PRESS RELEASE 28 October 2003
Citigroup International Case Competition Announces
Winners
28 October 2003. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s School of Business and Management (HKUST Business School) announced the winner and runners-up of the Citigrorunners-up International Case Competition at the Closing Ceremony last Saturday (October 25). A team of four from the University of Texas at Austin took home the champion trophy and was also selected by other participating teams as the Most Sociable Team.
The three runners-up were Carnegie Mellon University, University of Singapore and University of Washington. Thammasat University from Thailand won the Best Ethnic Costume award.
The competition, sponsored by Citigroup, brought to Hong Kong 15 teams of outstanding students (four students on each team) and professors from major business schools from Canada, the Chinese Mainland, Denmark, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.S. HKUST Business School joined as the host team.
The business case for the competition was developed by a team of professors at the HKUST Business School. Participating teams were asked to devise the China business strategies for Circle K Convenience Stores. From receiving the case to presenting their ideas, each team has a maximum of 36 hours. Team performances were evaluated by a judging panel of 16 members comprising of HKUST professors, senior executives from Citigroup and Circle K, and also business leaders from different industries.
Speaking at the Closing Ceremony, Catherine Weir, Hong Kong Citigroup Country Officer, said: "The competition has been a great success. I was highly impressed by the excellent performances of the students. Their thorough analysis, fluent presentation and confident answers to the judges' tough questions truly reflect the characters of our future business leaders. "I am pleased to see that through participating in the competition, the students managed to gain a better understanding of the business and financial environment of Asia Pacific, especially Greater China."
Dean K.C. Chan of the HKUST Business School said: "The success of this case competition owes to the tremendous support from our sponsor Citigroup, the case company Circle K, the judges, HKUST student ambassadors, and also staff from HKUST and Citigroup who have been working on this big project for almost a year. The competition was designed as a forum for the exchange of ideas and sharing of experience among students and faculty members of selected top-ranked international business schools. From what we have observed during the competition, I think we have achieved what we set out to do."
Branded as an event to showcase Hong Kong as an international center for intellectual exchange, the Citigroup International Case Competition’s four-day program featured a number of high-profile speakers. Stephen H. Long, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup Global and Investment Bank, Asia Pacific, and Ronnie C. Chan, Chairman, Hang Lung Group were keynote speakers, respectively, for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The program also included a half-day seminar - "Experience Asia's World City", at which Citigroup's senior management and economists, and also a business professor from the HKUST discussed with students the current market trends and business opportunities in Asia. There were also a sight-seeing tour and social activities to foster cultural exchange among the participating teams.
Photos can be downloaded at http://www.bm.ust.hk/~download/citigroup/.
Participating Teams
1. Carnegie Mellon University - USA 2. Copenhagen Business School - Denmark 3. School of Management, Fudan University - PRC
4. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - Hong Kong 5. McGill University - Canada
6. National Chengchi University - Taiwan
7. NUS Business School, National University of Singapore - Singapore 8. Guanghua School of Management, Peking University - PRC 9. Singapore Management University - Singapore
10. Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat-sen University - PRC 11. Thammasat University - Thailand
12. School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University - PRC 13. University of Texas at Austin - USA
14. University of Washington - USA 15. University of Western Ontario - Canada
