On Friday, Binghamton University’s School of Management (SOM) juniors taking j-core (junior year core) classes began the annual school-wide case competition. Representatives from Mazda, most of whom were BU graduates, were brought in to present a real business challenge for students to solve.

J-core students were asked to help the company improve customer perception of the brand. Regional operation specialist Michael Konzel, ‘16, explained the situation Mazda is currently facing.

“We want to offer premium cars with premium features for less than a premium price,” Konzel said. “We’re asking the students to help guide us in a five-year plan through this case competition.”

A case competition is an event where students divide themselves into teams and take on the role of consultants, where they attempt to creatively and realistically solve hypothetical, or in this case, real-world problems. Each year, SOM attempts to bring in a company to present a business problem for j-core students to attempt to solve.

Throughout the competition, teams do extensive research on the automobile industry in order to inform their recommendations.

“At the end, we present PowerPoints and write essays concerning the financial information of our solution,” said Anthony Cueter, a junior majoring in accounting.

The winners of this case competition will win the opportunity to interview for a paid summer internship at Mazda. Students have a week to create and perfect their proposals and finalists will present to Mazda executives later in November.

SOM juniors are required to participate in this case competition as part of their j-core classes, which are finance, marketing, international business and organizational behavior.

“The case competitions are a culmination of all the junior core classes,” said Janine Bautista, the assistant director of SOM career services. “Students are able to apply the concepts and theories they learned in class into a solution for a real-world problem.”

One of Mazda’s primary business concerns was how it would get its brand to appeal more to millennials, which is why they thought BU students would have valuable insight and suggestions.

Lyndsey Petrofsky, a junior double-majoring in business administration and theatre, saw the competition as an important opportunity to develop her presentation skills.

“These competitions give you experience with problems you’d find in the real world,” Petrofsky said. “I feel it is really important to get that experience of analyzing a problem, working through it with a team and solving it in the most realistic way possible.”

Executives from Mazda said BU students are perfectly positioned to advise Mazda on its marketing strategies for millennials.

“All the millennials are becoming part of the automotive industry now,” Jana Dodd, ‘16, a Mazda district service manager, said. “With their business knowledge that they’ve received from the school and just by being a millennial themselves who’s looking for cars, they have the skills we need to build value in our car-buying experience.”