School News

Congratulations to our students for winning the Champion in Deloitte USHINE Case Competition!

The Deloitte USHINE Case Competition is organised by Deloitte which aims to provide a platform for the next generation of young talents to showcase their innovative business solutions.

This year’s competition focused on the Chinese Cosmetics Market, challenging participants to submit a comprehensive business report that comprised an executive summary, competitor analysis, recommendations on addressing ethical dilemmas, and a detailed implementation timeline. After two rounds of rigorous review, eight finalist teams were shortlisted to present their ideas to a panel of judges on their proposals.

Among the 120 teams from different universities, students from HKU Business School stood out by demonstrating their outstanding ability to navigate real-world business challenges and excellent pitching skills and crowned as Champion of the competition.

More about the competition: https://ug.hkubs.hku.hk/competition/ushine-case-competition-2024

Champion

Team member:

Lai Yi Huen Hayley, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Chiu Wing Lam Agnes, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Lam Yi Tak, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Liu Ka Wing, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Wai Katarina, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 1

Student Sharing:

“Taking part in the Deloitte USHINE Case Competition was such a rewarding and eye-opening experience. This was my very first-time taking part in an external case competition after receiving training in the HKU International Case Society (HICS) in the past few months. Even though I have received plenty of experience regarding deck making and pitching in HICS, I have never written a business report before, hence it was quite challenging to adapt. As the team leader, I led our team in brainstorming products and conducting thorough market research, putting ourselves into the shoes of a U.S. cosmetic company looking to break into the Chinese market. We first identified the pain points through complex market, consumer and competitor analysis, then researched on market gaps and opportunities. Finally, we came up with and grouped our strategies and finalised our timeline. Unlike typical case competitions, we had the freedom to pick our designated hypothetical company, hence we were able to fully express our creativity. Looking back, I learnt a lot more about deck pitching and stepped out of my comfort zone.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supportive teammates for perfecting every detail and every graphic on our pitch deck, and for self-learning how to calculate financials from scratch. Thank you, HKU Business School, for the valuable opportunity and HICS for the countless hours spent in facilitating teams in learning how to excel in deck pitching. This competition has truly been a valuable and memorable experience”

(By Miss Lai Yi Huen Hayley)

“It has been wonderful taking part in the USHINE Case Competition held by Deloitte club and an absolute honour for us to take home the champion prize. Through a whirlwind of research, analysis and discussion, I have truly learned so much more about the Chinese cosmetics industry and case pitching. My main role was to complete our team’s financials, which involved certain concepts that were foreign to me, as we had to learn how to properly calculate key metrics and ratios to substantiate our strategic recommendations on our own. I struggled to identify accurately which sections of the financial statements were relevant and useful for calculations and what key assumptions to set. I am very thankful that we managed to come up with reasonable assumptions and data through hard work. This was a critical part of our preparation, and we are grateful to have gained these practical financial analysis capabilities.

More importantly, I realised the value of teamwork and perseverance. I would like to thank my teammates for demonstrating such seamless cooperation and team spirit; all of us were dedicated to our respective roles and would actively contribute ideas. While we were all quite inexperienced, this dedication allowed us to navigate through the overwhelming and intense preparation process.”

(By Miss Lam Yi Tak)

“As the Deloitte USHINE Case Competition was the first case competition we have ever participated in, let alone entering the finals, we were pushed well outside of our comfort zone to say the least, but the guidance from our team leader and support from fellow team members enabled us to all develop valuable new skills.

Additionally, the high-pressure final presentation in front of the Deloitte judges was an invaluable learning opportunity. Although we all felt quite nervous the days leading up to our presentation, our words of encouragement to each other and the perspective of this competition being a learning opportunity helped us ease our minds and become more confident in our presentation and think quickly during the Q&A session. Navigating these challenging aspects of the competition has undoubtedly expanded our skillset and prepared us for future case competition challenges.

We deeply appreciate all of our fellow dedicated teammates who worked tirelessly for this achievement, as well as the HKU Business School for providing this unique chance to apply our classroom learnings in a real-world, competitive setting. This competition has been a truly transformative and memorable experience.”

(By Miss Liu Ka Wing)