November 9, 2010

A team of undergraduate students from SFU Business made it to the Final Four at one of the world’s most prestigious international business case competitions held in Hong Kong recently.

The Citi International Case Competition 2010 which took place last week saw 19 outstanding teams from top business schools around the world compete in a divisional playoff format. The SFU Business students participating were Frederick Bantados, Sahar Sharafzadeh, Awin Ye, and Jojo Lai. They were coached by SFU adjunct professor Ashley Bennington.

The Citi International Case Competition is jointly organized by Citi Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s School of Business and Management (HKUST), and sponsored by the Citi Foundation. Within 26 hours, the students were challenged to produce and present creative and viable solutions to the strategic issues and managerial dilemmas faced by Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Ltd (CPCS), the world’s largest flight kitchen, which supplies over 30 airlines, and has a daily production capacity of 80,000 meals.

CPCS presented the students with a complex case to propose a long-term growth strategy for the airline caterer. In their analysis, students needed to take into consideration which business model should be best adopted and if a profit-oriented approach be taken, whether the company should invest more resources to venture into non-air catering sectors.

The University of Western Ontario ultimately took top honours, while Simon Fraser University’s team finished fourth overall – ousting teams such as Georgetown, University of Southern California, Korea University, and host-school HKUST.

According to Sam Thiara, Student Affairs Officer at SFU Business, the competition proved that SFU Business students compete with the best in the world. “Through their approach, these students were able to overcome significant real-world business challenges with fresh insights and innovation,” he said. “They are a reflection of the dynamic learning environment that exists at SFU Business.”

Shengman Zhang, Citi Country Officer for Hong Kong, said, “Our future lies in the hands of young, competent business leaders and providing these students with a platform to put their knowledge to practice in the real business world is invaluable to their growth. Our Citi International Case Competition is one of the ways that Citi contributes to the development of our future leaders, and through hosting it in an exciting cosmopolitan city such as Hong Kong, we also hope to broaden the students’ minds and horizons through cultural exchange.”

Held in Hong Kong from November 2-5, the eighth annual Citi International Case Competition attracted 19 teams from ten countries: Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, China, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S.

The Citi International Case Competition has brought outstanding students from leading business schools from around the world to Hong Kong since 2003, enabling valuable academic and cultural exchanges. The event also reinforces Hong Kong’s position as an international center of finance and education.

Participating Teams for 2010

Asia Pacific

Korea University, Korea
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
Shantou University, China
Thammasat University, Thailand
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Yonsei University School of Business, Korea
Tsinghua University, China
Massey University, New Zealand

Canada

University of Concordia
Simon Fraser University
University of British Columbia
The Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario

Europe

Aalto University School of Economics, Finland
Maastricht University, the Netherlands

United States
The Ohio State University
University of South Carolina
University of Southern California
Georgetown University