Our students won twice in Rotterdam

The RSM STAR Case Competition took place in Rotterdam in April 2022. During the competition, the participating teams compared their knowledge in solving two corporate cases. Our university’s team took second place in the division in the 12- hour case and managed to win the longer, 24-hour one. With these results, our students also won the overall first place of the competiton. 

In the week – long competition, the world’s leading universities not only competed with each other, but and they also had the opportunity to get to know each other during social programs. This current field was remarkably strong. “This year’s competition was very intense, so our general attitude was that ‘we’re not afraid of anyone, but we don’t underestimate anyone.”- said the team. 

Opponents included students from HEC Montréal team, the University of Florida, and the National University of Singapore, which are currently considered among the best in the genre. According to the Corvinus team, their own strength lay in innovation. 

“We dared to try new methods and were open to change. We have managed to create our own environment where we can unleash our creativity.”- explained our students. 

The 12 hour case was about the pizza restaurant chain called Domino’s, where the fundamental problem was an increase in demand for delivery people in the industry, making it a burning issue for the company to retain workforce. Our team’s strategic proposal focused on gamification and the development of a performance-based benefit system supported by a “Hero campaign”. The relevance of the solution was also confirmed by the positive feedback from the professional jury and the company executives. Our students recalled the words of the jury: “In the feedback session, even the CEO of Domino’s Netherlands joined in, which he did only in our division.. He emphasized that they can and will incorporate a lot of our ideas into their current operations.” In the first presentation, the team took the second place in the division. 

The longer, 24-hour case was sponsored by IKEA, in which the company set the goal of reaching future customers. The solution of our students has strengthened the IKEA experience from two directions: Online virtual store experience and offline IKEA Small Blue Boxes. After the presentations, the jury highlighted the main strengths of the solution, such as the fact that the team approached the problem from a personal perspective, providing valuable insights to the company about customer needs. 

The Corvinus team made it to the finals, where the division-winning teams presented their solutions to the general public. 

“In the final, we stood in front of an audience of 200, which may seem daunting to many at first, but for me, it was the best presentation experience of my life.” – recalled Réka Kovács, a member of the winning team. 

At the end of the finals, the name of Corvinus was announced as the winner of the IKEA case. In addition, the overall winner of the competition was revealed as well, based on the results of the two rounds, the trophy was once again raised in the air by our students. 

“The whole competition was an unforgettable experience for me, I think I will remember every moment. But I would like to highlight the special atmosphere of the whole thing, the incredibly open and friendly people, and above all, perhaps the moment when I heard the name of Corvinus at the announcement of the winner” said – Péter Zombori. 

In addition, there are even more professional experiences and benefits for someone who wants to start case solving. András Zareczky put it this way: “One of the most useful experiences is that we were able to recognize what the companies think about what they need. It has helped us to understand how a business mindset can make a business successful”. András also highlighted the potential benefits of Corvinus students taking the Case Track in Business Economics: 

“The case solving is the closest to the business world, full-time students in Hungary can get the most out of it by completing this Case track at Corvinus.” 

“Here we can understand the basic business processes that are making companies successful. In addition to the competition, the Case Track so far, with a special emphasis on Cases on International Business Strategy, has helped me the most to develop my case-solving skills”. 

Kíra Szabó added: “Dare to dream big, put in the effort, but most of all, enjoy every moment of case solving.” 

Students of the winning team: Réka Kovács, Kíra Szabó, András Zareczky, Péter Zombori. 

Their mentor: Bence Pistrui, assistant professor in the Department of Business Studies. 

We are very proud of our students, and we heartily congratulate the team on the fantastic result!