NewNew Zealand students win contest for future business leaders
University of Auckland scoops top prize at Asia Pacific Business Case Competition in Hong Kong
The University of Auckland scooped the top prize at the annual HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition, after an intense three-day contest aimed at nurturing future business leaders.
The competition, organised by the University of Hong Kong and now in its eighth year, brought together undergraduate students from 24 universities in 18 countries this week. They were required to come up with solutions to real-life business cases provided by HKU's Asia Case Research Centre.
In the finale yesterday held at HSBC headquarters, four teams, each with four students, were given a case on New World Development. Cut off from internet access, the contestants had 21/2 hours to design and draft marketing and growth strategies for the Hong Kong property developer.
The task was framed in the context of Hong Kong developers' souring public image, rocketing property prices and sweeping challenges facing bricks-and-mortar shopping malls in the e-commerce era. The students, armed with marker pens, plastic slides and a projector, presented their ideas in 20 minutes.
The winners - Alex Churchill, Kandarp Dalal, Brittany Rea and Nathan George - will take home a cash prize of US$10,000 for their comprehensive strategy named "fix and capture".
"This competition has taught us to approach an Asian market from a very different perspective and with a very different strategy to the way we would have done a Western one," said team spokesman Churchill, a fourth-year student majoring in law and commerce.