Cluj-Napoca, Jan 13 /Agerpres/ – A team of Master’s degree students from the Faculty of Economics and Business Management (FSEGA) of the Babes-Bolyai University (UBB) of Cluj-Napoca has won first prize at an international competition organized in the USA.

‘The Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca marks a historic performance by its team of Master’s degree students of the Faculty of Economics and Business Management, which won the 2025 edition of the international case study competition organized by the University of Vermont (USA) Grossman School of Business. The competition titled ‘World Cup of family business case competitions’ took place from January 8-11, 2025, bringing together 23 teams representing renowned universities from 4 continents of the world. The UBB team showed excellence and determination in the competition. In the group stage, they faced two university teams from the USA and one from Canada, managing to obtain the highest cumulative score in the three qualifying rounds and to rank first, thus securing a place in the six-team finals,’ reads a press release sent by UBB on Monday.

According to the cited source, in the qualification stage, participants solved complex case studies that included the development of a business plan for a residential park for the elderly, integrating the multigenerational experience of a family business, the development of sales strategies for a family business facing difficulties in succession planning, the development of a strategic plan for a business taken over by a new generation of the founding family.

‘In the grand final, the UBB team impressed with the solution proposed for a case study analyzing the acquisition of a foreign company by a family business. The jury, made up of university professors, consultants and entrepreneurs from the US, awarded the highest score to the team from Cluj, declaring it the winner. The final podium of the competition for the master’s students teams was as follows: 1st place – Babes-Bolyai University (Romania); 2nd place – York University (Canada); 3rd place – University of Adelaide (Australia),’ the UBB press release states.

The champion team of UBB consisted of four FSEGA master students, Banffy Zsófia, Bugar Anna, Kovacs Kata (all three from the specialization ‘Data Based Management’, master, year 1), respectively Bokor-Tóth Krisztina (specialization ‘Business Management’, master, year 2). The UBB students were trained by Professor Dr. Szasz Levente, Professor Dr. Gyorfy Lehel, Professor Dr. Racz Bela-Gergely, respectively, and the team was accompanied at the competition by PhD student Kelemen Kincso. Besides the success in the team competition, Bugar Anna (UBB) was awarded with the special prize for the best speaker of the final.

‘Congratulations to the team from Cluj for this remarkable result at world level, which is at the same time new proof of the innovativeness and international competitiveness of the academic activities carried out within our university. UBB continues to be a promoter of international performance, contributing to the consolidation of the prestige of the university and of Romania in the global academic and economic environment,’ the UBB press release states.