Gu Yinglin, a Year 2 student in the Global Business Management (GBM) programme, led her team to success in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao Enterprise Business Case Analysis Competition 2025, competing against top universities across the region and earning the Silver Award.
Reflecting on the experience, Gu shared how the team overcame multiple challenges, from shifting project directions to refining their presentation strategy. She highlighted the importance of adaptability and teamwork, noting that “the real victory lies not in avoiding detours, but in learning to navigate them together.” The competition provided a valuable opportunity for growth, creativity, and practical application of business knowledge.
“The competition has concluded, and we secured the silver award. This experience has left me with profound reflections.
Throughout the competition, our team encountered several setbacks. For instance, during the initial topic selection phase, we wavered between Meituan, Pop Mart, and Miniso. After deliberation, we settled on Keeta. However, when we began our research, we discovered that Meituan does not separately publish Keeta’s financial statements. This presented a significant challenge, effectively halting our progress. After our second round of discussions, we decided to pursue Pop Mart, and we successfully executed the project. Our main account was also successfully switched to Pop Mart. We also encountered some challenges while developing Pop Mart. For instance, we explored various approaches to ensure the longevity of our IPs. How could we guarantee that audiences across different regions would embrace these IPs? These were significant issues we faced.
Additionally, we discussed presentation aspects—how to deliver presentations that deliver impact while standing out. We developed an approach exploring the possibility of incorporating blind box unboxing into presentations, achieving both impact and expressiveness. We decided to mimic consumers’ blind box unboxing process using the gambler’s fallacy, allowing audiences to better experience the allure of blind box mechanics.
This journey taught me that the real victory lies not in avoiding detours, but in learning to navigate them together. We discovered that flexibility and resilience are better than any perfect plan. The setbacks became the foundation of our story, and the pivot became our most decisive move.
Overall, we can do better next time.”