NEWS

The APU Business Case Competition 2021 took place over the span of 2 days, May 15 and May 16. One team representing APU, called One Stone, took first place, winning them entry into the HSBC/HKU Business Case Competition.

In the APU Japanese Business Case Competition, participants create solutions to real problems that existing companies face. This year, there were 24 applications from teams of 5 different universities nationwide. All 5 schools were represented by the 16 teams who passed the video selection processes and proceeded to the online competition.

The theme this time was "The problem of water shortages in Taiwan, a global semiconductor producing country." Participants were challenged to find a way to make semiconductor manufacturing and people's way of living and agriculture sustainable.

In the qualifying round on the first day, each team made full use of their individual strengths, knowledge, and ideas in a short 3 hours. Each team gave a 20-minute presentation before answering pointed questions from the judges, who consisted of individuals from both global companies and the University of Hong Kong's Case Development Center. The results of the qualifying round were close, but One Stone (APU), ALPA (APU), NAGOYA WARRIORS (Nagoya University), and HOA (APU) proceeded to the finals.

In the finals on the second day of the tournament, the final 4 teams presented the case worked on the day before, only this time their presentations were refined based on the questions and feedback from the judges. As a result of careful selection by the judges, One Stone, who had the highest total score, won the championship and qualified for the HSBC/HKU Business Case Competition 2021.

Participating teams: 16 teams (5 universities)
Tohoku University, Nagoya University, Doshisha University, Akita International University, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (in no particular order)
* 1 team consists of 4 undergraduate students

Winning teams (university name)
1st place: One Stone (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
2nd place: ALPA (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
3rd place: NAGOYA WARRIORS (Nagoya University)
Best Speaker Award: Lai Wan-Ching (NAGOYA WARRIORS)

* What is a case competition?
Originating in the United States, this is a team-based competition held around the world with the aim of improving the practical thinking ability, teamwork ability, and problem-finding ability of participating students. Participating students will propose solutions to management issues using case studies of sponsor companies. Judges, including sponsor companies, will evaluate the content of the proposal and the quality of the presentation. There are various rules for the tournament, but in general, a team of four people will work on the task in a limited time of around 24 hours. Case competitions are team-based competitive events designed to improve participants' applied thinking, teamwork, problem identification skills, and other abilities. These competitions originated in the United States, and are now held throughout the world. Competitors are presented with a business problem and Competition rules vary, but generally each team is composed of four students, and They are given a limited time of around 24 hours to work on the assigned problem and prepare the presentation of their proposed solution.