Southeast students take part in overseas competition

A group of four Southeast Missouri State University business students will be the only U.S. competitors traveling to Coventry, England, in April for the finals of a competition sponsored by the Network of International Business Schools.

Scott Price, Nicole Gemoules, Jennifer Koenig and Callie Carter, all seniors, will carry Southeast's banner in the finals of the organization's case study competition. It is the second year Southeast has competed and the second year that the school has reached the finals.

Southeast's team from the Harrison College of Business will face similar groups from schools in Canada and Europe. "They will have four hours to present a case study to a panel of judges," said Dr. Willie Redmond, the group's faculty adviser. "They will do a similar thing to what business consultants do out in the real world for money."

To win the spot in the finals, the four students evaluated the expansion plans of a technology company from the United Kingdom, providing recommendations on where to set up new locations, the manner in which to complete the expansion and how to attract new customers to support the expansion, Redmond said.

The school asked for volunteers for the competition and the team was selected from the students who showed strong writing skills and who had been exposed to the themes of the competition in their classroom studies. "One overwhelming factor is that a lot of what we do in these cases is in our capstone senior business class," Redmond said.

The organization, known as NIBS, will provide lodging and meals for the competitors and the university is supporting the travel costs from endowment funds, said Dr. Gerald McDougall, dean of the business college. Making the finals, especially as the only U.S. school to reach that level, provides benefits to the school and the students.

The school gains recognition for the quality of its teach-ing, McDougall said. And the students can measure themselves against their peers. "It is a competitive world out there," he said. "They can benchmark themselves against bright young people in other countries."

And the competition provides another benefit in addition to the chance to travel and meet peers, Redmond said. Participating in the contest is a bright spot on any resume. "The team members from last year, all they rave about in the graduate school interview is that this kind of dominates the conversation," Redmond said. "It is one of the things that helps them break the ice."

• Lewis & Clark Cafe finds new quarters: After an aborted attempt in December to move his restaurant, Lewis & Clark Cafe owner Sam Alsmadi started over to find more room for customers and a place he could install a kitchen to expand his offerings of Middle Eastern food.

The search is over, he told me Friday. The restaurant currently at 31 N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau will close Saturday and reopen March 1 at 411 Broadway. Along with the changed location will come a new name, Mediterranean on Broadway, but the menu will remain the same, he said.

"I can seat up to 100 people," Alsmadi said. "I have a nice roomy large area in the back for a kitchen. It is ideal."

And Alsmadi said he intends to stay put at the new location. He's signed a lease with John Wyman, the building owner, for five years with an option for another five years.

One of the more unusual offerings of Lewis & Clark, the hookah pipes with flavored tobacco, will continue, but Alsmadi said the new restaurant will have a separate room with about six tables for those who wish to partake.

The full kitchen will be installed during the summer, he said, allowing him to offer a greater variety of food. "I can offer all the Middle Eastern varieties in addition to what I have now on my menu."

And he plans to offer cooking classes at the new location through the Southeast Missouri State University continuing education program.

The first classes will be April 21, he said, and he will close the restaurant except to those who are attending the class.

The move will happen quickly, Alsmadi said, because he was facing a decision about signing a new lease at his current location or making the switch.

• From the news release file: AT&T opened a remodeled retail store in Cape Girardeau last week, spending $447,000 on the 3,000 square-foot operation at 3363 Gordonville Road. At the store, customers can view the details and costs of various wireless plans as well as get a sense of the abilities of devices on sale at a retail station that includes laptop computers programmed with demonstrations.

Real estate agent David Glastetter, broker/owner of ERA Cape Realty, predicted that 2008 could be a good year locally for real estate sales. The combination of lower interest rates, an increase in the loan amounts that will conform to Federal Housing Administration standards and the economic stimulus plan recently enacted by Congress should provide an opportunity for making home purchases, Glastetter said. The increase in the conforming loan limit will allow consumers to purchase more expensive homes at lower rates and allow homeowners who are in adjustable rate mortgages to find refinancing at lower interest rates, Glastetter said.

Verizon Wireless said it invested $134 million in network upgrades throughout Kansas, Missouri and Southern Illinois. That investment included upgrades that went online Nov. 1 in Southeast Missouri that made next-generation data transfer available along the Interstate 55 and U.S. 60 highway corridors.

Rudi Keller is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. Contact him at rkeller@semissourian.com or call 335-6611, extension 126