Lund students best in Sweden at casework

How should Google handle the difficult situation in China? This was the tricky question put to business students from universities across Sweden at the national final of the world’s largest case competition, the KPMG International Case Competition. Four students from Lund University School of Economics and Management gave the best answer and will now travel to Hong Kong to represent Sweden in the final next April.

The winning team from Lund University School of Economics and Management

Google’s delicate dilemma in China formed the background for the case that the students were given to solve in the national final of the KPMG International Case Competition. Since Google established itself in China in 2006, the search engine giant has been criticised for giving in to China’s censorship demands, and just last year Google threatened to pull out of the world’s most populous country. Camilla Wengholm, who is studying the Master’s programme in Accounting and Management Control, was on the winning team.

“It was a challenging case with a lot of focus on ethics and morals, where we were forced to weigh up Google’s own values against its commercial interests in staying in China”, said Camilla Wengholm in an interview with Dagens industri, one of the many newspapers to report on the victory.

The team placed a lot of importance on taking into account all the different groups affected by Google’s presence in China, such as Google’s employees, shareholders and the Chinese people. Their conclusion was that the search engine giant should stay in the country, at the same time as preserving what the brand stands for.

“If Google left the country, it would not be able to remain true to its core values, such as making information available to all. The company is also in a unique position, in some cases better than individual countries, to put pressure on China on these issues”, says Camilla, adding “by staying, the company can continue to do this.”

During the competition the students work in groups and have three hours to solve the exercise, including a fifteen-minute presentation followed by questions from the judges. The students are working under a lot of pressure and this requires good teamwork and an awareness of and ability to take advantage of each other’s strengths. The focus is also on the team successfully pitching their idea and convincing the jury with their presentation.

The winning team was made up of Olof Nordgren, Christoffer Haraldsson, Camilla Wengholm and Niklas Hansson, who are all in their fourth year at the School of Economics and Management, studying for a Master’s degree.

“I think university has prepared us to be able to identify important problems, do a good analysis and work in a team. We also went all out for the exercise, with a lot of preparation and practice beforehand”, says Niklas Hansson, who is studying the Master’s programme in Corporate and Financial Management.

Now the team are turning their eyes to the final in Hong Kong, where the US has won in recent years. The Lund students are intent on changing this.

“Sweden came third in 2010 and second in 2011. So now in 2012 we should be first”, says Camilla Wengholm, looking very sure of herself.