Baltimore-Based Barcoding Inc. Challenges Merrick School Graduate Students in Real-Life Case Competition
April 4, 2017
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Successful companies appreciate the value of different perspectives when it comes to creating solutions. Jay Steinmetz, president of Baltimore-based Barcoding Inc., and Eusebio Scornavacca, the John and Margaret Thompson Professor of Management Information Systems as well as the Parsons Professor for Digital Communication, Commerce and Culture for the University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business, are two professionals who are committed to business strategies that involve new perspectives, creative thinking, analysis and market applicability.
Barcoding Inc. has expertise in an array of industries with dedicated practices in data capture, supply chain architecture, RFID, consumables, software and professional services. Their mission is to enable their client organizations to be more efficient, accurate and connected. Keeping that mission foremost, Steinmetz presented a real life business case competition to Prof. Scornavacca's graduate-level course in Information Security Management. This is the seventh Real-Life Case Study Competition that Prof. Scornavacca has organized at the Merrick School.
Prof. Scornavacca says collaboration is an important learning outcome for the students, and the competitive nature of the business case adds an additional dynamic.
"We create an environment that encourages our students to go beyond academics and translate learning opportunities into marketable skills," he says.
Barcoding Inc. recently created a new system to track a company's physical assets using Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Trademarked as Active Asset Tracker (AAT), the program provides a continuous, accurate and near real-time inventory of a company's assets. The challenge to students: Provide an in-depth analysis of the state of the art of the technology and suggest industries that can maximize the opportunities that AAT affords.
Students worked in teams and were fully engaged in the competition, using research, group meetings and online question-and-answer sessions with Steinmetz. The winning team—Tammy Cho, Christopher Gulatto, and Christopher Themak—split the $1,000 award provided by Barcoding and were presented with certificates by Murray Dalziel, dean of the Merrick School of Business, for their achievement in the case competition.
Themak agrees with his professor's observation on the learned skill of collaboration, and he addresses one of the competition's built-in "go beyond" challenges:
"Some of the material and technology was new to us, so it upped the expectation to increase our knowledge base in order to make sound recommendations to the company," Themak says.
In their analysis, the winning team advised the company of some specific vulnerabilities of Bluetooth technology, and advised Barcoding where it should focus its security efforts. In addition, they made a suggestion for a new industry market for the use of Barcoding's products and services.
"I definitely enjoyed working with the students and learned a few new things myself," Steinmetz says. "It played right into our mission."
Learn more about Prof. Scornavacca and the Center for Digital Communication, Commerce, and Culture.