HSBC/HKU ASP Business Case Competition 2025

Participating in the HSBC/ HKU Business Case Competition 2025 Hong Kong:

The 24 universities (winners of the local competitions and teams appointed by the directly invited universities) will participate in the Competition. Each team will consist of four students to represent their university in the competition.

Competition Format:

The Competition will take place over 3 qualifying rounds and the Final round.
One of the qualifying rounds will be executed in the new format and is called Boardroom Challenge.

Competition Dates:

2 June to 6 June 2025

2 June – Arrival and Welcome Dinner

3 June – Round 1 at HKU

4 June – Round 2 at HKU

5 June – Round 3 at HKU

6 June – Final Round at HSBC

6 June – Awards Presentation and Cocktail Reception at HSBC

Competition Structure:

Teams are allocated into divisions and slots.

Division A-F represent the pool of universities that you compete against.

Slot 1-4 represent preparation and presentation time.

Asia Pacific competition will have 24 teams allocated into six divisions with four slots in Rounds 1 and 2 and 3 and one division of four teams in the Final Round.

Random Draw Procedures:

The divisions and presentation slots will be determined by random draw. This draw will be held in the presence of all participants. Except for the final round, each round of the competition will have its own draw.

Team Composition:

Each team should consist of four students and a coach.

All participants must be full-time undergraduate students enrolled at the participating university in the competition year.

All participants should have graduated from secondary school no longer than eight years ago.

Students who have participated in previous editions of the competition are not eligible to compete again.

Judging:

The judging panel will consist of senior executives from HSBC and other companies. Typically, there are three judges on each panel.

Judges Scoring:

Judges will score the teams using the competition scoring sheet, a template of which will be shared with each participating university. Universities will receive a copy of the completed scoring sheets for their team some days after the competition.

Round Format and Rules:

In case there is any contradiction between the General Competition Rules and the Round Rules and Format, the latter will take precedence. Please inform the organizers immediately in such a case.

Preparation and Presentation Times:

Students will be given an unpublished business case developed by the ACRC. Teams are separated into breakout rooms and are given 3 hours (180 minutes) to read the case, come up with a solution to the case, and prepare a presentation of their solution. The team will present the solution to a panel of three senior business executives from the international business community. Each presentation lasts 20 minutes, followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session (35 minutes in total). Please note that all team members should be present and should participate at least once during the presentation.

Attending the Presentations:

Coaches can watch the presentations of their team and all other teams. Students can attend the presentations only after they have completed their presentation for that round.

All presentations will be recorded and shared on the HKU ACRC website and YouTube channel.

All participants should familiarize themselves with the competition rules.

NEW Round: Boardroom Challenge

This year (2025), we are excited to introduce a new round based around. This section serves to help familiarize with the format and expectations of this new innovative round. Please refer to the rules subpage for the structure and specific rules of the Boardroom Challenge.

Overview

The Boardroom Challenge is designed to challenge participants to think critically and argue persuasively from different perspectives in a given case study. Through this new special round we hope to:

• Enhance students' ability to critically analyze and evaluate from various perspectives;
• Foster mutual communication and healthy competition among students; and
• Encourage students to think outside of the box and prepare for unexpected circumstances.

Format

1. General information

• The 24 universities will be divided into 6 Divisions, each Division consists of 4 universities.
• Each session will have 2 participating teams, each team represents a different role or perspective allocated to them in the case material given.
• Teams shall argue to the best of their allocated role or perspective's interest in their presentation, in response to the questions in the case material given.

2. Communication to Judges and/or Team members

• Only oral communication with the judges is permitted. - In the presentation venue, communication between team members may be in writing only

Remarks to Participants

Team B during Commentary is encouraged to raises questions or concerns they may have regarding Team A's presentation. They are allowed to bring in their new findings they may have during Commentary.

Team A during Rebuttal shall address the questions or concerns Team B may have during Commentary. They are allowed to bring in their new findings that are not included in the Presentation to address Team B's comments.