Intercollegiate Retail Challenge
2007-2008
The mission of the aspire2retail Intercollegiate Retail Challenge is to build awareness of diverse career paths in retail by engaging university students in a competitive, collaborative role play with support from retail executive mentors to implement a multi-tiered business strategy. Read more about the challenge.
The Winning Team
Team Ecolize, led by Melinda Burke of the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona,
delivered the winning solution to
the panel of judges on January 3, 2008.
Team Ecolize is made up of students representing five universities as follows:
Download Team Ecolize Presentation Summary |
Participating Universities
- University of Arizona, Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing
- University of Florida, Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research, Warrington College of Business
- Florida State University, Department of Textiles and Consumer Sciences
- University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
- Wharton University of Pennsylvania, Baker Retailing Initiative
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Retailing Excellence
If your school is interested in participating, please contact Kathy Mance, Vice President of the NRF Foundation, or Sarah Conrad, Director of Retail Learning Solutions, for more information.
Challenge Overview
The Scenario: You are part of a team at a leading home improvement store. Numerous customers have been asking about green products and management agrees that this is a long-term, viable area of business that the company should address. Your main competitor has already begun to sell environmentally friendly products and to make changes in its stores to indicate its commitment to sustainability, but you want to bypass them to take the leadership position.
Your stores carry a few products in different categories -- for example; light bulbs, insulation, flooring and energy efficient appliances that are green but it is not widely known that they exist.
The concept of sustainability is permeating the thinking in various areas within your company. Management
has made it clear that they want to see your company as a leader in the green movement by
setting good examples both internally and externally.
The Challenge:
- To design, brand, market and advertise, place and price a line of herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers for trees, shrubs, plants and flowers that are eco-friendly.
- Ascertain which of the products you already carry are eco-friendly and make them readily identifiable on store shelves.
- Create incentives to appeal to your market and encourage customers to use your green products.
- Develop a plan
to educate store personnel as to which are green products, how to sell them,
when to sell them and why to sell them.
- Integrate green concepts into your new store design, and identify programs for retrofitting existing
stores to make your company a better custodian of the planet and a leader in sustainability.
Retail Executive Mentors:
- Kevin Curry, VP Retail for Safeway Northern California, Safeway
- James Damian, SVP, Experience Development Group, Best Buy
- Harry Eng, VP, Facilities Management and Environmental Services, Wal-Mart
- Nicole Maile, Product Development, Crate & Barrel
- John Ross, VP, Advertising, The Home Depot
- Ric West, DVP, Promotion & Production, Sears
Challenge Judges:
- Roger Anderson, Director, Retail Learning, The Home Depot
- Dennis Franklin, VP, Talent Acquisition
- Christopher Hollins, VP, Retail Industry Strategic Relationship Group, American Express
- Leslie Kourlis, Director, Executive & Corporate Recruiting, JC Penney
- Kathy Mance, VP, Research and Education, NRF Foundation
- Neil Stacey, Divisional VP, Operations, PetSmart
- Jim Viola, SVP Organizational Effectiveness, Saks
- Wendy Wade, Sr. Director, Leadership Development & Performance Management, Best Buy
Previous Challenges and Winners
The aspire2retail Intercollegiate Retail Challenge is sponsored by American Express.
"I had such a great time during the aspire2retail challenge, and I
mentioned it during interviews for a full time job this year. I'll be
working in Finance for Target starting next August. The challenge was
an awesome experience and really gave me something unique to talk
about aside from my summer internship experience." |
