"Market Creation" was the theme of this year's Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Case Competition. The CBS Case Competition is the most important international case competition in Europe. Twelve teams from top business schools around the world, including Australia (U. of New South Wales), Denmark (CBS), Finland (Helsinki School of Economics), Hong Kong (CUHK), Japan (Asian Pacific U.), Mexico (Technologico de Monterrey), Netherlands (Rotterdam School of Management), Singapore (National U. of Singapore), Turkey (Bilkent U.) and the US (U. of Washington; UC Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon U.), competed in the competition. Activities during the week included sightseeing, cultural exchange, seminars and workshops, and the highlight was, of course, the case competition.

The challenge for this year's competition was to present a proposal for the global power giant Schneider Electric to market its Intelligent House Concept (IHC) system in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Teams were given only 32 hours to work on the proposal and present it to a panel of judges on Friday morning. The three final teams, including CUHK, National University of Singapore and Helsinki School of Economics had to present their proposal again in the afternoon before an audience of 400 and a panel of 15 judges made up of both professors and business executives.

The presentation by the CUHK team was really impressive. Though Clara, Helen, Liza and Weisi knew nothing about the Nordic and Baltic countries before this trip, they gave a very convincing performance of being experts on Northern Europe. They presented data on the construction industry, economic environment, and even literacy rates in these countries. The proposal included so much detail that nobody could believe that they had only 32 hours in which to prepare. Their power-point slides were so fascinating that everybody in the hall was impressed. After the presentation, the round of applause lasted for more than one minute and the Q&A section was delayed.

Although the championship was finally won by the National University of Singapore, it was a very close match. Had the girls spoken a little more confidently when presenting in front of such a large group of audiences, and delivered their talk just a little bit slower, or if they had been the last team to present instead of the first one, the results might have been different.

The team was led by their Faculty Advisor, Prof. Gordon Cheung. Before they went to Denmark, they have gone through two months of training on analytical skills, proposal writing and presentation skills. This is the second year that CUHK has participated in the CBS Case Competition. Only teams in the top 3 can participate in the Case Competition again next year. We are one of the very exceptional Universities that have been placed in top 3 places in 2 consecutive years. This once again proves that CUHK is producing the best business students in the world.

Words from Clara, Helen, Liza and Weisi

Memorable and eye-opening experience
The Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Case Competition is such a rewarding experience that the memories will always linger in our minds. The organization of the entire event is superb, comprising city tour, fun activities, nice dinners, challenging competition, party, fireworks, cultural exchange, and most importantly, warm greetings and friendship.

Throughout the entire program, we've met other case competition participants from 11 different places, faculty members from various schools, CEOs and managers from various corporations, and also Chinese ambassador in Denmark. It is indeed an eye-opening opportunity.

Competition
We are so happy that we succeeded in entering the final round and came to be first runner-up after 32 hours of hard work . It is indeed a nice opportunity to present in front of over 400 audiences! We not only receive high recognitions and warm supports from the audience, but, to our surprise, be invited hand shakes from our fans—some people came to us and told us that they've formed a fans club to support us after being impressed by our performance!

Lessons
Despite not getting the champion, we have tried our best and received enormous support and recognitions. Most importantly, we have fostered friendship with other participants and intensified the cultural and knowledge exchange.

Many thanks to…
Lastly, we would like to extend our greatest gratitude to the support from BA faculty and CBS. Special thanks to Professor Gordon Cheung for his invaluable trainings and advice in many Sunday mornings.

Finally

Three days after the presentation, the team has received an invitation from a Danish company to join a global team of professionals to work on a consultancy project in the spring. These girls are graduating in May and are now looking for jobs. If you are interested in recruiting them, please send an e-mail to Prof. Gordon Cheung (mailto:gordonc@cuhk.edu.hk) as soon as possible. They won't stay long in the market.