The team of Corvinus University students came first in the 2017 Heavener International Case Competition staged by the Warrington College of Business of the University of Florida. The event was held from 5 to 11 of February. Members of the winning team were Luca Csanády, Domonkos Erőss, Natália Madarász and Bence Nemes, accompanied by myself as mentor. Out of the 76 mainly native English students , Natália Madarász won the Award for Best Presenter.

19 teams from leading universities across the globe, accompanied by faculty members with significant case solving experience took part. By winning the competition, the Corvinus team has become eligible to participate in the global Champions’ Cup and received further invitations to other competitions.

The preparations were led by professor Erzsébet Czakó along with lecturers of the Institute of Business Economics: Zsolt Ábrahám, Miklós Kozma, Zsolt Matyusz and Miklós Stocker and alumni of the Cases on International Business Strategy (CIBS) course. The Case Solvers team provided valuable professional assistance too. The CIBS course has passed its 9th year. This course is fine-tuned each year, taking into account the experience, information and insights gained during the international competitions. Nevertheless it is always an exciting task to adapt the tactics of the team to the given competition and to given opponents. The mentality and preparedness of the team are crucial to how successfully the tactics can be implemented. In Florida all went very well and we were acknowledged by several foreign colleagues who had not known Corvinus before. The competition consisted of two rounds. Whereas during the first round the teams had 6 hours to solve a case, in the second round they had 30 hours at their disposal to develop their solution. Both cases were evaluated by a jury of 4-5 members from the world of corporations. According to the jury, the strength of the Corvinus team lay in the feasibility of their solution which placed them above all the other competing teams.

The results of the competition:

1. Budapest Corvinus Egyetem
2. Singapore Management University (SIN)
3. Nanyang University (SIN)
4. University of New South Wales (AUS)

 
Other participating universities:
Concordia University (John Molson School of Management) (CAN)
Florida State University (USA)
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKG)
Ivey Business School (CAN)
Maastricht University (NED)
Penn State University (USA)
Queensland University of Technology (AUS)
Rotterdam University (NED)
Simon Fraser University (CAN)
University of Alberta (CAN)
University of Belgrade (SRB)
University of California, Berkeley (USA)
University of Florida (USA)
University of Melbourne (AUS)
University of Waikato (NZE)

Miklós Kozma, Department of Business Studies