At the final round of the AMSIB Challenge 2024 held on April 20 in Beijing, university students from Malaysia proposed business plans for Proton, Malaysia's national car brand, with eloquent speeches.
A total of 155 students from various universities in China and Malaysia were tasked with real business issues during the competition, and eight teams stood out and entered the final round.
In the finals, the participants were faced with the reorientation of Proton, a well-known car brand in Malaysia. Dating from 1985 and with 4.9 million cars sold worldwide, the brand has built a great reputation, especially in Malaysia. It values moving forward toward sustainable development, and regards electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids as the core of this change.
Students analyzed Proton's shift to EV from various perspectives, based on their majors such as marketing and accounting. They discussed the adoption of artificial intelligence and big data analytics in Proton's research and development of EV, the safety ensuring measures, the company's marketing and publicizing strategy, and its relations with the Malaysian government.
Amran bin Mohd Tomin, the vice president of Proton in charge of human capital and administration, graced the competition as one of the judges. Other business leaders and government officials also participated as judges, including Malek bin Hashim, head of human capital services of Proton, Wong Tiang Sing, investment counselor of the Embassy of Malaysia, Beijing, Wang Fei, vice president of TusStar, one of the first national business incubators in China, Calvin Wee, co-founder of the Young SEAkers and Wahed Ahmadzai, secretary general of Alumni Talent Alliance.
Wisdom was sparked in the heated discussion and the judges gave insightful suggestions to the students' business plans. For example, Tomin pointed out that "selling EVs is selling infrastructures" as charging stations are an important foundation for EV advancement.
Many students took China's EV enterprises as models. With 49.9 percent of the shares in Proton, Geely Auto sets an example for the Malaysian company. For example, Geely's investment in electric buses in New Zealand, which contributes to carbon emission reduction there, was pointed out by a team defending their proposal for Proton to invest in electric buses.
The team Melon Platoon were finally crowned the champion. They divided the issue into three parts, which are to optimize, to empower and to innovate. They proposed a battery recycling strategy to optimize the use of batteries and reduce emissions, and suggested urging the government to increase investment on EV related infrastructure through producing and selling smart electric buses. They also planned to invent a small electronic vehicle called the Proton Go Electric Car.
According to their design, the car is futuristic as it incorporates a battery-swapping technology, and is also affordable, light, compact, and safe. The characteristics of Proton Go makes it closer to bikes than ordinary cars, as riding bikes is a popular way of transportation in Malaysia.
The students analyzed both the strengths of the small electric car, such as its adoption of innovative technology, as well as its weaknesses, such as the difficulty of charging from a lack of charging stations.
The champion team is composed of four Malaysian students currently studying at Northwestern Polytechnical University. They traveled from Xi'an to Beijing to attend the finals.
"This competition will have a great influence on my future career," Tay Che Ming, a team member said.
A job fair was also held on the same day for the entrepreneurs to introduce their companies and find their future employees.
The competition was supported by the Education Section of the Embassy of Malaysia in Beijing and the Malaysian Students Association in China. Student associations from Beijing Jiaotong University, the Central University of Finance and Economics, the University of International Business and Economics and other universities also supported it.
As a cross-border business case study competition, AMSIB Challenge requires participants to formulate and present solutions to business problems through data analysis, business judgment and creativity.
Starting in 2018 and organized by the Association of Malaysian Students in Beijing (AMSIB), it steers the attention of Malaysian undergraduates studying in China to important socio-economic affairs, from e-commerce and green industry to the gig economy and small and medium enterprises.
