February 21, 2005
Undergraduates Compete to Save Regional Malls
by Sandra Taylor

Not so long ago, regional malls were the destination of choice for American shoppers, but with the rise of big box retailers and mega-malls housing 200 or more stores, older regional malls, which rely on the loyalty of local customers, may be in danger of going extinct.

Fortunately for the industry, some of the country’s best young business minds—representing a demographic the malls need to win back if they are to survive—weighed in on their plight, developing business plans aimed at reviving the regional mall. Their prognosis: Regional malls can survive if they emulate some practices of the major retailers and play to their traditional strengths with local customers.

Undergraduate students proposed these solutions Feb. 19 as part of the 3rd Annual BizIT 2005 Business Case Competition at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.

The event was presented by the Management Information Systems BBA program and sponsored by Accenture, ExxonMobil, and USAA, with volunteer support from two student organizations: the Management Information Systems Association and Tech Connects.

The 2005 business case focused on integrating MIS, finance, accounting and marketing to give students a chance at developing real world problem-solving strategies.

Although, the top five finalist scores were extremely close, first prize went to the Delta Consulting team, which consisted of Melissa Chu (finance junior), Shawn Mathew (accounting junior), Sarang Parikh (business honors junior) and Alice Wei (finance junior), who shared the $3,000 prize. Kapstone Consulting claimed second place winning $2,000. Fenix Consulting took third with an award of $1,600.

“I think we had the opportunity to learn about the overall business practice of tying it all together,” Delta Consulting team member Shawn Mathew said. “That’s not something we get to do in class.”

Accenture judge Don Grier agreed. “The hard skills you learn in class and the soft skills you learn by doing,” Grier said. “The teams learned the ability to think on their feet, to figure out client needs and tailor a message to the client.”

“All three years I have been tremendously impressed at what McCombs undergraduates can do in this little time, and with the quality of the output,” said third-year ExxonMobil judge Theresa Liu. “All five final teams were great.”

The winning team focused their business plan on price inventory integration, creating member online services and developing a member reward program and pass to increase revenue for each customer visit to a regional mall.

Each of the Delta Consulting team members had participated in at least one other case competition, and for some it was their third try. “You have to lose before you can win,” said team member  Sarang Parikh.

Both team members Melissa Chu and Alice Wei agreed that for this competition the team successfully overcame “group thinking.”

“We also learned the strength and weaknesses of individuals and how to complement each other,” Wei, said.

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