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Second Runner Up at Rotterdam International Case Competition 2017


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Written by Dachpadung Wong, BBA#23
 
As representatives for Thammasat University, Jun Meckhayai, Nareepat Chulavalaivong, Phunyanuch Thamromdee, and I, Dachpadung Wong had the opportunity to compete at Rotterdam International Case Competition 2017 held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. As one of the seniors in the team, I would like to hold the honor to share our experience in winning the 2nd Runner-up at RICC 2017.
 
The team had departure Bangkok on November 11th, along with our advisor, Dr. Worapong Janyangyuen. After 14 hours of travelling, we finally arrived in Rotterdam. A city full of beautiful, modern architectures with high sustainability.
 
Speaking of the competition itself, 2017 marks the first year ever for Rotterdam International Case Competition. We are truly honored to be invited to such a well-organized competition. There are a total of 16 participating teams from countries within America, Europe, and one team from Asia. Yes, Thammasat University was the only team from Asia.
 
The whole competition is composed of a total of five different business cases. The format for the competition involves dividing 16 teams into four divisions, consisting of four teams per division. Then for each of the first 3 cases, the teams will go head-to-head with another team in their own division. Each team will have to collect as much points as possible in this preliminary round. Which will lead to the top two teams in each division being able to move forward to the quarter-finals. For the quarter-finals, the remaining eight teams will be paired up with a team from a different division to go head-to-head. Only the winning four teams will then proceed to the finals. In the finals, the team compete directly against the other three teams to secure the trophy.

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Our first case was a 5-hour case surrounding issues faced by a local construction company. We started out strong by doing our best and ended up winning that match. The second case was another 5-hour case about a local public library. It was a challenging case due to the unconventional industry that we were not familiar with. However, we managed to do well and won again for that case. For the third case, it was a 3-hour case revolving around a social enterprise that wants to achieve a triple bottom line: profits, people, and planet. I would personally say that this case was the best we’ve done so far among the three cases. We were extremely confident in the outcome. However, the judges think otherwise and we lost that round. Adding up the points of the first 3 cases together, we landed in the second place of the division. Merely just 0.5 points higher than the third place. Resulting us to move on to the quarter-finals.
 
In the quarter-finals, we were matched up with a strong team that got first place from their division. Nevertheless, it did not frighten us and we continue working to the best of our abilities. The case was a 3-hour case about the same social enterprise but a different aspect of the problem. Working intensely throughout the three hours, we successfully delivered our solution to the judges. By dinner time, the committee announced that we made it to the finals.
 
In the finals, we were handed a 6-hour case regarding supply chain issues of a global chemical company that has a factory in Rotterdam. Ladies and gentlemen, I thought the past four cases were intense but little did I know. Despite the longest solving time, this was the most intense case cracking session we had throughout the competition. In the end, we managed to come up with our own big idea to solve the issue. We delivered our solution to the honorable panel of judges. We gave our best presentation to the 400 audiences in the convention hall. I could safely say that there were no regrets left behind.
 
As a leader of the team, I would say I am truly honored and proud to be working alongside my teammates. I felt the commitment and dedication each one of you had put in during our practices for the past several months. I hope you have learnt something great from this experience because I surely did. Thank you all for the great job, and I wish you the best of luck in future case competitions.

Posted date:  December 3, 2017 by Sochaya T

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