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Written by Sarin Kulmanochawong, BBA #25
CBS Case Competition (CCC), one of the oldest and biggest case competition in Europe was held during Febuary 24 – March 3, 2018 or during Week 9 of every year. The competition was organized by Copenhagen Business School, and this year Thammasat University is one of the 12 invited business schools to be participated in this prestigious CCC 2018. The team is comprised of four members including Chanakarn Charinpanitkul (BBA#23), Supicha Chotejarataporn (BBA#23), Parit Keeratiyothin (BBA#24), Sarin Kulmanochawong (BBA#25), along with our advisor Ajarn Somboon Kulvisaechana.
After a long 12 hours flight, our team arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark. David Moller, our team buddy was there to pick us up, and right away he took us to explore the city of Copenhagen. Although the weather was freezing but the city vibe and food there was exceptional.
The next day, we were warmly welcomed by the committees as they arranged various of fun activities to let all the participants get to know each other. One of the most memorable activities was indeed the Traditional Danish Dance. Though it was complicated at first but after several practices, we definitely owned the dance floor!
For the case format of CBS this year, we are required to crack two cases in total, including 4-hour short case and 28-hour long case. Initially, teams are randomly drawn and allocated into three divisions, with each division consisting of four teams. The winner from each of the 3 divisions would go straight to the finals. While the second runner-ups from each division would have to compete again in the wildcard round, and only the winning team would proceed to the finals. To ensure fair judgment, teams were not able to present under their university’s name and were not allowed to reveal their respective university to the judge throughout the competition. This year, Team Thammasat goes by the name ‘Sunny Side Up’!
Then came the main course; case cracking. We started off with an interesting short case from the Danish startup company “Lix Technology” which focused on creating a learning platform for students. The company is currently selling textbooks via online platform and is looking to enter the e-learning market in the US. Although the case would serve only for division seating and will not affect our scores, but it was a good kick start for us before the upcoming case.
After another day of rest, all the teams were super pumped for the announcement of this year case company “Arla Foods”, the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia with presence worldwide. The company is facing challenging obstacle when the young generation today consume less dairy products than ever before. We were given the task to construct the business plan to help Arla Foods ensure that dairy products stay relevant towards the young generation across Europe.
With sleepless night of debates and constructive arguments, 28 hours flew by pretty quickly. Though we were confidence with our solution, we were kept on the edge of our seats as the results were unfold. Finally, we felt subtle relief as team ‘Sunny Side Up’ was announced the second runner-up from the first division. With brimmed confidence and belief, we were able to deliver our best 10 minutes presentation to the honorable judges in the wildcard round. And the rest was left to the judges to decide.
As exciting as our journey may sound, this journey was full packed with intense practice, emotional discussion and sleepless nights. Although we did not make it to the finals, but we truly believed that CBS Case Competition is definitely the “lifetime experience” we were proud to be a part of. We were able to strengthen our teamwork skills and really push ourselves beyond our limits. So again, we would like to take this opportunity to give a big thanks to CCC committees and our awesome buddy David, as well as BBA Case Club and BBA Thammasat for making all of this possible.
Posted date: March 22, 2018 by Sochaya T
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