CEMS VSE Wins the CEMS Business Project of the Year for Crowdsourcing for Retail Store Compliance

In collaboration with our Corporate Partner Plzensky Prazdroj and their HQ ASAHI Europe & International (hereinafter Asahi), Prague University of Economics and Business has won the Business Project of the Year for the project Crowdsourcing for Retail Store Compliance. Every year, all 34 CEMS schools nominate a Business Project for the CEMS Business Project of the Year competition. The jury comprised of CEMS academic directors then decides on the top five Business Projects, from which the winning one is chosen based on the comprehensive reports which have to be submitted additionally.

The Prague University of Economics and Business has always been among the top universities in this “competition” but has not made it to the victory. We are very pleased that we have achieved this success this year. The Programme Subcommittee was united in its opinion of the high quality of the project and the impact the student team managed to deliver to the company.

The award was announced during today’s CEMS Virtual Annual Meeting 2021 taking place virtually due to global pandemics.

About the Crowdsourcing for Retail Store Compliance Business Project

Retail execution is a business process designed to ensure that consumer goods companies’ overall brand strategy executed in retail stores is implemented correctly in compliance with brand guidelines. These are designed to put the right product on the right shelf at the right time to provide the ideal shopper experience. A survey conducted by an external agency suggests that 49% of companies lose sales due to stock-outs, while 45% lose sales due to fewer displays.

As retail audits are crucial to monitor the situation and, at the same time, the current process is outdated and very demanding in terms of labour, Tomas Srb, Bhuvan Pawar, and Riccardo Ferrari of Asahi addressed CEMS students with a clear goal: to have an around-the-clock technology-based monitoring system.

Under the supervision of Professor Vaclav Stritesky, VSE FBA Department of Marketing, CEMS students Alexandre Clostre (HEC), Hanna van Velzen (RSM), and Isidora Zivkovic (UB) set out to tackle this issue. Using retail store-checks, focus groups and interviews with users, the students followed up with quantitative research based on questionnaires. They also leveraged case study analysis, financial analysis and expert interviews to develop their proposed solutions. The team delivered a very promising solution based on crowdsourcing. It combines uberized auditing and gamification aspects. 

“Students approached the decision making with critical sense and accuracy and developed a creative way to find new solutions. If the purpose of the initiative was to prepare the students with the best knowledge and skills for the business world of our days I can affirm that the objective has been fully reached,” comments Riccardo Ferrari, team’s mentor from ASAHI.

“I am happy that this project allowed me to dive deeper into the FMCG industry and manufacturer vs. retailer relationships, the touchpoints with Tech and Consumer Behaviour provided a fulfilling, yet complex, learning experience. Thank you Bhuvan, Riccardo and everyone else from Asahi that has devoted time, and offered valuable advice,” adds CEMS student Hanna van Velzen.

Congratulations to the team as well as ASAHI and VSE representatives who participated in the project!