Russell Investments International Case Competition (RIICC)

Schedule – RIICC 2022

Date & Time	Event
September 1st – October 28th	RIICC Registration Open
Thursday, November 10th	Case Competition Workshop with Leta Beard
Wednesday, November 16th 4:00-6:00 PM	Kick Off & Case Distribution, 48-hr Case Analysis Begins!
Friday, November 18th 9:30-1:00 PM	Coaching Round
Friday, November 18th 6:00 PM	Case Submission Deadline – Submit via Website
Saturday, November 19th 9:30	First Rounds
Saturday, November 19th 12:45 PM	Finalists and Freshman/Master’s Champions Announced
Saturday, November 19th 1:30 PM	Final Rounds
Saturday, November 19th 3:45 PM	Champions Announcement and Reception

Team Rules and Eligibility

• The competition Kicks Off at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 16th, followed by Case Distribution at 6:00 PM that evening.
• Teams have 48 hours to analyze the problem, develop a solution, and create a PowerPoint presentation.
• Optional Coaching for all teams will be available on November 18th from 9:30-1:00 PM. Sign up for a coaching round when registering your team!
• Teams will submit their PowerPoint slides at the end of the 48-hour Case Analysis period on Friday, November 18th, at 6:00 p.m. Changes to the presentation cannot be made once the presentation has been submitted.
• Each team must have at least one Business Student, for the Freshman, Undergraduate, and Masters Tracks.
• Undergraduate and Freshman Direct Tracks: Teams should consist of 4 undergraduate students from the Seattle, Tacoma, or Bothell University of Washington campuses. Teams can have at most 2 non-business undergraduate students from the Seattle, Tacoma, or Bothell University of Washington campuses.
• All student participants in the Freshman and Undergraduate tracks must be currently enrolled as UW undergraduate students for Fall Quarter.
• The winning team from the Undergraduate Final Round will win $1000. The 2nd place team will win $400. The 3rd place team will win $200.

Masters Track

• This is the fourth year that graduate students can compete in the Russell Investment International Case Competition.
• Teams in this track will consist of four Foster graduate students who will compete in the preliminary round against one another.
• Teams can include graduate students from any Foster School programs.
• All team members must be currently enrolled at UW.
• There will be no final round for this track. Winners will be announced on November 19th at lunch and the Award Reception.
• The top-scoring team from this Master’s Track will be awarded a Grand Prize of $400.

Freshman Direct Track

• Teams in this track will consist of four freshmen students who will compete in the preliminary round against one another.
• Each team must have at least one Foster School Freshman Direct student on it. All team members must be currently enrolled freshmen at UW.
• There will be no final round for this track. Winners will be announced at the Champions Announcement on November 19th.
• The top-scoring team from this Freshman Direct Track will be awarded its own Freshman Direct Track Grand Prize of $400.

Volunteer

Get a behind-the-scenes look at a case competition in action. Your generous time commitment makes this important event possible! Email Caroline Zeiher at [email protected] for information on how to volunteer. Volunteers should indicate interest on the form below by Monday, October 17.

Volunteer Registration

Archives

2021

In September 2021, Wise (previously TransferWise) launched a new service called Assets for UK customers. The service lets customers earn returns on their balances by investing in stocks. Stock investments are in an index-tracking fund (iShares World Equity Index) managed by BlackRock. As of now, Assets is only available to customers in the UK, but Wise plans to roll it out in other countries in the future. Students played the role of an outside consulting team tasked to propose a marketing strategy for launching Assets in a new global market:

• Explanation of choice of country to enter
• Propose a marketing strategy addressing:
  • Who are the target customers, and how big is the target market?
  • What is the message to potential customers?
  • What marketing channels (media, venues, etc.) do you recommend?
  • How much will the marketing strategy cost?
  • What are the metrics for determining success?

View the Three Finalist Presentations Here:  https://youtu.be/WfZvJFVR_5g
Team 1: Akshansh Arora, Landon Forsythe, Kostyantyn Ryzkhov, William Beeson
Team 2: Sai Raksha Rayala, Laura Wang, Allie Lee, Daphne D’sa
Team 3: Everett Buck, Josh Dembowski, Russell Morrison, Zachary Goo

View the Champions Announcement Here:  https://youtu.be/17hmWHWlA-0

2020

Canada-based Shopify provides tools for merchants to create e-commerce stores and to integrate e-commerce with other selling channels, including brick-and-mortar, mobile commerce, and social commerce. Shopify’s mission is “making commerce better for everyone.” Its merchant-focused philosophy is that Shopify will do well if its merchant customers do well. Students played the role of Shopify managers tasked with global strategy development for Shopify including:

• picking one target country outside North America for growing Shopify’s business
• proposing a three-year plan for increasing sales by Shopify’s North American merchants in said target country
• proposing a three-year plan for increasing the number of the target country’s merchants that use Shopify

View the Three Finalist Presentations
Team 1: Adrian Fleuchaus, Dora Zhang, Crystal Le, and KT Nguyen
Team 2 (Runner Up): Mikaela Cagampan, Sam Kuo, and Natalia Villamil
Team 3 (Champions): Daniil Kaizer, Nicholas Haynie, Connor Weed, and Allison Harvey

View the Champions Announcement

2019

Students played the role of outside consultants who have been hired by Ooredoo, an international telecommunications company headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Teams analyzed both mobile financial service options (i.e., mobile wallet and OTC service) and recommended a future strategic direction for Ooredoo (given its most recent launch of a mobile wallet, M-Pitesan). Teams were tasked with analyzing the following uncertainties and opportunities:

