth Stearns, senior lecturer in marketing; and team advisor Gordon Neumiller, director of the MBA field study program.
The Foster team was supported by the UW Global Business Center, one of 30 federally funded Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) in the country, and the only one in the Pacific Northwest.
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