An HUFS student team won the first prize at the 1st Asan Entrepreneurship Review (AER) College Competition held by Asan Nanum Foundation (President Jang Suk-Hwan) on August 26, 2022 (Friday). Held for the first time this year, the AER College Competition is an entrepreneurial case study competition where three of about 60 AER cases published so far are given to teams of college students and their faculty advisor who then analyze the cases to identify startup issues and challenges and develop insights using their fresh perspectives. HUFS students created teams with one faculty advisor and wrote case papers on their in-depth and innovative analyses of the challenges facing domestic startups Gaudio Lab, SuperBin, and Heeling Paper (Gangnam Unni). 

 

The Grand Prize of the Competition went to HUFS Team “Done a Case Before？” from the College of Business (Dean Cho Joon-Seo). The team is made up of students Seo Yong-Won and Lee Soo-Yeon from the College of Business and Park Ye-Jin (Sophomore) of the Division of Computer Engineering (Chair Yoon Il-Dong). Out of the 50 student teams that took part in the Competition, six teams (HUFS, The Catholic University of Korea, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Sungshin Women’s University, and POSTECH) made it to the final presentation round based on their logical and accurate analyses and practical solutions. Team “Done a Case Before？” won the first prize after focusing on the issue of transparency in medical information for medical information platform Gangnam Unni run by Healing Paper and proposing a resolution to that issue by employing various business administration theories. Using a branding theory, the team proposed a creative yet feasible method for scaling up, which many startups struggle with, and earned positive responses for its quality presentation. The team also won the attention of the judges in the final round because of its distinctive name. Inspired by the famous quote of Hyundai Group Founder Chung Joo-Young (penname Asan) “Done this before？,” the students named their team “Done a Case Before？”

 

Winning the Grand Prize is also a significant feat as it proves the capacity of the academic clubs of the HUFS College of Business. The team’s faculty advisory Professor Yoon Won-Joo (Business Administration Division) also serves as the faculty advisor for Quant Marketing Society (QMS), to which the three students belong, and made considerable contributions to helping them win the prize. The strong networking between seniors and juniors within the Management Association of Strategic Thinking (MAST), one of the academic societies of the College of Business, allowed the team to interview alumni members currently working in the related industry. This all demonstrates the excellence of these societies within the College.