10 Feb 2016
A team of four students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) business case club, Cognitare, was in New Zealand in late January to represent the University at the Champions Trophy Case Competition (CTCC) 2016, organised by the University of Auckland Business School. The team comprising Tan Tze Heng (Year 4, Economics and Business), Phua Su Ann (Year 4, Business), Justin Bay (Year 3, Business and Accountancy) and Sally Tan (Year 3, Business) came in 2nd runners-up.
Renowned for being one of the most competitive in the international case circuit, the CTCC 2016 saw 12 of the best performing universities gathering in Auckland from 24 to 31 January 2016.
Each year, teams are invited to participate based on consistency of past performance and good track record (invited teams would be champions for at least one international case competition in the preceding year). This year’s edition featured 11 other top universities from eight countries around the world, including The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida, McGill University and Thammasat University.
Over three preliminary rounds, teams had to analyse their given cases and present their recommendations to judges from the business community who included senior management representatives of the case companies, partners of consulting firms McKinsey and Deloitte, as well as representatives from MNCs such as ANZ and Fonterra.
Besides emerging first in their division, Team Cognitare was also the only team from Singapore to enter the finals. In the final round, Team Cognitare tackled a case on Uber New Zealand – they were tasked to overcome both the supply and demand constraints. The team proposed driver-partner recruitment by reducing barriers to entry, and also recommended the introduction of a new UberShuttle concept to gain more traction among passengers.
They impressed the judges with their in-depth analysis, innovative strategies and dynamic presentation, and eventually finished 2nd runners-up at this annual prestigious competition.
“The competition was very intense, as the preliminary format involved the teams tackling one case per day over three days. We had to maintain our focus throughout the competition, and tried our best to continually improve and learn from the feedback received in prior rounds. The competition also tested our versatility in thinking and analysis as the cases were diverse, covering a non-profit, SME and MNC,” said Tze Heng.
“I am personally heartened to conclude my case competition journey in SMU with this exceptional experience. Together with this team, we would like to thank everyone for the support given to us throughout our entire journey; we are especially thankful to the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, our professors and alumni of the club for making this achievement possible,” he added.
The excellent performance of Team Cognitare on this international platform has once again showcased the high quality of our undergraduates. Well done!
[Featured photo: The Cognitare team which did SMU proud at Champions Trophy Case Competition (CTCC) 2016: (L-R) Sally Tan Si Qian, Tan Tze Heng, Senior Lecturer Ma Kheng Min (faculty advisor), Justin Bay Jin Cheng and Phua Su Ann.]
