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Global Student Challenge 2023: A Recap

The Global Student Challenge 2023 has come to a close, and what a ride it’s been! With 199 students from 47 teams, and 18 countries hailing from all corners of the world battling for the champion title and prizes worth a total of €10,000. These brilliant minds came together to take on the world’s leading supply chain business game, The Fresh Connection.

This year’s theme: Capacity Constraints in Sustainable Value Chains

Supply Chain Challenges: Real-World Problems, Real-Time Solutions

This year, The Fresh Connection focused on the real challenges faced by supply chain professionals in today’s increasingly complex global landscape. The competition began on May 1st, with participants joining via Zoom from various time zones – from the United States to South Korea and even Australia. They were introduced to the theme that would shape the week’s contest.

The global situation presents numerous complexities such as:

• Manufacturing constraints and inflexible operations
• Long lead times
• Materials shortages
• Increasing logistics costs
• Unpredictable consumer demand
• Environmental risk and natural disasters

These challenges have led to a pressing need for creating sustainable value chains in the industry. As a result, the Global Final’s theme, “Capacity constraints in a sustainable value chain,” was chosen to reflect these real-world issues and to push the teams to find innovative solutions that prioritize sustainability in their strategies.

By weaving this theme into the competition, GSC 2023 has provided an engaging and relevant platform for the participants to tackle real-world problems, fostering a new generation of professionals who are both highly skilled and environmentally conscious.

Round 1: Tackling Capacity Constraints Head-On

Participants were thrown into the deep end in the first round of this year’s Global Final.  They faced capacity constraints and quickly had to adapt, find innovative solutions, and manage limited resources while keeping sustainability goals in mind. With new features added to The Fresh Connection, this round was a demanding yet exciting challenge for the participants.

Despite initial hurdles, our Finalists showed resilience and creativity. As they got more comfortable with The Fresh Connection, they saw a nice uptick in their performance.

Here’s a look at some stats from Round 1:

• 64% of all teams achieved a double-digit ROI
• 51% of all teams improved upon their starting ROI of -10.27% in Round 0
• 34% of all teams reached a positive ROI
• The average ROI increased from -10.27% to -5.62%

Here are the top 20 teams from Round 1, who set the stage for an intense competition:

These impressive results demonstrate the participants’ ability to learn quickly. They adapted to new challenges and applied their knowledge to real-world situations. This set the stage for fierce competition ahead.

Round 2: More complexity and constraints

The second round intensified as it put the world’s top students to the test, challenging their supply chain management skills in a high-pressure environment. As the competition grew tougher, the students had to adapt quickly. Some new names emerged among the top scores of the round. A special mention goes out to the team of Han University of Applied Science, The broken hearts who catapulted from the bottom 5 to third place based solely on the score of this round.

Some impressive Round 2 stats emerged:

• 2% of all teams have a double-digit ROI
• 2% of all teams improved upon the starting ROI of Round 1, with the highest improvement at 42.48%
• 94% of all teams have a positive ROI
• Highest ROI: 25.03%
• The average ROI increased from -5.62% to -0.31%

After two rounds, the leaderboard based on weighted ROI stands as follows:

With the competition heating up, we couldn’t wait to see what strategies and solutions these top teams would bring to the final round!

Round 3: The Final Stretch – Dual Sourcing and Operations

The third round further ramped up the pressure. As the competition reached its climax, the teams faced new challenges in dual sourcing and operations. The students’ resilience and determination were really put to the test. In the end, there can only be one champion.

The Round 3 stats are yet to be revealed:

• 70.2% of all teams have a double-digit ROI
• 72.3% of all teams improved upon their previous ROI, with the highest improvement at 39.2%
• 66% of all teams have a positive ROI
• Highest ROI: 30.51%
• The average ROI increased from -0.31% to 6.72%

After three rounds, the leaderboard based on weighted ROI stands as follows:

And the Winner Is …

The Global Final Week saw the best of the best face off in a fierce battle to claim the championship title and cash prizes.

The team with the highest weighted ROI score has emerged victorious.

Team S.A.Y from North China University of Science and Technology rose above the rest, clinching the GSC 2023 champion title with an awe-inspiring performance. Their hard work and dedication truly paid off!

The top 5 teams showcased their remarkable skills, earning their spots among the supply chain management elite.

These teams include:

Second place: team Rd from North China University of Science and Technology in China

Third place: team PM from Vietnam Logistics and Aviation School from Vietnam