Recently the University of Auckland (UoA) hosted Champions’ Trophy 2024, a week-long, annual international case competition involving twelve teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, America, Australia, Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Philippines and New Zealand. A case competition involves solving business cases by identifying key issues and creating strategies, then presenting these findings to a judging panel. I’m a member of the UoA Case Club and was on the committee supporting organising the Champions' Trophy. In this article, I want to share some experiences from the week and reflections about the value of the competition from a university student perspective.
The week began with general introductions, a Marae visit with waiata, and a rooftop dinner. This allowed us to get to know each other as the teams settled into the Auckland atmosphere.
On day two, the teams turned touristy, visiting the Sky Tower and bungee jumping off the Harbour Bridge. We had to demonstrate the adventurous kiwi spirit! In the evening, we played some lawn bowls and figured getting old might not be so bad. Day three was beach day.
These few days got me thinking about how wonderful an opportunity this extracurricular week is. In particular, you’re getting to make friends with the brightest minds from all around the world from top universities (basically we’re all nerds).
In the workforce, your social interactions can be limited to coworkers you already see every day. At university day-to-day people tend to robotically enter and exit lectures and walk around campus like there’s a bubble around them.
In this case, everyone was energised for the competition and intent on mingling with one another. You all already know you have at least one thing in common. You get to learn about people’s different backgrounds, lifestyles and experiences. For example, I learned one of my favourite singers, Olivia Rodrigo, was studying at USC and that their team advisor had taught Patrick Schwarzenegger!
Life-changing information, I know.
But I do think it is important to socialise with people who are different from yourself to broaden your understanding of the world. It can be easy to get stuck in an echo chamber of ideas and get tunnel vision without even realising it, simply due to a lack of exposure to new ideas; even differences as slight as the teams’ different fashion aesthetics reminded me there are more perspectives and experiences beyond my own.
Day four to six were where things got serious; less laughing and lawn bowls. The teams cracked a five hour case for three days straight, with the five teams with the top results going to the finals.
Throughout the week there was an entertaining dynamic of, “Yay, we’ve become great friends, but we’re gonna crush you now”. The teams had all trained intensely for weeks before this competition and it was interesting to see the different styles from teams. For example, some approached the competition with a playful and energetic attitude, while others were stern and focused. Each team had their own formula for cracking and presenting cases.
There was a lot of pressure upon the teams to perform well, some more than others. For example, performance could correlate with club funding or a team may have had a winning streak. The UoA team was competing at their home University in front of all their friends and advisors. I wondered how this pressure would impact a team's performance - does it lead them to do better or worse?
Day seven was the Grand Finals presentations where Singapore Management University came out as champions! The week ended with a cocktail night to celebrate.
Competing in business competitions is a special opportunity to develop yourself professionally in an environment of like-minded individuals. Case competitions build your business acumen as well as skills like critical thinking and teamwork. Each time you work with a new team you must assess the team dynamics and adapt to work with one another effectively, and week-on-week you practise and reflect together to grow as a team. The Case Club has been one of the most valuable aspects of my university experience.
This is the best time to get involved in clubs that excite and challenge you while also providing a sense of community. These are the experiences that make university special. You won’t remember that Week 8 lecture about tax deductions, you’ll remember the late night chats you have at dorms or spontaneous weekend trips.
From an employer’s perspective, a well-rounded student tends to be more appealing than one with only good grades. Grades reflect your study habits, but contributing to an extracurricular indicates that you’re developing real-world experience and skills like socialising, self-management, and shoeying. These reflect your maturity and capabilities.
When you sign up for those ten clubs at the beginning of semester, make a commitment to actually go to an event or two to test the waters. University is about getting a degree. It’s also about the degree to which you engage with new experiences to grow and learn holistically.
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