Michele (Yu-An) Chang, Timo Bräu, Maxime Lejeune, Robin Reuschel and Manuel Bertl, MSc in Finance students at ESADE, have won one of the world’s most prestigious international case competitions. Each year, the Global Case Competition at Harvard brings together the world’s best economics and finance students at Harvard University in Boston (USA). This year’s contest, held on 13-15 April, was organised by the IFSA Network and the Harvard College European Business Group and included 250 students from 13 countries and over 50 universities and business schools.

To advance to the finals, the team of ESADE students had to win a preliminary round against teams from more than 50 international universities, including London Business School and HEC Paris (the winners of the last two editions of the competition). The preliminary round narrowed the competition down to ten teams – including two from ESADE. The teams travelled to Boston to make a case presentation before a panel of distinguished professors and industry professionals. After three days of activities and hard work, the ESADE Artemis team emerged victorious.

‘This victory is a great recognition for the students who participated in the competition and also for the faculty, the programme, and all of its participants, since it underscores the high level of our students and their capacity for hard work and commitment,’ commented Soledad Moya, academic director of the MSc in Finance at ESADE. ‘The technical training received during the programme, combined with the development of presentation and communication skills, plus the hard work and dedication of the students who competed, have resulted in this great success for all of us.’

The Artemis team case

Artemis – a team comprising ESADE students from Taiwan, Belgium, and Germany – has been recognised with the award for their business case entitled ‘LVMH & Hermès: Push Forward or Back Down?’ Manuel Bertl, one of the Artemis students, said: ‘We are extremely happy with the result because everybody used their strengths to complement each other. This victory has been a great achievement for us. The competition level was very high as it included some of the best business schools in the world, including two teams from ESADE. The moment we were announced as the winners was extremely gratifying, because we realised that all the hard work had paid off’.

‘The level was extremely high this year and so the jury had to make a considerable effort and take its time with the deliberations,’ commented Jules Maitrepierre, chairman of the Global Case Competition at Harvard. ‘In fact, the case was especially complicated, since it required students to use very advanced strategic financial knowledge. Moreover, since the case did not have a conclusion per se, the participants had to be creative and highly analytical’, he added.

The third Global Case Competition at Harvard consisted of two intense days at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, the participants attended a networking reception in Boston where they had the chance to meet high-profile business executives, scholars, and students. The competition ended with a closing ceremony, where the $10,000 grand prize was presented to the ESADE team.