CB students participate in NNH International Case Competition in Norway
A team of four undergraduate students, Martyna Chmielewska, Charlotte Fung, Sharon Shi and Reese Wang, represented CityU to join the NNH International Case Competition (NHHICC) held in Bergen, Norway on 7-11 October 2019. The team was led and coached by Dr Zachary Leung, Assistant Professor of the Department of Management Sciences.
NHHICC is an annual student-run competition held in NHH Norwegian School of Economics. This year marked the third year of NHHICC and it gathered case solving talents from 13 top business schools across the globe, such as Copenhagen Business School, Hass School of Business at University of California Berkeley, Peking University and CityU etc., to compete for the championship.
Students were given a case of Norwegian grocery retail chain Coop. They needed to utilise all the business knowledge and skills to formulate a suitable organisational strategy that would help Coop to remain competitive in 2030. As Coop is a cooperative with more than 1.7 million co-owners, students needed to take into account the company setup and culture in their presentation.
In addition to the case solving competition, participants were given chances to experience the historic side of Bergen with an array of activities including a museum visit, fjord cruise tour, hiking and more.
Dr Zachary Leung appraised the team for their hard work in preparing for the competition. He said, “Over the last two months, we met every weekend to solve and present cases. During the competition, I was able to see how they had improved significantly in case analysis and presentation skills. Although our team was not able to enter the final of the competition, I was proud of the effort that members put towards to the competition. I was also very happy with the team’s growth and their camaraderie.”
Martyna said she was very grateful for joining the competition, she said, “It was great to see our efforts come to fruition when presenting to the judges. It was invaluable to learn from my teammates, as well as other teams, and I have improved many skills over this intense but rewarding week.”
Another student Charlotte appreciated her first experience in international case competition. She mentioned that the team had applied all the business knowledge learnt in the classroom with skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. “The competition was a perfect platform to connect with other like-minded individuals and build relationships with other students from across the globe,” she added.
“The case let me gain a new perspective of Norwegian retail market, in terms of their consuming preferences, general personality and forecast, which would help my handling of similar cases in the future. Although we were not able to get in the final, we definitely learnt a lot from the finalists on how they tackled the case and conducted analysis,” said Sharon.
Reese expressed her gratitude to Dr Leung for the comprehensive training that included solving simulations, discussions, reflections, and lessons learnt from winners of the past case competitions. She mentioned that training was the most precious and invaluable part in the whole journey, and the vital skills she acquired could be applied to not only case solving, but other projects and problems in life. “Every case solving practice sprouted growth in us, and strengthened our friendship. It made us collaborated smoothly and tightly, creating a magnifying effect on our output,” she added.