College of
Business & Technology

During their capstone course in spring 2009, teams of Eastern Kentucky University’s MBA students were challenged to prepare a strategic analysis for Carhartt. For 120 years, Carhartt has been the creator and manufacturer of premium work clothing known for exceptional durability, comfort, quality of construction, and fit. Established in 1889, Carhartt is family owned and operated with over 4,000 employees dedicated to their mission of providing Best-In-Class apparel for the active worker.

The capstone students formed teams of three or four members, worked the entire semester, and presented their projects to a panel of judges. Students on the winning teams were granted exemption from the final exam. They also received a plaque for name recognition and news releases by the college and university. Judges for spring were Mr. Tom Slone, Vice President of Sourcing for Carhartt, EKUBusiness faculty members Dr. Jan Colbert, Dr. Bill Davig, Dr. Allen Engle, and Dr. Zhe Zhang, and Mr. Richard Sladic, MBA alum. Sladic, plant manager for SSCoop in Winchester, was the lead member of the spring 2009 Gold Medal team.

The four Gold Medalist team members were Preena Amin, Amelia Bell, Olga Navarro and Benjamin Pope. Silver Medalist team members were Denver York, Tyler Carver and Ronald Godsey.

Mr. Tom Sloan from Carhartt was extremely impressed by the enthusiasm and professionalism of the the EKU MBA students who had participated in the Carhartt Case Study competition. "The students put both their heads and their hearts into the competition and demonstrated a sound approach toward addressing standard business requirements. I am confident that these skill sets will serve their employers well as the students enter or return to their business environment."

Dr. Allen Engle, professor of human resource management, commented, "Professor Zhang's program of case competition hones the skills of our students in the areas of competitive analysis, team performance and persuasive communication.  By bringing together bright students with successful executives, Zhe provides a concrete, specific context for the development of managerial perspectives and more closely binds EKUBusiness with the area business community."

Dr. Jan Colbert, MBA director at EKU, said "I was impressed by not only the thorough analyses performed by the groups, but also by the professional presentations.  The members had obviously worked diligently and thoughtfully; the results should be immediately usable by Carhartt.”

According to Dr. Davig, "This exposure to real-time major strategic challenges and opportunities faced by business executives is invaluable as a culmination to the MBA experience at EKU. The students should be commended for their outstanding performance, and  I also commend Dr. Zhang for a great job in creating the case competition."

Dr. Zhang developed the case competition when he began teaching the course in August, 2008. Given the success of the first case competition for Alltech, he plans to continue the concept by engaging executives from other corporations in coming semesters. “The students were able to benefit, as theories taught during the MBA program could be applied in practice,” he said.

The Gold Medalist team – from left, Preena Amin, Amelia Bell, and Olga Navarro, all from Richmond; and Benjamin Pope, from Lexington.

The Silver Medalist team – from left, Silver Medalist team members were Denver York, Richmond; Tyler Carver, Lexington; and Ronald Godsey, Lancaster.