The Catholic University of Korea won four awards at the 2nd Asan Entrepreneurship Review (AER) University Student Competition organized by the Asan Nanum Foundation and was selected as the most awarded university.

The AER University Student Competition is a startup case study competition where participants have to identify and analyze new issues and draw implications from startup cases presented by the Asan Nanum Foundation. It is open to teams of one professor and two to four university students interested in entrepreneurship.

A total of 100 teams participated in the competition, and three teams comprised of CUK students won four awards, bringing home the honor of the most awarded university among the participating universities.

The winners were Team Enbbang and Team Let’s Take a Break supervised by Professor Seungkyun Kim and Team Pamas supervised by Professor Sangpil Jang. Team Enbbang won the Participation Award and the Judge Award, and Team Let’s Take a Break and Team Pamas each won the Participation Award. Let's hear from the award winners.

Q. Tell us about how Team Enbbang and Team Let’s Take a Break, supervised by Prof. Seungkyun Kim, were organized.

We became a team when the professor introduced us to each other around the time of finals in the spring semester. From the beginning of July, we started to learn what a case study is and prepared for the competition for about a month. The main idea of the competition was to write a case in a narrative style and create a teaching note that explained the theory and posed key questions.

Q. Tell us more about the teaching note. How did each team prepare their teaching notes?

Although Team Enbbang and Team Let’s Take a Break had the same supervisor, they prepared things differently.

We, Team Let's Take a Break, wrote the case first and then looked for related theories to complete the teaching notes. Then, we had meetings to discuss how to make the story flow naturally and completed the first draft of the case. While this process allowed us to shorten the time to write the case considerably, we had a lot of trouble deciding which theories to apply in the teaching notes.

We, Team Enbbang, wrote the teaching notes first and then elaborated on the case. From the beginning. we met in person to discuss which theories to use to organize the case and teaching notes, and then we wrote them together. Starting two weeks before the deadline, we met almost every day, spending the entire day from morning to evening to discuss.

Q. At the Asan Entrepreneurship Review Competition, each team goes through the process of analyzing the growth process of a domestic startup and its issues. Which company did you analyze?

Team Let’s Take a Break analyzed MyRealTrip. MyRealTrip expanded its business by innovating with guided tours in 2012, but it suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, it shifted its focus to domestic travel and grew while focusing on Jeju.

Based on the management theories of customer value (value proposition canvas), leadership formation process, and business diversification strategy model, we created a case study to use MyRealTrip in entrepreneurship, leadership, and business management strategy classes.

In addition, we analyzed MyRealTrip's decision-making and intra-organizational communication processes as it overcame the COVID-19 crisis and examined how CEO Donggun Lee formed his leadership. Lastly, we were able to understand the business diversification model and analyze the feasibility of MyRealTrip's growth strategy to respond to changes in travel industry trends in the post-COVID-19 era based on the business diversification model.

Team Enbbang analyzed a company called N.Thing. N.Thing is a smart farm company that developed the world's first modular container vertical farm and a plant cube by combining IoT and modular farms. It has successfully been exported to the UAE, where open-field cultivation is difficult.

We wrote a case study of N.Thing based on the management theories of Dunning's trade-off theory (OLI paradigm) and stakeholder management, with the aim of utilizing the case for international business management and global business management classes.

By explaining the process of N.Thing's entry into the UAE market from the perspective of Yongki Kwon, a deputy manager at KOTRA's Dubai Trade Center, we designed the case to help students learn how to analyze the market environment and key stakeholders for an innovative technology-based company like N.Thing when entering overseas markets and how to come up with a sustainable overseas market expansion strategy based on the company's competitive advantages.

Q. Before we end, share with us how you feel about receiving the award.

Team Let's Take a Break (Advisor: Prof. Seungkyun Kim, Target company: MyRealTrip)

 - Seunghyun Kwak (National History c/o ‘17): It was made possible through hard-working and competent teammates and the great leadership of our advisor. I am truly grateful to them.

 - Sooeun Park (Chinese Language and Culture c/o ‘20): Through this competition, I was able to learn about the growth process of a startup and gain relevant business management knowledge. And I once again realized the importance of collaboration in team activities.

 - Jiwon Yoo (International Studies c/o ‘20): While preparing for the competition, I talked a lot about “people” with my teammates. Whether it's the services a company provides or its internal organizational culture, I learned that focusing on “people” can lead to greater growth and innovation.

 - Chaeyoon Park (Psychology c/o ‘22): We were able to have an unforgettable experience because everyone worked very hard. Thanks to Prof. Seungkyun Kim's great teaching, we finished the competition well and ended up with great results. I am very grateful to him.

Team Enbbang (Supervisor: Prof. Seungkyun Kim, Target company: N.Thing)

 - Jinmin Lee (International Studies c/o ‘20):  I'm very proud of this experience since our hard work paid off. Thank you to my teammates for staying enthusiastic until the end. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Kim for his great teaching from the beginning to the end.

 - Yoonae Jeong (Spatial Design & Consumer Studies c/o ‘22): This competition was my first encounter with business administration. It was challenging, and there were a lot of things that I was unfamiliar with throughout the competition, but with the help of my teammates and Prof. Kim, we were able to finish strong and achieve our goals.

 - Gigyeong Kwon (Chinese Language and Culture c/o ‘20): Having no background in business management made it tough for me to do an in-depth analysis of the case, but I learned a lot from the whole process of looking up textbooks, writing the IA, and sharing my thoughts with my teammates. I'm really happy that we produced such a good result.

 - Sooyeon Kim (Business Administration c/o ‘21): I would like to thank our team leader Jinmin, who had to commute to school throughout the vacation, as well as Gigyeong and Yoonae. I would like to thank our advisor, Prof. Seungkyun Kim, as well as Professors Byungjo Kim, Junyoung Rah, and Jaeyeol Sung of the Department of Business Administration who gave thoughtful feedback on the theory to undergraduates they saw for the first time.

Team Pamas (Advisor: Prof. Sangpil Jang, Target company: N.Thing)

 - Geummi Kim (Business Administration c/o ‘21): The AER competition was a valuable opportunity for me to come up with new ideas. I learned a lot by working with my teammates and Prof. Sangpil Jang and exploring corporate problems with a creative approach. Most importantly, I gained a better understanding of the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurial culture. I want to keep learning and developing so that I can discover innovative solutions and business models for the startup team.

 - Namtaek Oh (Business Administration c/o ‘19): I have learned that inventing anything boils down to ""problem-solving"" via the process of developing and constructing numerous startup company items with a deep interest in the startup industry. Thanks to the teammates who studied with me, I was able to carry on, and it was a meaningful time to think about entrepreneurship.