NEWSSUA Publication for Faculty, Staff & Students

SPRING 2011

Perdue School Students Finalists in NIBS Competition

SALISBURY, MD—

From landing clients to finding just the right marketing pitch,many would say that business is all about staying ahead of the competition.

Students in Salisbury University’s Franklin P. Perdue School ofBusiness recently received a jumpstart in how that may beaccomplished by competing in the world’s oldest undergraduatecase competition, hosted by the Network of InternationalBusiness Schools (NIBS).

Coached by Dr. Bob Wood, dean of the Perdue School, and Drs. Memo Diriker, Olivier Roche and Christy Weer of theManagement and Marketing Department, the SU team wasnamed one of the best in the world during the first round, heldonline in November. The top 10 teams, including Salisbury,recently went head-to-head in a week-long finals competition,held in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Countries represented includedthe United States, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgiumand Ireland.

“We’re extremely proud of our team,” said Wood. “For it to makethe finals round in the first year of competition is a tribute to thehard work and dedication of our students.”

SU team members included Amy Gilbert of Walkersville, MD;Benjamin Hoganson of Fallston, MD; Zack Holbrook ofMillersville, MD; and John Stockel of Woodstock, MD.

“The case competition was the experience of a lifetime,” saidHoganson. “I exponentially improved my presentation andanalytical skills while having a great time with people all over the world.”

Gilbert agreed: “By watching others present, we were able tolearn different presentation styles and approaches to businessstrategies. In our free time, we were able to get to know the otherteams on a non-academic level. … None of the students or coaches wanted to leave!”

SU is one of 91 NIBS member institutions in 30 countries around the world.

From left: Zack Holbrook, Benjamin Hoganson, Amy Gilbert, Memo Diriker and John Stockel.

Friday, April 8, 2011

For the first time, a team of students fromthe Perdue School entered the Networkof International Business Schools (NIBS)

International Case Competition this year. Thecompetition, the oldest undergraduate casecompetition in the world, consists of tworounds: a preliminary round held online inNovember and a weeklong finals round withthe top 10 teams competing head-to-head.Teams from the U.S., Canada, Finland,Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland competed inthe final round held in St. John’s,Newfoundland, in late February.

The finals teams competed in four roundrobin matches onMonday throughWednesday, with thetop four teamsadvancing the semifi-nals on Friday.Although the Perdueteam did not advanceto the semifinal round,the competing coacheswere impressed withthe quality effort ofthe SU team. As luckwould have it, our team competed against theeventual winner and two other semi-finalistteams in the first four rounds. However, it’s my belief that the competition and experience itself are the reasons for entering.I’ve asked the four team members to relatetheir experiences.

Amy Gilbert, Senior Accounting Major,Walkersville, Maryland

Competition! Team spirit! Networking!Friendships! This is what the NIBS CaseCompetition was all about. After hours of ana-lyzing, competing and presenting, there wasstill plenty of time to socialize with the otherteams. By watching others present, we wereable to learn different presentation styles andapproaches to business strategies. In the freetime, relationships were built and we were ableto get to know the other teams on a non-aca-demic level. Although the competition endedon Friday, none of the students or coacheswanted to leave. We experienced an education-al environment during the contest, a business

environment as we toured a brewery and socialenvironment as we experienced the culture ofSt. John’s, Newfoundland. This was an experi-ence of a lifetime that built friendships that willlast a lifetime.

Benjamin Hoganson, SeniorManagement and Marketing Major,Harford County Maryland

The NIBS Case Competition was an experi-ence of a lifetime. I exponentially improved mypresentation and analytical skills while having agreat time with people from all over the world.More importantly, I got to experience St.

John’s and the culturethere. NIBS lived upto its name as theNetwork ofInternational BusinessSchools; I made lastingfriendships with otherbusiness students andprofessors from aroundthe world. I had neverbefore thought ofusing social networksoutside the United

States, but it is now a very real option for meto pursue. I would strongly encourage all stu-dents in the Perdue School to become involvedin NIBS; it is some of the most fun you willever have.

Zack Holbrook, Senior AccountingMajor, Millersville, Maryland

The experience in St. John’s was amazing.The first night we were there it felt as if webelonged. The other coaches were very wel-coming as were the other teams. They helpedease the nerves that we were experiencing withthe first day of competition quickly approach-ing. The people we met were some of thegreatest people I have ever encountered. It wasnice to experience such diversecultural mixes at one compe-tition. Although it snowedjust about every day wewere in St. John’s, it wasstill one of the most beau-tiful places I had ever seen.

