Team Cognitare, SMU’s business case club, is the Global Champions of the renowned International Case Competition @ Maastricht (ICC@M) held in Maastricht, Netherlands! The team, comprising undergraduates Wong Qixuan (year 1, BBM), Megan Teo (year 2, BBM), Li Mingyang (year 3, BBM) and Matthew Chan (year 3, BBM) triumphed over 15 other teams representing universities in Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States of America at the 13th edition of the competition held between 7 and 13 May 2023.

Organised by the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE) and held in the century-old city of Maastricht, the competition saw a total of 16 teams comprising four participants each come together to crack three challenging business cases. 

The SMU team was placed in the same division as last year’s winner, Copenhagen Business School, which came up tops during the two initial four-hour cases. Undeterred, the SMU undergraduates persevered and gave their best in their third and final 24-hour case analysis, the deciding round that would determine which teams would advance to the finals.

In the final case featuring German airline conglomerate, Lufthansa Group, teams were pitted against each other to devise a strategy that would integrate digital assistants, such as chatbots, into the existing customer experience journey while taking into consideration current trends and challenges of the different customer archetypes.

Despite the gruelling competition format and keen competition, SMU’s Team Cognitare emerged victorious as divisional champions, and subsequently proceeded to triumph over other divisional finalists to be crowned the Global Champions. This is SMU’s first ever podium finish at the ICC@M.

The judges were impressed with Team Cognitare’s feasible strategy that brought to light the need to integrate digital assistants into the start of the customer’s journey. They had also gone above and beyond to take into consideration how best to target customers who were not in existing loyalty programmes.

Commenting on Team Cognitare’s performance, one of the judges Nick Allgaier, Product Manager for Digital Assistants at Lufthansa, shared that they were the team with the most realistic approach for implementation. “They managed to step into the customer's shoes and gained a better understanding of what the customers wanted and needed.” He also complimented them for their clear, concise and compelling presentation and their display of strong teamwork.

Lyan E.j. Ploumen, SBE’s Director for International Relations, also commended the team for their achievement. She said, “It was a highly competitive event, with the participation of 16 triple-accredited top business schools from around the globe, making your achievement all the more impressive.”

On the win, team leader, Matthew Chan, said, “I am proud of what we have achieved, particularly because it is our entire team’s first in-person case competition. We overcame the adversities that were before us and worked together to deliver our best. Given that this would be one of my last case competitions before I graduate, I am elated that we were able to make our University, our business school and our advisor proud.”

The team is grateful for the relentless support from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, their faculty advisor, Dr Ma Kheng Min, and senior members of Cognitare who have helped to develop the team. “We also wish to express our profound gratitude for the opportunity to represent SMU and leave a lasting impression on the global stage.” Matthew added.

- End -