May 6, 1997 A trio of University of Oregon graduate students bested competitors from Yale, Stanford and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to take second place at the international Moot Corp business competition held May 1-3 in Austin, Texas. This is the first time Oregon has been represented at the prestigious event. The University of Texas at Austin edged out the UO to capture first place. The UO students, all master of business administration degree candidates, expect to make their fortune by setting up a nationwide service to fight an invasion of non-native plants that is costing Americans billions of dollars annually. UO graduate students Steve Manning, Billy Nerenberg and Brian Schwarz in June will launch their national plant-battling company, Invasive Plant Control, LLC., in Tennessee. The company manages a proprietary database of 6,000 invasive plants that includes specialized removal methods. Manning and his partners received an invitation to compete in the international meet at Texas after they finished second at a similar business competition at the UO. Teams competing at the Texas Moot Corp contest--25 in all--came from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Peru and the United States. SOURCE: Mark Lange, director, UO Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, (541) 346-3312; e-mail, mlange@oregon.uoregon.edu GUILT FUELS MOTHER'S DAY SALES OF BIG CARDS, EXTRAVAGANT GIFTS Gift shops sell more greeting cards on the Saturday before Mother's Day than any other single day, according to University of Oregon marketing professor David Boush. The reason, he says, is guilt. "If you miss Mother's Day, you've made a big mistake," says Boush, a former marketing research analyst for Hallmark Cards. Boush says the card makers capitalize on the guilt that tinges this holiday to push big and expensive cards and other gifts. He says there's really no price resistance because most customers feel it's their duty to make a big splash. Men, who often wait until the last minute to shop, are especially vulnerable to "guilt trip" marketing strategies Boush notes. They also tend to buy more than women. Men not only have to shop for their mothers, they often buy for the mother of their children, their wives. SOURCE: David M. Boush, UO assistant professor of marketing, (541) 346-3358; e-mail, dmboush@oregon.uroegon.edu -30- #T-1050/Day