Date: January 10th – 13th 
Place: The University of Vermont (Burlington, Vermont, US) 

1.    Overview of the event 
“The annual Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC) prepares participants to understand the critical issues that are unique to family enterprise by applying the knowledge and expertise they have developed in the classroom towards solving complex family business cases.” From competition page: https://www.uvm.edu/business/global_family_enterprise_case_competition
 
2.    Participating schools 

a.    Babes-Bolyai University, ROMANIA
b.    Babson College, USA
c.    Heilbronn University, GERMANY
d.    Indian School of Business, INDIA
e.    McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management, CANADA
f.    National Sun Yat-sen University, TAIWAN
g.    National Taiwan University, TAIWAN
h.    Sasin School of Management, THAILAND
i.    Universidad Francisco Marroquin, GUATEMALA
j.    University of Adelaide Business School, AUSTRALIA
k.    University of Manitoba, Asper School of Business, CANADA
l.    University of Vermont, Grossman School of Business, USA

3.    Event Schedule 

 
Arrival day 

 
Morning: Check-in & registration, opening ceremony 
Afternoon: moving to the campus, team presentation, pre-arrival case #1 
Evening: “Wear Your University” dinner (banquet including school/country introduction from each team) 

 
Morning to afternoon: closed case #2 
Evening: dinner at ECHO Leahy Center 

 
Morning to afternoon: closed case #3 
Afternoon: Networking reception & finals announcement 

 
Afternoon: finalists presentation (finalists only) 

4.    Competition Format
Preparation time for closed-case: 4 hours 
    *no internet access, two PCs provided to prepare slides
Presentation: 20 minutes 
Q&A: 10 minutes 

Case: 
    Pre-arrival case #1: Lao Gan Ma, China 
    Closed case #2: Jacobs Catering Company, Netherland
    Closed case #3: Grundfos, Denmark

In each case the competitors are expected to analyze the case from three perspectives: family, family business (ownership/succession), and business. 

5.    Next event 

For 2025 competition, FECC Asia Pacific round will be held in Sasin School of management in June, 2024. 
The contact person of Sasin School of Management is looking for the contact window for NTU. Now I’m confirming with professor Kuo if he can be the one. 

6.    Learning Summary

This opportunity was full of learning experiences. We were able to apply the theories and frameworks learned in the classrooms to our presentations. Feedback from the judges is constructive and inspiring. Particularly we learned from the other teams how to visualize the problem identifications, solutions, and implementation roadmaps. Other teams utilized matrices and charts, which appeared more informative and intuitive than bullet points. We appreciate the Grossman School of Management for introducing Professor Kevin to be our advisor. He is encouraging and offers us great insights, which improved our presentation day by day. 
We highly recommend that NTU continues to participate in the competition following years. It is especially beneficial for students studying management, who are seeking managerial positions or consulting careers in the future. The competition provides the participants with not only international exposure but also hands-on consulting experiences. There are many common skills applicable to the College of Management case competition. 
One of the few big differences from the CoM competition is that FECC puts more emphasis on family and family business issues in the organization than pure business development. In that respect, this competition is a unique and precious opportunity that allows students to consider the importance of Organizational Behavior and Family Business perspective.