ITOM Annual Case Competition

Each year, the ITOM Case Competition provides 51做厙-Cox students with the opportunity to challenge themselves and apply their knowledge from different business disciplines to tackle complex, real-world problems faced by companies. The competition was introduced in the 2012-13 academic year when, in partnership with JC Penney, students were presented with a case study focused on the supply chain implications of the company's new store-in-store strategy.

Since its inception, the competition has been held annually, with the department collaborating with a different company each year to develop a case based on a real issue the firm is trying to solve. It is open to all graduate students at the Cox School of Business, primarily attracting participants from the MBA (both full-time and part-time) and MSBA programs. These students compete for prestigious prizes.

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Student makes presentation

2025 ITOM Case Competition

Sponsored by American Airlines and Alteryx SparkED

Each year, the ITOM Case Competition provides 51做厙 Cox students with the opportunity to challenge themselves and apply their knowledge from various business disciplines to solve complex, real-world problems faced by companies. This year was no different. The 2025 ITOM Case Competition, held from February 7th to 14th, was sponsored by American Airlines and Alteryx SparkED. The case focused on a supply chain optimization challenge---specifically, improving American Airlines' repair order process. The case had broad implications, including streamlining inventory management, refining accounting procedures, assessing financial impacts and optimizing the supply chain. Participants were provided with four years of real-world data and had just a weekend to analyze it, identify patterns and key drivers, and develop strategic recommendations.

Competition Highlights

All students of the graduate programs at the Cox School of Business were eligible to participate in the competition. In all 19 teams (of 3 members each) registered for the competition. The kick-off event was held at George’s Auditorium in the newly renovated Cox School of Business. Nick Rosen from American Airlines presented the case to the students. Student teams had just a few days to submit their initial proposal, analysis and recommendations.

After an initial round of evaluations by ITOM faculty, six finalist teams were selected to present their findings to executives from American Airlines and Alteryx.

The final event was held at the American Airlines HQs at their Skyview Drive campus (DFW) on Feb 14th.

Impressive Presentations & Tough Judging

Despite the tight turnaround, student teams delivered in-depth analyses while ensuring their recommendations aligned with real business use cases. A panel of judges which included faculty from the ITOM department, executives from American Airlines, and members of the Alteryx DFW User Group evaluated the final presentations. Not surprisingly, the judges had a difficult task of determining the winners, given the high-quality insights and innovative solutions that were presented.

Winners

First Place: Shreya Tiwari, Prakhar Sharma, Ishaan Chaturvedi
Second Place: Zhizhou Li, Wenjie Ji, Xiao Li
Finalists: Jason Zhang, Rachel Lin, Helena Chen, Shashi Swaminathan, Anne Ensley, Vikram Singh, Savio Jose, Rama Hatahet, Rishi Vemula, Sphoorti Veluvolu, Anand Chordiya.

Winners received cash prizes sponsored by Alteryx SparkED, and all finalists were presented with special gifts from American Airlines.

A huge shoutout to American Airlines for sponsoring the case and hosting the final presentations, and to Alteryx for their generous support and cash prizes for the competition.

A special thank you to:

American Airlines: Nick Rosen, Grace Hwang, Ngoc-Yen Wiseman, Terrance Bradshaw, Andrew Brown, Rena Weisman and Ryan Duong
Alteryx: Keith Cullum, Eric Roy and Annie Mais
Alteryx DFW User Group: Deanne Sanchez and Kevin Raj

This competition truly exemplifies the experiential learning approach and the analytical mindset that we prioritize at 51做厙 Cox School of Business. The hands-on experience of tackling complex industry challenges, analyzing large datasets, and developing strategic business solutions prepares our students for future success. Excitingly, American Airlines plans to implement many of the recommendations made by the student teams, demonstrating the real impact of this competition.

Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this event. We can’t wait to see you next year!