Yonsei MBA teams won four of the eight awards given in Korea’s largest MBA business case analysis competition on December 1 including the top award. The teams received the Minister of Education Award, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Award, the Money Today Network CEO Award, and the Excellence Award.

“Because the topic concerned energy and electric power industry, which is closely related to the fourth industrial revolution in that it requires convergence technology in areas such as IT, solar power, and nuclear power as well as social choices, MBA students were highly interested in the topic and their rich experience and creative thinking paid off,” said Professor Kyung Min Park of Management, who supervised the performance of the Yonsei MBA teams in this year’s competition.

Jinyeong Chang (entering class of 2016, MBA) collaborated with Taehun Kim (entering class of 2016, MBA) received the Minister of Education Award, the highest in the competition. Motivated by their professor’s remark that the opposite of success is not failure but inaction, they entered the competition seeking a challenge other than academic credits or degrees. “Career experience was very helpful for understanding the case and presenting a strategy,” Jinyeong Chang said. “It was stressful because the competition overlapped with my academic courses, but this experience allowed me to grow.”

As the chairman of the judging committee, Professor Kyung Min Park highlighted the importance of presenting a logical and creative solution based on data analysis. Consequently, creative and analytical reports were submitted, including a new business model for using a mobile smart nuclear facility and a strategy to enter a new African market.

“I would recommend students to enter this competition at least once, because it provides an opportunity to apply management tools and approaches learned in class to real life business issues,” Professor Park said. “This kind of a competition serves as a good learning opportunity to enhance skills not taught in schools or learned from work such as creativity, presentation skills, logical flow, and objectifying a subjective argument.

Three topics were given in this competition. ▲ Development strategy for electric power industry that contributes to a post-2020 low-carbon society. ▲ Business strategy for Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to balance the development of nuclear and new and renewable energy. ▲ Export strategy for emerging economies in response to the growing share of emerging economies in the global nuclear market. The competing teams chose and presented one topic each.

Awards and team members in 2016 MBA business case analysis competition