Xavier Case Study wins big in Indy

By: Max Bruns ~Staff Writer~

Xavier University’s Case Study Club went to the National Team Selling Competition on Oct. 29 at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The Center for Global Sales leadership has been hosting the event for nine years.

“By competing in this event, selling teams from universities across the United States get the chance to take their classroom knowledge and experience and apply those skills in a selling situation that is realistic and relevant in today’s market,” according to the competition’s website.

Xavier’s newly minted club, founded in August, brought home a victory against some top-level teams from other schools, including the University of Cincinnati.

Joseph Ruter, president of the Case Study Club, was the one who found the competition and organized his team.

“During the summer, I invested several days to research every conceivable competition,” Ruter said in an email. “In the process, I entered the names of every university in the region with “case competition” into Google. Finding National Team Selling Competition, I contacted the organizer to secure a team for Xavier University. After we were on waitlist for two weeks, we obtained the place of a drop-out team.”

The team brought home a victory after preparing for more than 17 hours. Joseph Ruter, executive vice president Kerry Campbell and vice president of marketing Courtney Holladay represented the club.

“We worked harder and better than our competition. While our competitors (including UC) sent teams of sales students, our team was composed of three people without sales education but with exceptional analytic skills and customer focus,” Ruter said.

Ruter’s passion for case study led him to create the club in August. He had lost the opportunity to compete through any other club.

“As a sophomore, I participated in several case competitions with Xavier University teams,” Ruter said. “I had lost the opportunity to represent Xavier University in the best local operations competition. I decided to found Case Study Club to increase the ability of Xavier students to compete in case competition.”

With this victory, the Case Study Club has an opportunity to continue to grow. Business students interested in competing in national competitions to gain real world experience by analyzing sales situations should contact Joseph Ruter at ruterj@xavier. edu.