Hanes Sponsors Analytics Competition at Elon University

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-HanesBrands sponsors a national analytics case competition at Elon University. Villanova University topped 10 other teams to win the title and the first-place prize of $6,000.

Hanesbrands and the Elon Center for Organizational Analytics, which hosted the event, partnered to host the Champion Analytics Case Competition. The winning team from Villanova featured Meredith Lockyer, director of the Center for Business Analytics at Villanova School of Business, and sophomores Sean Oates, Padraig Loftus, and Bryan Kent.

“Partnering with Champion always brings tremendous excitement to our campus,” says Haya Ajjan, associate professor of Management Information Systems at Elon University. “Hosting our first-ever national analytics case competition offers an incredible opportunity for students to compete against the best in the country and learn from some of the top professionals in the industry.”

As part of the competition, students were presented with a problem and data set, including historical sales data from Champion. With the information, teams developed estimated sales patterns and projected demand for 20 new products for a 13-week period, including a projected performance of each product.

This marked the third year HanesBrands has sponsored an analytics case competition at Elon, but the first time the competition has been opened to other schools. Although most participants were majoring in fields closely associated with business analytics, the competition also featured students in computer science, accounting, statistics, finance, international business, and more.

“The case competition demonstrated a level of student engagement that was second to none,” says Jon Ram, group president of global activewear at HanesBrands. “All of the participants put forward a strong effort. We witnessed our leaders of tomorrow approaching a challenge with keen insights and sound business fundamentals. It was energizing to be part of this valuable initiative.”

Martin adds that all 10 finalists presented “strong solutions” and that the event was a “true testament to the potential for data analytics.”

For more information, visit www.Hanes.com/corporate.