A Successful 23rd Annual Global Business Case Competition

The Global Business Center is pleased to announce that American University of Beirut (Lebanon) is the 2023 Global Business Case Competition (GBCC) champion! This powerhouse experiential learning event challenged 12 undergraduate student teams from across the globe to tackle current global business issues. This year they developed recommendations for issues faced by Nestle and Intel.   

GBCC 2023 Champion Team: American University of Beirut (Abed El Rahman Makari, Seri Hmeidan, Emilio Bitar Zankoul, Elias Chaptini)  

For Nestle, they worked for 5 hours (Short Case Challenge) on alternative packaging for KitKat candy bars that would help them meet their 2025 commitment for all packaging – 100% recyclable or reusable. Teams had to: 

  • Recommend which KitKat packaging (plastic with recycled content OR paper) should be implemented on a global scale 
  • Suggest a strategy that would promote consumer recycling behavior 

Adding to the challenge, the teams were multinational ones who had never met each other. They were formed after arrival in Seattle and had to present, boardroom style with just one slide, to business executives. A truly unique learning experience that simultaneously builds community and cross-cultural competence. The short case winning team included Pan Karnjanaekarin (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand), Valentino Mollard (Erasmus University, Netherlands), Jade Joyce Ng (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), and Dominik Vlasak (University of Washington, USA).   

Photo of Short Case Challenge Winning Team: The Nestle Case.  

After a day exploring Seattle and the UW campus, they regrouped into their university teams to work on the issue facing Intel.  This time they had 24 hours to address how Intel can make its new foundry (chip manufacturing) services a success, especially given that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s dominant manufacturer. More specifically, who are the potential customers and how can Intel persuade them to work with its foundry services rather than TSMC?  

The four finalist teams were the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), Erasmus University (Netherlands), the University of British Columbia (Canada), and the University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong). Due to their close insider view of Intel, the development of sales pitches that identified customer problems, the use of recent information as well as a compelling storytelling framework the American University of Beirut will take home the trophy as the champion team. Congratulations Abed El Rahman Makari, Seri Hmeidan, Emilio Bitar Zankoul, Elias Chaptini! 

Thanks to all of the student teams who collaborated, competed and had fun in Seattle this past week!  

  • American University of Beirut, Lebanon 
  • Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania 
  • Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands 
  • Korea University, South Korea  
  • The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 
  • University of British Columbia, Canada 
  • Universidad Panamericana Guadalajara, Mexico 
  • Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador 
  • Universidade do Porto, Portugal 
  • University of Southern California, USA 
  • University of Washington, USA 

The two case problems were created specifically for this competition by Foster School faculty. The Nestle case was developed by Dr. Debra Glassman. The Intel Case was co-authored by Dr. Debra Glassman and Dr. Suresh Kotha. 

 

GBCC 2023 Student Leadership Team with Dubs and Dean Frank Hodge. From left to right: Kai Hutchison, Sam Pupipathirunkun, Nishant Shah, Brennon Lee, Alicia Ing, Iman Janoo, Chelsea Pang, Silke Van Caeneghem, Gyanu Sengar, Marius Rakickas 

We would also like to acknowledge the hard work of our GBCC Student Leadership Team who spent countless hours organizing this huge event after not being in person for so long. 

Photo of the Final Round Competition judges on Saturday April 22nd, 2023. From left to right: Joanne Harrell (Former Microsoft) Jeri Wait (Orcawave), Alyssa Fitzpatrick (Intel), Steve Chisholm (Boeing), Mark Kramer (F5), Dave Versteeg (Dutch Brothers Coffee).   

This event would not have been possible without the support from our business community members, 49 of whom took time out of their professional lives to volunteer as competition judges. 

And finally, GBCC would not be possible without our major community partners: 

  • The Boeing Company 
  • Costco Wholesale 
  • F5 Networks 
  • T-Mobile 
  • The Kirkdoffer Family and Clay Lacy Aviation 

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