Held over the course of four days from 16-19 August, 2006, in Bangkok, Thailand, at the Amari Watergate Hotel, TUBC was a case competition involving teams of undergraduates from various international business schools and hosted by the BBA International Program of Thammasat University. Under the guidance of their faculty advisor, Professor Raymond So, CUHK's team, Fergus Chan (Year 2, Professional Accountancy), Jacky Lui (Year 1, Global Business Studies), Pauline Si (Year 1, Global Business Studies), and Winnie Yeung (Year 3, Integrated BBA), competed in the event. For the third consecutive year, CUHK once more took third place, this year out of a field of 17 teams from as many different universities.
In the competition, each team was given 40 uninterrupted hours in which to analyze and prepare a solution for an international business case that was revealed at the time of the competition. This year's case centered on a Thai commercial bank trying to streamline its businesses and become a universal bank. Judging the final round of the event was a panel of leading businessmen and qualified professors. The University of Texas at Austin came in first place, while Thammasat University, CUHK and Assumption University made it to the finals.
TUBC 2006 has seen the competition grow in international prestige, as universities from around the globe came to compete, including, to name a few, HKUST from Hong Kong, McGill University from Canada, the University of Malaysia, University of Auckland from New Zealand, National University of Singapore, and the University of Southern California from the United States.
The competition helped students hone their "hands-on management, analytical, and communication skills", as they had to use their teamwork and creativity to put together a 20-minute presentation.
In their own words, the team members share some of their insights gained from the competition:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The Magical Pyramid brings you favorable net income!
Being the final team in the competition to present, these concluding lines mark an end to our presentation as well as TUBC 2006.
Time flies. Two months have gone in a blink of an eye. The memory of the cases, discussions, presentations, laughter, and tears is still as clear as if it had happened yesterday.
The road from being greenhorns in a case competition to winning the second runner-up place was challenging but fun. Unconsciously, four strangers developed an unbreakable bond during the course of the tough training. We went though several hundreds of hours of brainstorming, numerous bombardments from our respectful trainers, countless arguments and instances of support for each other before we were ready to compete.
At some point during these two months, it became more than just a game. It meant something more to us: training for our future. A logical way of thinking, critical judgment and the ability to clearly present one's ideas were the best treasures we discovered in this competition. Most important of all, it revealed to us the miraculous power of team spirit.
Finally, we can conclude the game with our very own Magical Pyramid:
5 Fantastic Trainers
4 Wonderful Teammates
3 Sleepless Nights
2 Runners-Up of TUBC
1 Unforgettable Experience
