CEMS Students Won First Place in the Coca-Cola HBC Management Challenge

This year, Coca-Cola HBC Management Challenge took place for the third time. Students could choose from five managerial challenges, namely: HR, Finance, Marketing, Logistics, and Sales. Overall, around 80 teams of university students participated in this challenge, and only 11 of them were selected for the final round, which took place on February 25, 2021. Team Kapůča, consisting of two CEMS students, one FBA student and two FIR students, succeeded in this challenge, winning first place. Down below you can read a commentary from the winning team member, Nikola Lomenčíková:

“My team consisted of 5 members:  Nikola Lomenčíková (CEMS, FBA), Martina Kopová (FIR), Julie Janáková (FIR), Martin Rampa (FBA) and Berta Šimonová (CEMS). We decided to focus on the Sales case study, where we saw the biggest opportunity to combine our diverse backgrounds and different knowledge sets in specific fields.

Within the Sales case study, we provided a complex solution for a recent expansion of Costa Coffee by Coca-Cola HBC to the Czech off-trade market. Our proposal incorporated both analytical and creative parts, including the precise sales calculations, in-store marketing communication strategy, and implementation plan, ended by the financial forecast.

Even though the task was challenging, we gained valuable knowledge from the real-world business environment and broadened our managerial skills. Furthermore, thanks to this opportunity, we got to know each other better and became great friends! We were more than pleased when we received meaningful and positive feedback from Coca-Cola HBC’s top-management, recognizing our hard work and robust solution.

I would like to recommend this challenge to everyone, who is enthusiastic about acquiring additional business skills and isn’t afraid to put theoretical knowledge into practice while solving a real case study!”

Congratulations to the winning team from the whole CEMS Prague Office!