Global Retail Expansion Focus of 24th Global Business Case Competition

The Global Business Center is pleased to announce that National Chengchi University of Taipei, Taiwan, is the 2024 UW Global Business Case Competition (GBCC) champion! This week-long intensive experiential learning event challenged 11 undergraduate student teams from across the globe to recommend global expansion strategies for both Tim Hortons and Costco Wholesale.    

For Tim Hortons, they worked for 5 hours (Short Case Challenge) on the popular chain’s expansion into China. 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. Innovative differentiation strategies proposed included donut boxes that contain fortunes, regional products that mirror viral trends, and seasonal recipes to celebrate holidays like the Lunar New Year. 

The winning team truly excelled at cross-cultural cooperation and thinking on their feet during the presentation. This team included Papichaya Siriyontrakarn from Chulalongkorn University, Eric Jacob from Erasmus University RSM, Liam Ellis from University of Prince Edward Island, and Rahul Kavuru from Washington University – St. Louis.  

The Winning Short Case Team 

After a day exploring UW and Seattle with their UW Ambassadors, participants re-grouped into their university teams to tackle a case focused on Costco Wholesale expansion opportunities in three new markets: India, Brazil, or the UAE. Teams were given 24 hours to develop market entry strategies, propose timelines for entry, and recommend whether Costco should adapt its business model and product offerings to customer preferences in each country.    

The four finalist teams were Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), National Chengchi University (Taiwan), University of California Santa Barbara, and The University of Washington. After an impressive presentation from each team, 2nd place was awarded to Chulalongkorn University and National Chengchi University was named UW GBCC 2024 Champion. Congratulations to the team: William Lin, Maggie Tsou, Raymond Tsai, and Ya-Hsun Cheng.  

The Winning Long Case Team and Their Ambassadors 

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

• Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 
• Erasmus University, The Netherlands 
• Illinois State University, USA 
• National Chengchi University, Taiwan 
• The Ohio State University, USA 
• Universidad Panamericana- Ciudad UP, Mexico 
• University of California, Santa Barbara, USA 
• University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 
• University of Prince Edward Island, Canada 
• University of Washington, USA  
• Washington University, USA 

The two case problems were developed for this competition by Foster School faculty. The Tim Horton’s case was adapted by Dr. Debra Glassman. The Costco case was co-authored by Dr. Debra Glassman and Dr. Suresh Kotha.   

The GBCC Management Team 

We would also like to acknowledge the hard work of the UW GBCC Student Leadership Team who spent countless hours organizing this week-long event. Co-Chairs Brennon Lee and Edison Wong truly made everyone feel welcome with their management and delivery of the competition theme, “Creating Memories and Legacies.” Outstanding work was done by our student management team: Kimo Chang, Megan Louie, Carlos Moscoco, Daria Oviatt, Anna Chen, Tia Bjornson, Genevieve Duong, and Jenny Murray. Lastly, the largest ever cohort of 18 GBCC Ambassadors worked tirelessly to host our teams during their stay in Seattle! 

Final Judges from Left to Right: Gary Millerchip, Michael Conway, Affshin Valji, Maggie Stringfellow, Jeri Wait, Craig Ueland 

UW GBCC would not have been possible without the involvement of business community members, 41 of whom took time out of their lives to volunteer as competition judges.  

And finally, we are grateful to our community partners who made this immersive learning opportunity possible:  

• The Boeing Company  
• Costco Wholesale  
• F5  
• The Kirkdoffer Family and Clay Lacy Aviation 
• U.S. Department of Education CIBER (Centers for International Business Education & Research) Program 

 If you are a university interested in participating in UW GBCC 2025, please complete this interest form.

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