CLEVELAND – A team of three Cleveland State University MBA students from the Monte Ahuja College of Business placed third in the KeyBank/Fisher College of Business Minority MBA Case Competition this year.

Among the 18 teams that competed in the 2012 event, CSU placed above all other Ohio schools, including The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati and Kent State University. CSU beat Penn State to finish third. The University of Washington and UCLA finished first and second respectively. This is the fourth time in eight years that CSU has placed in the top four.

In the competition, organizers propose a business problem, and teams are tasked to create solutions through a written thesis. Teams have 30 days to present their submissions to a panel of KeyBank executives, who act as judges.

“The strong performance of our MBA students in the KeyBank Case Competition shows their ability to analyze real-world business problems and develop effective plans to create solutions," said Robert Scherer, Ph.D., Dean of the Monte Ahuja College of Business.