Bringing prestige and glory to the name of SSCBS, a team of five sharp-witted members of IFSA Network India – Sparsh Sehgal, Ojas Jhamb, Kunal Vats, Raghav Nath, and Anand Negi – under the tutelage of the college principal Ms Poonam Verma and faculty members Mr Neeraj Sehrawat and Mr Amit Kumar, won the globally renowned Global Case Competition at Harvard (GCCH) 2020. GCCH, co-organised by IFSA Network and Harvard GSAS Business Club, tests the business acumen and core academic knowledge of participating teams by engaging them to compete on a financial case involving an M&A scenario; this year’s case question was “Should Amazon acquire Netflix?”.

Over 140 teams, representing various prestigious institutions, participated in the preliminary round of GCCH 2020, which extended through February 24 to March 21. Top 10 teams qualified for the international finals, where they competed for a grand prize of USD 10,000. The team from SSCBS competed against the likes of London Business School, HEC Paris, John Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Judges of eminent academic and professional backgrounds, like Harvard Business School, KPMG, J.P. Morgan, McKinsey & Company, gave their verdict and declared SSCBS the winner with School of Business and Economics, Brazil and John Hopkins University bagging first and second runner-up positions respectively.

As a response to the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent travel restrictions imposed worldwide, the final round of the competition was conducted virtually. When asked about the impact of this aberration on their preparation, one of the members of the team representing SSCBS, said that the “team adapted quickly to changing circumstances”. This impressive adaptation to the unprecedented global circumstances highlights that diligence and perseverance are crucial in achieving one’s goals. The competition itself entailed extensive research, coordination, dedication to prepare an over 100 slides long presentation on the case during the prelims, and a 12-minute long carefully collated video presentation for the finals. Finally, GCCH 2020 concluded with a nerve-racking Live Q/A, where the participating teams were grilled with questions on their case solution and technical concepts. “The experience was intellectually exhausting, but that is the fun part of being involved in a competition that demands such a high commitment of both time and effort”, the team quotes.