Robinson Students Win Second Place in Business Competition

June 11, 2004 (Atlanta)   A team of four graduate students from Robinson's marketing department won second place in a business school case study competition sponsored by Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. based in Marietta, Ga. Valerie Haymens, Mrudula Mulukutla, Nastassja Rothe and Annemari Valdes, led by faculty advisors Dr. Bruce Pilling and Instructor Maryann Wysor, received $10,000 in recognition of their efforts. Solvay Pharmaceuticals hosted the case study competition as part of its ongoing efforts to foster academic relationships with the local business school community. The company offered teams of four to five students each the opportunity to develop and present a marketing plan related to an actual business issue: the growth of market share for one of its prescription drug products.  The initiative brought together MBA students from Robinson, Emory University (winners of the competition), Georgia Institute of Technology and Kennesaw State University to work as independent teams over the course of two months to generate creative, feasible solutions to the business issue at hand. As part of their consulting-based roles, the students were able to pose questions to Solvay Pharmaceuticals employees in various functional areas, including market research, marketing, sales and new business development.  A panel of five judges, all of whom hold high-level positions within Solvay Pharmaceuticals' commercial operations division, ranked the teams' final presentations based on such factors as creativity, analytical rigor and overall presentation style  The four competing teams were all cited for excellence across these categories and for the depth of their understanding of the brand and business issues at hand. "As we strive to continue building relationships with the local academic community, we felt this competition was a mutually advantageous way to expose the MBA students to real-world business situations while allowing our company to benefit from the students' creative strategizing," explained Fred Pierce, senior manager of marketing research. "Solvay Pharmaceuticals was truly impressed by the 'out-of-the-box' thinking and creative business insights that resulted from this case study competition." Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.solvaypharmaceuticals-us.com) of Marietta, Georgia (USA), is a research-driven pharmaceutical company that seeks to fulfill unmet medical needs in the therapeutic areas of cardiology, gastroenterology, mental health, women's health and a select group of specialized markets including men's health, antiemetics and hematology. It is a part of the global Solvay Pharmaceuticals organization whose core activities consist of discovering, developing and manufacturing medicines for human use. Solvay Pharmaceuticals is a subsidiary corporation of the worldwide Solvay Group of chemical and pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.. . ____________________________________ The J. Mack Robinson College of Business is one of the top-ranked business schools. The College's Flex (part-time) MBA program has been listed in the top ten by U.S. News for the past nine years and its undergraduate business program is ranked among the top 40 in the nation (top 25 among public universities). The College's Executive MBA program is listed on The Financial Times list of the world's top ranked offerings and BusinessWeek magazine ranks it 24th in the world. Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business has an enrollment of more than 8000 students and is located in downtown Atlanta.    For more information, contact: Tammy DeMel Robinson College of Business  404/413-7078 (voice) 404/702-9743