Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) hosted the first national business competition from November 8 to 9 2018. Officially known as Kompetisi Mahasiswa Nasional Bidang Ilmu Bisnis dan Manajemen 2018, the competition is expected to be the forerunner of the annual competition in the field of business and management held by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, specifically the Directorate General of Learning and Student Affairs (Ditjen Belmawa).
“This year’s competition is an exhibition. We would like to introduce this competition to all universities in Indonesia and show Ditjen Belmawa that an activity like this can be an accelerator in improving the quality of business and management education in Indonesia. “We hope that KBN will become part of the Ditjen Belmawa’s annual agenda, even though it might be called by a different name,” said Reza Ashari Nasution, Ph.D. as the chairman of the 2018 competition.
The competition, named as KBN 2018 or Kompetisi Bisnis Nasional 2018, has some unique features compared to similar business competitions in the country. KBN 2018 is a multi- competition. This year, the committee held three kinds of competition, namely investment research, business case analysis of Human Resource (HR) and Knowledge Management (KM), and Business Planning with Sustainable Social Impacts. Other competitions usually focus on one business function such as finance, marketing, human resource or operation only. Another uniqueness is the impact of the race on the ranking of universities in Indonesia. “As one of the competitions supported by Kemenristekdikti, of course, KBN will give more points in terms of universities ranking compared to similar competitions that are not part of Dikti’s annual agenda,” Reza explained.
In addition, Reza also added that another important goal to be achieved is to provide equal opportunities for every business and/or management study program in Indonesia to develop their students’ abilities. “ITB has been experiencing a very rapid development in the field of business education. This year, we even managed to be shortlisted in the world ranking of 401-500 for business and economics according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2019, which indicates the best achievement for an Indonesian university. Moreover, ITB has been ranked number one in terms of the results of the SBMPTN exam in the social humanities field. Therefore, ITB should initiate activities like this“ Reza said.
“These kinds of opportunities are very rare for universities in Indonesia as big business competitions usually involve only a few universities which always become the target of recruitment of large companies. We are not claiming this is bad, but we are certain that greater benefits can be obtained if activities like this can encourage the involvement of all universities in Indonesia. For this reason, we need to build synergies between businesses, professional associations, universities, government and accreditation institutions to realize these goals. Therefore, at KBN 2018, we raise the theme of Menguatkan Kemitraan Akademisi, Dunia Usaha dan Pemerintah melalui Sinergi Perguruan Tinggi pada Proses Bisnis Korporasi, Asosiasi Profesi dan Akreditasi Internasional Bidang Bisnis dan Manajemen (Strengthening the Partnership of Academics, Business and Government through the Synergy of Universities in the Process of Corporate Business, Professional Associations and International Accreditation in the Field of Business and Management)” Reza added. The manifestation of this theme is the involvement of judges from various institutions such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute, PT LAPI Divusi, PT Citra Niaga Abadi, PT Bank Syariah Mandiri, PT Aerowisata, PROSPERA-AIPEG (Australia Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development – Australia Indonesia Partnership for Economic Governance), PT Novartis Indonesia, British Council, Yatim Online, Minang Kakao, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Padjadjaran, Prasetya Mulya Business School and SBM ITB. BCA and Aerowisata are the main sponsors of this year event.
Director of Student Affairs of ITB, Dr. Eng. Sandro Mihradi, is referred to as the most significant individual who has greatly contributed to the implementation of the 2018 KBN. “Mr. Sandro provided extraordinary support. He introduced this competition to Dikti and the National Student Communication Forum so that many universities sent their students to compete in the KBN 2018. Thanks for his support, Dikti will hold this competition next year“ Reza explained.
The cases designed at KBN 2018 are also adjusted to the current business context. The committee appoints digital business as a common theme for each category of the competition. In the investment research competition, the participants were asked to evaluate the shares of companies in the ASEAN region that are being transformed into digital companies by using fundamental analysis based on valuation techniques usually done by the CFA Institute. For the HR and KM case analysis, the participants were challenged to design HR and KM strategies in local companies in their area that are particularly affected by the development of digital technology. Meanwhile, for the Business Planning with Sustainable Social Impacts, the participants were challenged to design new digital-based businesses that could contribute positively to solving social problems in Indonesia such as health, education, uneven access to information and various other forms of inequality.
The competition will be held at the School of Business and Management ITB building, in Labtek XIV also known as the Freeport Business Research Center. A total of 29 teams from 11 universities in Indonesia will compete in the final round which will be held on November 8, 2018. ITB’s Deputy Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Bermawi P. Iskandar, will officially open the final round on that date. The program will be continued with presentations from each participant in each branch. Assessment is undertaken on the quality of the answers and presentations of each participant. The top three participants of each competition will compete in the grand final on November 9, 2018 to determine the winner. ITB’s student unit Lingkung Seni Sunda (LSS) will also enliven the opening and closing of the event. Another fascinating thing is the prize that will be received by the winners. “The prizes given are quite compelling, as competitive as Dikti’s competitions” Reza concluded, smiling.