Brazilians take out the Thammasat Business Challenge

"Interfile Consulting" from Brazil's University of Sao Paolo won the first prize, while "Real Consulting" from Queensland University of Technology in eastern Australia was given the second prize.

Second and third runnersup, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and "Eos" from Chulalongkorn University here in Bangkok, were awarded a "Champagne Shower".

TUBC is an annual event wholly run by students in the BBA programme at Thammasat.

PTT Chemical has been a consistent and exclusive sponsor of TUBC for more than five years, providing future business leaders with the global experience of a professional business competition in the international arena.

This year marks the fourteenth anniversary of TUBC.

The contest welcomed 16 teams from different countries, four from top universities in Thailand, namely Chulalongkorn University, Mahidol University International College, Assumption University and Thammasat.

Other international participants included the University of Southern California, the National University of Singapore, the Queensland University of Technology, and so forth.

After being assigned a business case, each team had 40 uninterrupted hours at its disposal to craft optimal and practical strategic recommendations.

The case of focus concerned Tisco Financial Group, a former securities firm striving to transform into a commercial bank.

All teams then had to make their presentations to a panel of judges in the preliminary round.

Only four would advance to the finals.

Interfile Consulting showed an indepth understanding of the case and the banking industry. The team provided a solid analysis of Tisco, and it recommended the bank to target mediumtohighincome clients in order to increase shareholders' wealth.

Interfile also recommended heavy emphasis on brand repositioning and expanding its portfolio beyond credit cards, ATM, and physical branches to benefit from a facetoface relationship.