The MBA team from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, GA, delivered the best case for promoting the implementation of Common Core State Standards during The Executive Leadership Foundation’s (ELF’s) 2014 Business Case Competition. Goizueta was one of three finalist teams competing for $70,000 in scholarships. Sponsored for the fifth year by Exxon Mobil Corporation, ELF’s annual competition invited MBA/MA teams from 70 business schools to analyze a compelling business issue that challenged their critical thinking, analytical, and communications skills. The 2014 winners were selected by a distinguished panel of judges including leaders from corporations and non-profits such as BAE Systems, Comcast Corporation, DuPont, UNCF, Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and JEA.
“This has been such a rewarding experience and has helped me know, with confidence, that there are great things that I can aspire to achieve in my career,” said Onix Ramirez, a member of the same Goizueta team that competed in 2012. “This second time, we said, ‘We’ve been here before,’ so we decided to use our experience to try again. We have grown, and now, we’re so happy to have taken first place just days before graduating.”
ELF’s Business Case Competition challenged this year’s teams to develop strategies and solutions for “Inspiring Success Through Common Core,” by developing strategies for the successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards to improve educational achievement and support the continued prosperity of our nation.
Goizueta’s winning recommendations included analyzing the positive, long term economic impact of successfully implementing Common Core State Standards and directly addressing growing opposition to the initiative. The team provided strong data to support its recommendations.
“This issue is so important to the competitive success of our nation,” said Ronald C. Parker, president and CEO of The Executive Leadership Council and Foundation. “For our nation to compete globally, we need more African-American college graduates with degrees and training in the STEM fields and these standards are part of a good start. It will be important for corporations to build a qualified pipeline of American workers to fill these jobs,” Parker added.
