The competition took place on 15 and 16 September at Hotel Antunović in Zagreb and brought together multidisciplinary teams from Heineken Hrvatska, Henkel Croatia, Hrvatska poštanska banka, Hrvatski Telekom, Petrol Grupa Hrvatska and KONČAR. Over the course of two intensive days, participants analysed a complex business case and developed solution proposals that were presented to an expert jury.

This year’s challenge focused on the business issues faced by Under Armour, a company dealing with stagnating performance and an expected decline in business results. Teams were tasked with proposing a strategic direction and concrete measures that would help the company improve performance and strengthen its market position.

The KONČAR team consisted of Barbara Tubić Bulat, Production Technology and Planning Engineer (Dalekovod), Marko Blažević, IT Technician (KONČAR Inc.), Loren Frančin, Mechanical Engineering Research Engineer (KONČAR – Electrical Engineering Institute), Branimir Miličević, Key Account Manager (KONČAR – Switchgear), Petar Novaković, Project Manager (KONČAR – Transformer Tanks) and Tin Novosel, Research and Development Specialist (KONČAR – Digital).

Team members particularly highlighted the excellent collaboration and positive atmosphere throughout the competition. Thanks to a strong combination of knowledge, experience and different perspectives, each team member naturally found their role in solving the business case. They were also supported by advice from last year’s team and mentors, while teamwork and good organisation proved to be among the key factors behind their success. One participant described the experience as follows: “We worked extremely well as a team, the atmosphere was great, we worked hard and had a lot of fun. The challenge itself is very interesting because it is complex and quite different from typical engineering situations. The biggest challenge was preparing, in a short period of time, a presentation with a solution proposal that was both logical and supported by the available data.”

By winning the competition in Croatia, the team secured a place at the international final, which will take place in Bled from 13 to 15 October. There, they will represent Croatia and compete against the winners of the national competitions from Slovenia, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro.

KONČAR has been participating in this competition since 2009, and many former participants describe it as a valuable experience that helps develop business skills, teamwork and collaboration with colleagues from different areas of the business.

We congratulate our team on this excellent achievement and wish them the best of luck in the final competition in Bled.