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Written by Phunyanuch Thamromdee, BBA #25
Belgrade Business International Case Competition 2018 (BBICC 2018), one of the biggest global undergraduate business case competition, was held during the spring of 2018, from 15th – 21st of April in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. As one of the top global business case competitions, BBICC provides valuable knowledge for participants from top international business schools. Not only do they offer challenging case competitions, but also strong connection and unique experiences. From 20 top-ranked universities all over the world, Thammasat University was invited to compete in this competition. The team is comprised of four members including Dachpadung Wong (#BBA23), Atis Srisa-an (#BBA23), Pattarin Chulavalaivong (BBA#24), Phunyanuch Thamromdee (#BBA25), along with our advisor Ajarn Worapong Janyangyeun.
After arriving in Belgrade for the first day of competition, we received warm welcome from our ambassador at the airport. Then we arrived at the ‘Radisson Blu’ hotel, where most of the activities will take place. The next day was the excursion day, where the organizing committees arranged various of fun and amusing activities for all participants to get to know each other and build relationship and connection. Not only did we get to visit many famous locations in Belgrade, but during the day we have made lots of international friends which allowed us to share our different cultures and experiences. The city itself was really unique. The buildings were beautiful. The nature and environment there was calm, differing Bangkok. The people there were very cheerful and benevolent.
The case format this year was quite different and challenging. We were required to crack 3 cases in total , including two short cases and one long case. The score allocation is 25% for each short case, and 50% for long case. Firstly, all the teams will be randomly draw and allocated into four divisions, consisting of 5 teams in each division. And divisions will be randomly shuffled again for the second short case and long case respectively. Therefore all the teams will get to compete in different divisions, facing different teams and presenting in different order for all cases. The score in each round will be ranked individually by each judge. Points from all three cases will be calculated and the four team with highest points will proceed to the final round for presentations.
On the first case, we start off with an interesting case from ‘Schneider Electric Company’ to solve the e-commerce strategy challenge. Faced with the rapidly growing digitization, Schneider Electrics would like to establish new opportunities in the e-commerce business.
The second day of case cracking was followed by another challenging case from ‘Paneleven’. The teams were required to propose a strategy to introduce a brand new crypto currency, established by the company, into the market.
Lastly, it came to the long case. Surprisingly, this case was not as difficult compared with the first two. It was a case from Telecom Serbia, where the company was seeking for the strategies to survive in the increasingly competitive market amidst the technological disruption. It was the industry that our team are familiar with, therefore the case cracking went quite well and on schedule as we have set. The sleepless night flew by very fast with constructive arguments and discussions. Finally, we did our best to deliver 20 minutes presentation to the honorable judges.
Even though with our full effort, we did not make it the the final round. But we, Team Thammasat, had no regrets on the results. Regardless of the result, we knew that fair play and a high level of professionalism will be secured. We all put our best efforts not only during the competition, but also the couple months of case simulations and training before the competition in order to be ready to represent Thammasat. As we practiced each case, we were aware that we need to keep improving ourselves to get better and better in every day.
Finally, We would like to thank you BBA Thammasat and BBA Case Club for giving us this valuable opportunity we could not find anywhere else. We also really appreciate support from our professor and case club alumni. We would love to say big thanks to the organizing committees and BBA Case Club for making all of this happen. We promise to keep improving ourselves to bring the glory and legacy to BBA Thammasat further. Till next time.
Posted date: May 2, 2018 by Sochaya T. |
