Lingnan University holds first-ever Business Case Competition.
Team A from the Sub-Degree & UG division wins the championship.
Team B from the Taught Postgraduate division wins the championship.
To encourage students to develop interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary skills, Lingnan University in Hong Kong held its first-ever Business Case Competition on 13 April. The competition received strong support from six leading organisations from the government, and the business and charity sectors: the Regional Crime Prevention Office, New Territories North, Hong Kong Police Force (RCPO), Alibaba Cloud, Silence Limited, the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), Vitasoy International Holdings Limited (Vitasoy), and the Wai Yuen Tong Medicine Company Limited. Seventy-one teams of 284 Lingnan students from different academic backgrounds entered the competition.
The goal was to develop participants' analytical abilities, communication skills, and team collaboration by arriving at effective and imaginative solutions for complex business cases. This highly anticipated event gave Lingnan students a valuable opportunity to familiarise themselves with the commercial decision-making process, practise on real-world problems, and seek innovative ideas and marketing strategies for concrete corporate challenges in order to prepare for their future.
The six organisations set up case studies relevant to the specific challenges they face. Alibaba Cloud invited students to enhance Alibaba Cloud brand awareness and implement differentiation marketing strategies to achieve business objectives. The RCPO's test was to use anti-fraud publicity activities to increase awareness and the Scameter download rate. Silence Limited wanted financial assistance from multiple channels, and to recruit more professionals. Towngas asked for an analysis of the limitations of flame cooker promotion channels and of using offline channels to attract young customers. Vitasoy wanted to know how to establish a ‘fresh’ brand image, and maintain premium proposition strategies. Wai Yuen Tong hoped to work out how to expand young and middle-class consumer groups and strengthen their brand image. Please refer to the Appendix for case details.
Each team was randomly assigned one of the six cases, and asked to carry out a detailed analysis within one month. Then the teams were asked to formulate appropriate market strategies, consider market trends, and propose the best solution, and also to produce a 30-second promotional video. After preliminary assessments, 12 of the 71 participating teams, went on to the finals, and competed in the final stage on 13 April.
After fierce competition in the finals, the excellent analyses and strategic design of Team A from the Sub-Degree & UG division for case Vitasoy, and Team B from the Taught Postgraduate division for case Alibaba Cloud stood out from the rest, and they emerged as champions in their respective categories, each winning a prize of HK$5,000.
One of the winners, Zhan Suihong, from the Taught Postgraduate Division team, expressed great pride in the team’s achievement, saying “We are grateful for the strong support and encouragement the faculty and staff at Lingnan University gave us throughout the competition. We faced completely new business challenges, and had to propose professional solutions. During the process, we sought insights from different professors, which helped us analyse the case in depth. This competition has enabled us to catch the pulse of the business world, which helped me better understand the real world’s business challenges before graduation, and to plan my career accordingly.”
In hiswelcome remark, Prof Leng Mingming, Dean of the Faculty of Business, said "I sincerely congratulate you on the successful completion of this Business Case Competition, which has shown innovative thinking and outstanding business strategies, as well as the talents and potential of Lingnan students. In view of the enthusiastic response, we plan to hold another one, encouraging students from different disciplines to learn about cutting-edge business practices, demonstrate their analytical abilities, and improve their communication and problem-solving skills."
Calvin Tang, Marketing Director of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence North APAC Region, delivered a closing speech on behalf of the collaborating organisations, and praised the impressive performance of each team. The competition was held by the Faculty of Business at Lingnan University, and co-hosted by the Department of Marketing and International Business, and the Taught Postgraduate Programmes office.
