Congratulations to our undergraduates who emerged champions in the national category of this year’s United Overseas Bank-National University of Singapore (UOB-NUS) Case Competition after impressing an independent panel of experts in several gruelling rounds.
Organised by NUS Business School’s undergraduates at the NUS Case Consulting Group, the annual event held from 22 August to 2 September 2016 comprised of National and International categories that run in parallel, with a total of 213 teams participate from around the world.
Team Tako, consisting of NUS Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) students Chuk Kam Ying Jimmy, Zhang Liting, Li Qing and Khoo Jing Quan finished ahead of some 600 participants from universities across Singapore.
Team Tako (2nd L-R): Chuk Kam Ying Jimmy, Zhang Liting, Li Qing and Khoo Jing Quan
Now in its eight iteration, the UOB-NUS Case competition aims to highlight the strategic challenges and managerial dilemmas faced by global business leaders, through Asian case studies. It brings together the best and brightest students from top universities around the world to pit their skills against each other and solve business problems.
The competition sets the bar higher every year with its unique approach of unveiling the international competition format only when all the teams are ready to start. This provides a strong degree of realism, representing the dilemmas faced by business leaders in actual working environments. Competing teams work under pressure to solve business problems, using simulated business conditions such as time-critical deadlines and incomplete information, to conceptualize realistic, action-oriented recommendations.
This year, to add a layer of challenge, the teams could sit-in during the other teams’ presentations and ask questions to the presenting team.
Said the winning team of the experience: “It was a whirlwind of an experience, but we are very thankful for the opportunity. We are still in shock and didn’t expect to get this far. It was the first case for some of us, so the consecutive waves of timelines and severe lack of sleep came as a shock. We now have a new-found respect for all case participants because juggling intense submissions and class assignments is definitely not an easy feat. We are grateful for all the support from our family and friends, and also, a special shout out to UOB and the organising team for this amazing opportunity and the well organised competition.”
UOB-NUS International Case Competition
In the International category, “The Chili Squad”, consisting of Thammasat University students Pitikarn Suriyamongkol, Siwawong Wongsophanakul, Wichayut Woodtikarn beat 16 teams from elite universities around the world to clinch the championship.
The Chili Squad: (L-R) Supicha Chotejarataporn, Siwawong Wongsophanakul, Wichayut Woodtikarn, Pitikarn Suriyamongkol
“The entire competition is very well-organized. The social activities allowed us to get to know other participants better. What makes NUS Case Competition unique is the twist in format every year. Despite practicing as many formats as we could, this year’s format still came as a surprise to us as we had to solve two cases under 31 hours and face questions from judges as well as other teams. It truly kept us on the edge of our seats! We won because of our teamwork, a positive attitude and mutual trust. We believed in our recommendations regardless of what the management would like to hear. We’re thrilled and grateful for such an amazing experience!” they shared.
The participating universities in the UOB-NUS International Case Competition 2016 were:
1) Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
2) Concordia University (Canada)
3) Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
4) Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)
5) Maastricht University (Netherlands)
6) National University of Singapore (Singapore)
7) Queensland University of Technology (Australia)
8) Shantou University (China)
9) Thammasat University (Thailand)
10) University of Auckland (New Zealand)
11) University of Belgrade (Serbia)
12) University of British Columbia (Canada)
13) University of California, Berkeley (United States)
14) University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
15) University of New South Wales (Australia)
16) University of Southern California (USA)
As every year, student organisers plan a host of social activities to welcome the teams and encourage social networking. In addition to an opening dinner, games such as amazing race this year and a tour of Gardens By the Bay were planned to host the teams. The event closed with a dinner at Marina Bay Sands and a closing party.
Left Photo: International participants at Gardens by the Bay as part of the social activities planned by competition hosts.
Right Photo: International participants at the welcome dinner hosted by the organising team
