Korea University Business School Students Ranked TOP 2 in International CSR Case Competition

(From the left) Business School Professor Jungbien Moon, Sunghyun Baek (Business ’19), Minkyung Kim (Business ’19), Hyunsong Kim (Business ’19), Sangyoon Kim (Business ’19), and KUBS Dean Johngseok Bae.

Korea University Business School (Dean=Johngseok Bae) enrolled students ranked second place at Milgard Invitational Case Competition on Social Responsibility (MICCSR) hosted by University of Washington, Tacoma - Milgard School of Business.

MICCSR is a competition in which participants analyze real case problems related to social value, establish strategies and strategic direction and present them. Started in 2012 and celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, MICCSR was held from February 13 to 26. The event was conducted online due to COVID-19 and universities from many countries participated, including not only South Korea but also △United States, △Switzerland, △Italy, △Canada, △Australia, etc.

The students who participated in 2021 MICCSR and were honored to be the first Korean university students to be awarded were △Minkyung Kim (Business ’19), △Sangyoon Kim (Business ’19), △Hyungsong Kim (Business ’19), and △Sunghyun Baek (Business ’19). They gained the opportunity to enter the competition by winning the grand prize at ‘2020 Social Value Research Competition’ held by KUBS. The students have prepared for MICCSR with the guidance from Business Professor Jungbien Moon.

At MICCSR, 20 recommended teams are divided into 4 groups for the preliminary rounds, and only 4 teams, who won the first place in each group, compete in the finals. This year’s topic was deciding on whether to invest in a global cruise agent or not from a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) point of view. One week was given to analyze the case and prepare presentation materials. Since the competition was held online, a presentation video was required as well.

On February 25, a Q&A and feedback session with the judges were arranged for all teams participating in the preliminary rounds. After the evaluation process, 4 finalist teams underwent the final round on February 26, and the results were in the following order: △University of Maryland (1^st place), △Korea University Business School (2^nd place), △University of Minnesota (3^rd place), and △George Town University (4^th place). It was a moment where KUBS stood out, especially since it won the second place among eminent American universities. 

Mr. Kim Sangyoon, who led the team from ‘2020 Social Value Research Competition’ to MICCSR, “sincerely thanked business school professors who were of great help” and revealed “[our team spent the winter vacation preparing for the competition and we are happy that our efforts paid off”. He added that “social value knowledge learnt in major courses helped greatly to find a way in the competition”. Mr. Kim also said, “I am very grateful to the team members who have completed the 2-year journey without any conflicts while being very caring to and thoughtful for each other.”

KUBS Dean Johngseok Bae was full of praise for the students. He offered his congratulations, saying “I applaud the students for their efforts and passion, having stayed up all night in demanding situations”.

Meanwhile, KUBS is working on ‘KUBS-SK Business for Society Project’ to cultivate talents who understand and seek social values. As a part of the project, Social Value Research Competition will be hosted in order to give students opportunity to find a social value seeking business model themselves. 2021 Social Value Research Competition starts in upcoming April and every Business school student can apply for the event.