Release Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

GEORGIA BUSINESS SCHOOLS SWEEP TOP SPOTS AT GM/TERRY MARKET RESEARCH PROJECT COMPETITION; $17,500 IN CASH PRIZES AWARDED

ATLANTA — MBA students from Emory University and the University of Georgia finished first and second in the annual GM/Terry Market Research Project Competition March 22, outdueling teams from other top-ranked business schools, including Harvard University, Northwestern University, Columbia University and the University of California-Berkeley.

MBA candidates Ian Crystal, Debbie Hannah, Paige Kahn and Jason Sorvillo of Emory University's Goizueta Business School took home the GM/Terry trophy and a $10,000 first prize for presenting the best solution to a customer relationship management case posed by contest co-sponsor General Motors.

The University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, represented by MBA students Laura Caldwell, Adam Leish, Kerry Moher and Brent Stevens, won $5,000 for second place.

The University of Michigan, which won the inaugural GM/Terry competition in 2002, finished third and won $2,500. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also made the final round of four.

Twelve teams each had 10 weeks to prepare a 20-minute presentation on an actual GM case. Following their presentations, each four-student team responded to questions posed by the contest's panel of judges, which included five GM executives.

The case being analyzed dealt with General Motors' marketing strategies, said Rajiv Grover, event organizer and head of the marketing department at UGA's Terry College. The GM executives in attendance listened intently to the insights and innovations offered by the students, he said. All of the entrants' presentations became intellectual property of GM.

The judging took place March 22 at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta. In addition to the teams that made the finals, the other participating schools were Harvard University, Northwestern University (Kellogg), Columbia University, University of California-Berkeley (Haas), University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler), University of Texas (McCombs), Vanderbilt University (Owen), and the London Business School.

The all-star competition included six of the nation's top 10 business schools — as ranked by U.S. News and World Report — and all of the U.S. schools participating are ranked among U.S. News' top 40.

Grover said the overall quality of the presentations was better than it was last year, which was the first year the contest was held. Most of the schools were competing for the second time, he said, and built on last year's experience to better prepare this time.

"The teams really worked hard," Grover said. "They rolled up their sleeves a little higher."

GM picked up the tab for each team's travel and hotel expenses, as well as the costs of their research and presentations up to $3,000. There was no open registration; each team accepted an invitation from GM to come to the competition, which the company uses to scout new executive talent.

For more information on the GM/Terry Market Research Project Competition, visit the competition website at http://www.terry.uga.edu/gmmr/or call 706-542-3776.

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