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The Franklin P. Perdue School of Business MARCH 2011

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From the Dean’s Office: NIBSInternational Case Competition

Continued on page 3

The Perdue News 3

Drs. George Summers and KathieWright have had some odd conversa-tions lately:

“Did you load the XBRL GL taxonomy intoFujitsu’s XWand?”

“Yeah, and I created an SRCD instance usingMapForce. That embedded approach is impressive!”Huh? Are they moonlighting as CIA com-

mandos? Hardly. But with a cadre of students,they are using an emerging technology—XBRL GL—with important implications forglobal business.

XBRL (eXtensible BusinessReporting Language) is an openstandard for interactive businessinformation. A common analogyis that of a barcode. Just as bar-codes hold all kinds of dataabout a product, XBRL stores“metadata” about accountingfacts. For example, XBRL canstore a cash account balance of$1,000 along with informationabout the business division, post-ing date and whether the accounthas been audited. Once stored,XBRL metadata can be immedi-ately accessed with common soft-ware tools. Sound futuristic? Thetruth is that XBRL is changingglobal business reporting today.In the U.S., all publicly tradedcompanies must use XBRL by2013. Benefits of increased transparency arealready apparent (http://data.xbrl.us). Newapplications are emerging—notably in health-care and risk management.

Summers and Wright have opted to studythe “deeply embedded” approach of XBRLGlobal Ledger (GL) that creates metadatadirectly from accounting transactions.Capturing metadata at this level in the report-

ing process increases power and flexibility ofXBRL. They and six Perdue School studentsare working with an international communityof practitioners and scholars to develop newapplications. With assistance from XBRL GLfounder Eric Cohen, Tom Hood spends severalhours each week mapping XBRL GL toMaryland Association of CPAs accountingdata. As there are few examples of XBRL GLapplied to not-for-profit financial accounting,Hood’s work will guide best practices for other

organizations leveraging XBRL GL for inter-active reporting.

Under the direction of GianlucaGarbellotto, Meghan Brebner, Tim Difatta,James Gibson, Yanina Gulidova and ShahmaMalik are building detailed XBRL GL mapsfor the Convergence Assistant, a software tooldesigned to seamlessly and instantaneouslytransform financial reports across multiple

global standards. Because the project spansinternational accounting rules, the studentsmust research theoretical concepts to correctlylink accounts. Their work will be vetted by theXBRL GL community via a Web-based“wiki,” allowing students to communicate withinternational experts and incorporate recom-mendations into the final product.

They may not be as glamorous as specialops, but these projects do have significantimplications for globalization. Perhaps, in the

not-so-distant future,Perdue students will assistnot-for-profits implement-ing the XBRL GL taxono-my developed by Hood.The Convergence Assistantwill become a commonbusiness application usedinternationally to efficient-ly transform accountingdata from one reportingformat to another. Imagine what conversa-tions these students will behaving then?

Perdue Students Help to Develop GlobalFinancial Reporting Standards

On February 17, Carie Lewis (Class of2003), director of emerging mediaonline communications for The

Humane Society of the United States visitedcampus and shared her expertise with studentsof the Perdue School. A self-proclaimedcomputer geek and Facebook addict, Lewisfound her dream job combining her love foranimals and social media. She visitedProfessor Paula Morris’ Marketing 331,Advertising and Promotions Management,class and explained how she does non-profitfundraising using Facebook, Twitter andmobile technology. Lewis met with Career

Services staff and our ABLE director about“virtual” internship opportunities. She touredthe new Perdue School building, met with Dr. Howard Dover, made additional classroompresentations and spoke at the AmericanMarketing Association meeting. The daywrapped up with a filmed interview for EthicsWeek and a tour of the new TeacherEducation and Technology Center where shereacquainted with friends she knew as astudent—She spent all four years at SUworking the IT Help Desk. Lewis said shecan’t wait to come back for another visit!

Lewis Visits Marketing Class John Stockel, Senior ManagementMajor, Woodstock, Maryland

The NIBS Case Competition inNewfoundland was a priceless experiencethat built my professional and personal devel-opment. Our team was able to take a com-plex business situation, compile a strategicsolution within a few hours and present it toa panel of judges. I improved my ability tothink on my feet, learned how to effectivelywork with others and honed my presentationskills. Aside from the case analysis, I was ableto network with individuals I will be friendswith for a lifetime. I bonded with all theteams from across the world and share unfor-gettable memories being a part of this excit-ing case competition.

Continued from cover

From the Dean’s Office: NIBSInternational Case Competition

L to R George Summers, Yanina Gulidova, Kathie Wright, GianlucaGarbellotto, James Gibson, Meghan Brebner and Shahma Malik.

Tom Hood