AUT - AUT First Runner Up at 2010 Asia Business Case Competition
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AUT First Runner Up at 2010 Asia Business Case Competition
The AUT team consisting of Nick Barret, Katrina Collings, Kristen Stasiewicz and Garrick Garz (from left, with Team Advisor, Professor Felix Tan) took this year’s 1st Runner Up trophy at Nanyang University of Technology’s Asian Business Case Competition held from 11 – 14 October 2010. In addition, Kristen Stasiewicz was awarded the Best Speaker prize.
Thirteen student teams from outstanding business schools around the world participated in the preliminary round of the competition with nine ‘making the cut’ and invited to Nanyang for the semi-final and grand final rounds. The semi-final had AUT vying for a place in the grand final against Thammasart University (Thailand) and McGill University (Canada). The team was thrilled to make the grand final when they pitched their proposed strategies against the University of Maastricht and Nanyang Business School as well as defended their proposal to industry judges in a gruelling 15 min Q & A session.
In its 4th year, the Asian Business Case Competition at Nanyang was Singapore’s first international undergraduate business case competition, and is the only one focusing on sustainability and business. The competition began with a Sustainability Roundtable that involved leading academics, industry experts and students in the analysis and exploration of sustainable practices and policies. A “virgin” case was then released to the student teams. This was followed by a 40 hour case deliberation period. The case was on Wilmar International Limited, a Singapore-based palm oil trading company which became one of the top listed agribusinesses in Asia within two decades. In July 2010, Wilmar announced its intention to acquire Sucrogen, Australia’s leading producer of sugar and renewable energy. The student teams, acting as consultants, were asked to present their recommendations on both the sustainable management (in light of the negative public opinion of palm oil production) and integration issues that Wilmar will face (following the acquisition of Sucrogen).
The 3-prong strategy the AUT team presented was for Wilmar to “Pre-empt and Diversify” through sustainable palm oil operations, integrating Sucrogen into Wilmar and forging growth opportunities. An aspect of the AUT team’s recommendation – to expand into Africa and in particular Kenya and Nigeria where the governments are keen to develop palm oil plantations to reduce poverty, appeared to be have differentiated their solution.
Congratulations to the team. A big thank you goes to Associate Professor Coral Ingley as well as Shantell Percy and Bill Lomas who are part of the wider case competition student group, for their advice and assistance in preparing the team.