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| FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Student Experience: Kellogg Win at Private Equity Buyout Case Competition |
 The winners of the 2014 Wharton Private Equity Buyout Case Competition. From left, Emma Gergen ’14, Keith Roux ’14, Garrett Greer ’14, Ben Kaplan ’15 and Andrew Welch ’14. A team of Kellogg students recently took first place at Wharton’s 14th Annual Private Equity Buyout Case Competition for their approach to purchasing Abercrombie & Fitch. With only five days to develop the plan and 30 minutes to present, the competition provided a valuable opportunity for the team to put the skills they’ve learned at Kellogg to the test. On working as a team  We started by carefully considering how well we would work as a team. Before we developed our approach, we wanted to be sure that our goals were aligned and our skills complemented each other. We knew that we would need a team with strong transactional experience, and everyone on the team had this, but we also knew that we would need a more holistic set of capabilities. Our team had a unique combination of private equity, consulting, investment banking, CFO and legal experience. We kicked off by soliciting everyone’s top three thoughts/ideas on the case, formulating a collectively agreed upon plan of attack, and then apportioning responsibilities based on relevant experience and capacity. — Benjamin Kaplan ’15 On what set their presentation apart  One of the major themes that is reiterated across many of the classes at Kellogg is even the most sophisticated and brilliant strategy has very little value if it isn’t executable. This theme played a major role in our decision to limit our focus to only two critical strategic initiatives that we felt could be executed with a high degree of certainty and would have a meaningful impact on the profitability of the business. Our focused approach allowed us to complete a very detailed level of analysis. The result was a defensible investment thesis that was rooted in a well-defined, actionable valuation creation strategy. — Keith Roux ’14 On the Kellogg education In particular, Professors Petersen and Lys were instrumental in providing us with not only a solid financial foundation but also a strategic lens to consider the case through. However, more broadly, our approach incorporated frameworks and academic concepts learned through courses such as operations, marketing and strategy. Our effective teamwork was facilitated by our frequent team-based projects in Kellogg, and our influential communication skills were honed by our MORS classes. — Benjamin Kaplan ’15 On why case competitions are important Case competitions are a great way to bridge the gap between the academic setting and real world environment. Furthermore, they are a great way for teams from different schools to showcase their real world capabilities in highly competitive environment. Kellogg is collaborative, but competition is imperative for continuous improvement. This competition allowed us to showcase how Kellogg’s well-rounded students and education drive excellence in private equity. — Benjamin Kaplan ’15 Filed under: Academics, Career, Student Life Tagged: Abercrombie & Fitch, Case Competition, kellogg school, private equity  
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| FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Student Perspective: BMA Black History Month Debate |
 Students and faculty debate immigration reform. I had the unique privilege of serving as a student-debater in the Kellogg Black Management Association (BMA) debate on immigration, as part of Black History Month. The prompt specifically asked what limits (if any) should be placed on legal immigration. I teamed with Dean Z (Elizabeth Ziegler, the associate Dean of MBA Programs and the Dean of Students) and our formidable opponents included Ashley Thomas (a 1st year from Arkansas, who is very involved in the BMA) and Professor Ben Jones, who literally has advised the White House on immigration reform. Further, another top professor, Professor David Besanko, moderated the debate. Needless to say, Dean Z and I (the “Z Team”) had our work cut out for us. Our debate was in front of over 150 people (half of whom watched the debated live-cast in another room). Our debate focused on legal immigration, which can be a very emotional topic. This question has a deep personal meaning for me. My mother’s side has roots tracing back close to the Mayflower, while my father immigrated to the US from Yugoslavia when he was 16. By the graces of the United States education system and the extraordinary teachers who pushed him, my father was able to attend university in the United States and to pursue a career in business. Immigration is not a cut-and-dry topic, and it has become particularly more complex as demand continues to increase and as countries consider the right levels of immigration and their preferred types of immigrants. For example, in the United States, there are an inordinate amount of different types of visas, each with their own process, quotas and expectations. Given that each team was debating for or against views that were not necessarily in line with their personal views, we (the participants) agreed to keep the actual debate content and discussions confidential. I’m proud to have participated in a Kellogg tradition of student-faculty debates. There was a fantastic one this past fall around the (potential) taxation of sugary-beverages and there was one this week around the impact of privacy as it relates to spying and national security. Any experience speaking publicly is a good one (and we do a lot of speaking/presenting at Kellogg), but to debate is particularly dynamic. We had to develop our thesis, do the proper research, figure out our argument’s weak points and then determine how we would effectively communicate this in order to win over our audience. It was remarkably similar to past jobs in which I would pitch projects or investments to my bosses. You obviously need the facts on your side, but communicating the how and why is just as critical as the what. And, this was a brilliant exercise in that. Matt Zafirovski is a second-year student in the 2Y full-time MBA program from Chicago. Prior to Kellogg, he worked for Groupon International in South Korea and Japan, for Chicago Public Schools, and for McKinsey & Company. Over the summer, he worked at Apple in the iPhone commercial group. Filed under: Academics, Career, Student Life Tagged: Black History Month, Debate, Immigration, Kellogg Black Management Association  
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 11:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai Watch earlier episodes of DI series below EP1: 6 Hardest Two-Part Analysis Questions EP2: 5 Hardest Graphical Interpretation Questions
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
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