UNLV's American Marketing Association (AMA) student chapter topped hundreds of teams from around the world in two separate competitions during the professional organization’s annual collegiate conference this month.

The UNLV chapter, made up of undergraduate students from UNLV’s Lee Business School, bested business school heavyweights Wharton, Johns Hopkins, and others to win the AMA’s Collegiate Case Competition and SABRE Business Simulation challenge. UNLV is one of 380 AMA student chapters worldwide.

The Collegiate Case Competition is a yearlong event that brings together students to work on a marketing challenge submitted by a sponsoring organization. This year’s case sponsor, The Wall Street Journal, asked students to develop a marketing plan to freshen the paper’s perception and grow membership, particularly among college students.

After competing in the case competition the past 15 years – and finishing twice as runner up – UNLV’s creative approach to the challenge was awarded the top prize.

“I could not be more proud of our case team. They proposed a data-driven plan that we felt was the best approach for the Wall Street Journal moving forward,” said Jack Schibrowsky, UNLV marketing professor and AMA faculty advisor. “Our students are taking what they have learned in the classroom and are applying it to a project for a national client. I would put our team of students up against anyone.”

The SABRE Business Simulation competition tested marketing strategy using a prominent software solution, known as SABRE, that many marketing schools use in the classroom to replicate real world situations. Teams were given a scenario and were forced to make a series of strategic decisions, which were run through SABRE. The program simulates a year in the marketplace, factoring in uncertain market conditions and competitor's moves to determine market share, product contribution, and overall profit for each company. UNLV prevailed in the challenge, with the team from Johns Hopkins finishing as runner up.

The 41st Annual AMA International Collegiate Conference was held April 11-14 in New Orleans. In addition to its strong showing in competition, UNLV’s AMA student chapter was also named among the ten best in the nation. Schibrowsky, who has advised the UNLV AMA chapter for more than 15 years, was also recognized during the conference with the AMA’s Faculty Advisor Lifetime Achievement Award for his leadership, service, dedication, and mentorship.

The AMA is the largest worldwide professional association for marketers with more than 40,000 members. The collegiate division has over 11,000 student members and more than 380 collegiate chapters. The UNLV Case Team members were Ryan Arinas, Ailah Barretto, Cameron Coaley, Shelby Cole, Sara Dabbagh, Sareena Desai, Ka Io, Curtis Isaacs, Layla A Muhammad, Evan Pantels, Lorenzo Scardicchio, and Kaylin van Niekerk. UNLV’s SABRE Business Simulation team included Demetrios Philippou, Danyelle A Baldwin, Sara Dabbagh, Ryan Arinas, and Ka Io.

About the Lee Business School

Established in 1967 as the College of Business, the Lee Business School is one of the largest schools at UNLV with approximately 3,500 undergraduate students, 500 graduate students, and 100 faculty and staff and offers the only accredited business program in Southern Nevada. The school offers ten undergraduate majors, 14 minors and seven graduate degrees, including the MBA and Executive MBA programs. In addition to its scholastic endeavors, Lee Business School is home to three centers that bring together faculty and students with business and industry. These include the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), and Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies. With more than 20,000 graduates, the Lee Business School Alumni Chapter is one of the largest alumni chapters on campus.