• • Evaluate Ooredoo’s decision to launch a mobile wallet, M-Pitesan
  • Consider the impact of the decisions to launch M-Pitesan on key stakeholders
  • Analyze Ooredoo’s positioning vis-à-vis Telenor; specifically addressing the two competitors’ advantages in their respective spaces?
  • Make strategy recommendations for Ooredoo:
    • Ooredoo expansion into the financial services space
    • Focus on core business in mobile telecommunications

Champions: Team 3 Ben DeLacy, Everett Buck, Jennifer Chen, Peony Situ	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 1 Audry Tjokro, Mario Ramlie, Helena Huray, Euginia Natalie Wong	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 2 Smrithi Sudip, Mikee Cagampan, Sam Kuo, Natalia Villamil	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 4 Jason Yang, Benny Zhi, Vittorio Rossi, Siewon Kim	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 5 Jonathan Alverson, Mac Anderson, Helly Shah, Arun Solanky	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation

2018

Students played the role of outside consultants who were hired by the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), the marine cargo operating partnership of the ports of Tacoma and Seattle. NWSA was in the process of determining what it should be doing in the digital supply chain/blockchain space, and they asked participants to evaluate TradeLens. The teams were asked to address the following:

• • • Perform a SWOT analysis on TradeLens.
    • Describe the motivations of IBM and Maersk – what benefits do they get from TradeLens?
    • Recommend which of these options NWSA should choose:
      • Participate in TradeLens,
      • Participate in one of the other blockchain platforms being developed, or
      • Do nothing now and wait to see how trade digitization evolves (if so, how long should they wait?)

Champions: Team 4 Rose Jao, Keenan Goodman, Skye Scofield, Aarthi Ganapathi	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 1 Annemeike Schanze, Michelle Batjargal, Alfred Mugho, Bariso Hussein	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 2 Christopher Beardsley, Ana Alvarez, Keaton Layman, Erik Nielson	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 3 Faith Dowsett, Lina Zhou, Emily Albertson, Lena Shelley	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 5 Yue Yang Chan, Roy Chapman, Mike Guevarra, Valarie Chen	PowerPoint	Final Round Presentation

2017

Each of the participating teams spent 48 hours analyzing the 2017 case, Global Wine War 2015: New World Versus Old (Harvard Business School, March 2015).

Student team members played the role of consultants, hired by the Washington State Wine Commission. The Commission was looking for recommendations on how Washington State wineries should market their products to China. The teams were asked to address the following questions:

• • 1. What kinds of Washington State wines should be sold in China and why?
    2. What are the target market segments?
    3. What marketing strategies should be implemented?
    4. In particular, how should Washington State wines be marketed in China in order to compete against wines from Australia and France?

The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.

Champions: Team 3 Rose Jao, Cody Ng, Skye Scofield, Davin Yeom	Powerpoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 1 Chris Cave, Aarthi Ganapathi, Kalei Munsell, Brandon Naluai	Powerpoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 2 Bianca Cheung, Keenan Goodman, Karah Hsu, Jack Post	Powerpoint	Final Round Presentation
Finalists: Team 4 Andrew Chan, Preston Gulledge, Amanda Schmitz, Sophie Wong	Powerpoint	Final Round Presentation

2016

Each of the participating teams spent 48 hours analyzing the 2016 case, Emirates Airline: Connecting the Unconnected (Harvard Business School, January 2014). Student teams played the role of outside consultants, and presented their recommendations to a panel of community member judges, who played the role of top management at Emirates Airline. The teams were asked to 1) consider the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Emirates and 2) present recommendations as to which route expansions Emirates should pursue over the next five years.

Read the student charge (pdf). The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.

2015

Each of the participating teams spent 48 hours analyzing a business case on the IMAX Corporation. Student teams played the role of a strategic planning group within IMAX Corporation, and presented their recommendations to a panel of community member judges, who played the role of IMAX CEO and upper management of the company. The teams were asked to, 1) determine how IMAX should allocate its future expansion into the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), 2) create specific recommendations for growth and risk mitigation, and 3) provide recommendations about how IMAX should invest in Research and Development going forward.

Read the student charge (PDF). The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.

2014

Teams played the role of outside consultants hired by the Munich Oktoberfest Organizing Committee to develop a strategy recommendation to increase profitability of Munich Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival. Teams spent 48 hours developing their background analysis, and presented their recommendations to panels of community member judges.

Read the student charge (PDF). The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.

2013

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Maersk is a global conglomerate with large shipping and oil and gas businesses. As Maersk’s businesses become ever more international, the company wants to increase the geographic diversity of its work force. Competing student teams played the role of Maersk managers who were tasked with the following:

• • • Setting geographic diversity goals
    • Recommending recruitment and retention strategies designed to achieve the goals
    • Developing measures of progress towards these goals (key performance indicators)
    • Estimating the costs of the recommended strategies.

Read the student charge (PDF). The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.

2012

Each of the participating teams spent 48 hours analyzing a business case on Phase Separation Solutions (PS2). PS2 was offered two opportunities to bring its proprietary technology to China in collaboration with a government agency and a private company. Students were asked to recommend a course of action regarding PS2’s opportunities in China.

Read the case study on the Ivey Publishing website. Read the student charge (PDF). The champion and finalists’ presentations are compiled below.