SAM captures its eighth title

From Staff | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The Flagler College chapter of the Society for Advancement of Management won its eighth Management Case Competition national title at the recent SAM International Business Conference.

No other SAM teams have won more than three of the awards. Flagler’s SAM chapter also landed several other honors, including its seventh Campus Chapter Performance Program national title, which recognizes the best SAM chapter in the country.

“As their adviser, I was awed by their preparation and delivery,” said Louis Preysz, professor of business administration. “We’re really smashing our old records.”

Flagler’s SAM team competed against undergraduate student chapters from 60 colleges and universities at the annual International Business Conference, “Innovation,” held April 3 to 6 in Arlington, Va.

This year’s case company was Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which has experienced a loss in profits in recent years. Members of Flagler’s SAM Management Case team Samuel Osborne, Kaitlin Gardiner, Vivian Helwig, and Mihir Garud devised the plan with several suggestions, including reforming accounting practices, increasing marketing efforts and expanding globally to the Middle East and Asia.

“The judges said what was unique about the solutions we came up with was how they all tied together and had a sense of synergy,” Helwig said. “The solutions either built on each other or established the grounds for each other to be successful.

“Going into the competition, we decided not to let any other team prepare harder than us and have the drive to win like we did … Most of all, we won because Professor Preysz is retiring after 24 years as the Flagler College SAM adviser, and we refused to send him out with anything but a win.”