The competition was hosted by the U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), at its conference last weekend in San Francisco, Calif.

Laura Hudson, Joshua Sheppard, Xuan Qin, and Andrew Summerlin won second place with their case, "Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery," which focused on the Birmingham, Ala., retailer.  The judges complimented the students on their case, noting that it would be extremely useful for aspiring entrepreneurs to analyze because it highlighted many critical challenges that arise when opening a new business.  Second place included a $1,000 prize.

M.B.A. student Meg Lozner won fifth place with her case, "Southern Grits to Haute Cuisine:  Much More Than a Taste of the South," to highlight how the Birmingham, Ala., region can be marketed nationally as a center for culinary tourism, based on its local restaurant and farmer's market scene.  This is the second year in a row that Lozner has been a finalist, making her the only student in the history of the competition to achieve this recognition. 

"We are very proud of the hard work our MBA students," said Charles Carson, associate dean of the Brock School of Business.  "They took consulting projects they conducted as part of one of our M.B.A. classes and continued working on them to prepare them for this competition.  Their hard work paid off by providing them with a unique experience to present to a distinguished group of judges, who encouraged them publish their cases." 

Other schools with finalists in the competition included Baylor University, Bryant University (Rhode Island), Hyderabad University (India), and Loyola Marymount University.