18th | Sponsorship of the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition | Sponsorships | About Public Affairs Committee

Support for the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

The Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee strives to support college students’ negotiation skills, assist in upgrading higher education, and contribute to global human resources development through the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition.

18th (2019) Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

On November 23 and 24, 2019, the 18th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition (INC) was held at Sophia University in Tokyo.

The contestants were 251 students from 31 universities, with 38 teams competing in Japanese and 20 in English. 22 Japanese universities participated: Hokkaido University, Team Tohoku (representing Tohoku University and Yamagata University), the University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University, Sophia University, Chuo University, Gakushuin University, Nihon University, Meiji University, Rikkyo University, Tsukuba University, Keio University, Nagoya University, Kyoto University, Doshisha University, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka University, Kobe University, Kyushu University, and Seinan Gakuin University. Participating from overseas were Team Australia (representing the Australian National University, the University of Adelaide, Griffith University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, and the University of Sydney), the National University of Mongolia (MUIS), and SolBridge International School of Business, South Korea, and Beijing Normal University (BNU).

Yoshiaki Nomura, Professor of Osaka University and Chair of INC Steering Committee

Ryuichiro Hirano, Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee Executive Director

Tournament chart

<Japanese>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Waseda 3	Doshisha 1	Kyoto	Tohoku 2
2	Gakushuin 1	MUIS	Waseda 1	Tsukuba
3	Sophia 1	Meiji 1	Kyusyu 2	Meiji 3
4	Nihon 1	Tsukuba	Gakushuin 1	Tokyo 1
5	Chuo 1	Tokyo 1	Hokkaido	Rikkyo 2
6	Hitotsubashi 1	Meiji 2	Waseda 2	MUIS
7	Team Australia	Team Tohoku 1	Sophia 2	Tokyo 2
8	Hokkaido	Osaka 1	Kyusyu 1	Rikkyo 3
9	Hitotsubashi 2	Ritsumeikan 2	Gakushuin 2	Tohoku 1
10	Sophia 2	Doshisha 2	Team Australia	Meiji 2
11	Seinan Gakuin	Rikkyo 1	Nihon 2	Ritsumeikan 1
12	Chuo 2	Rikkyo 2	Hitotsubashi 1	Doshisha 2
13	Nihon 2	Team Tohoku 2	Waseda 3	Rikkyo 1
14	Waseda 2	Meiji 3	Chuo 2	Doshisha 1
15	Kyoto	Osaka 2	Nihon 1	Osaka 2
16	Gakushuin 2	Rikkyo 3	Seinan Gakuin	Tohoku 3
17	Waseda 1	Tokyo 2	Sophia 1	Ritsumeikan 2
18	Kyusyu 1	Ritsumeikan 1	Chuo 1	Meiji 1
19	Kyusyu 2	Team Tohoku 3	Hitotsubashi 2	Osaka 1

<English>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Nagoya 1	Rikkyo	Team Australia 1	Doshisha
2	Team Australia 1	MUIS	Kyusyu 2	Osaka
3	Chuo	SolBridge	Nagoya 1	Keio 2
4	Team Australia 2	Tokyo	Chuo	Keio 1
5	Nagoya 2	Meiji	Sophia	MUIS
6	Sophia	Keio 2	Team Australia 2	Kobe
7	Kyusyu 2	Doshisha	BNU	Meiji
8	Team Australia 3	Keio 1	Kyusyu 1	SolBridge
9	BNU	Osaka	Team Australia 3	Rikkyo
10	Kyusyu 1	Kobe	Nagoya 2	Tokyo

The Problem and the Competition Outline

The competition consists of two parts, Round A devoted to arbitration and Round B devoted to negotiation, with Japanese and English divisions for each part.

Teams discuss transactions as the protagonists of two fictional companies from fictional countries: Red Corp. of Negoland and Blue, Inc. of Arbitria. Red is a large corporation in the food and processed food businesses and Blue imports and sells food products and also manufactures and sells processed foods and ready-to-eat foods.

In Round A on the first day, the teams acting as the counsels of the respective parties endeavored to resolve 1) Crab Case and 2) Blue Hot Case through arbitration. In Round B on the second day, the teams negotiated 1) continuation of the joint venture, 2) targets of the joint venture, and 3) governance of the joint venture (Yellow Corp.). In both Round A and Round B, contestants were well prepared and engaged in animated debate as if doing real business.

[Reference]

(Key points for Round A arbitration)

1) Crab Case

Whether a sale and purchase agreement for 10,000 Nego crabs (high-grade crabs caught in Negoland) was in fact concluded between Red and Blue. If an agreement was in fact concluded, what is the price per Nego crab?

2) Blue Hot Case

Whether the sale of “Blue Hot” at the stores of Brown Trading Corp. (a major food distributor in Arbitria) in Negoland constitutes a breach of obligation by Blue under the joint-venture agreement between Red and Blue

(Key points for Round B negotiation)

1) Continuation of the joint venture

Whether to continue or terminate the joint venture. In the case of termination, how should Yellow Corp. be treated?

2) Targets of the joint venture

Whether to add the Blue Hot series to the joint venture

3) Governance of the joint venture

Whether to review the shareholding ratio and the composition of the Board of Directors

Judges

Every year INC benefits from the cooperation extended by many people, including legal professionals, academics, and corporate legal staff. They serve as judges and comment on the teams’ handling of the issues. For contestants, this feedback from the judges is both illuminating and stimulating, contributing to their personal development. Increasingly, judges and staff are drawn from the growing ranks of INC alumni.

Results of the 18th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

The awards ceremony always has an element of high drama. On the one hand, there is the delight of the winning team, and on the other hand, the disappointment of the runners-up. The drama attests to the contestants’ commitment and enthusiasm. The winners of the first prize were the University of Tokyo team. Team Australia won the Best Teamwork Award. The teams with the highest scores in the competition in Japanese were the University of Tokyo for both arbitration and negotiation. The teams with the highest scores in the competition in English were Chuo University for arbitration and Osaka University for negotiation.

The University of Tokyo team, the winners of the first prize

Sumitomo Cup presented to the University of Tokyo by Ryuichiro Hirano, Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee Executive Director

1st prize	The University of Tokyo	213 points
2nd prize	Team Australia	212.875 points
3rd prize	Sophia University	206.667 points
4th prize	Osaka University	204.5 points
5th prize	Chuo University	199.667 points
6th prize	Waseda University	196.667 points
7th prize	Beijing Normal University	196.5 points

Best Teamwork Award

Team Australia

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for arbitration

The University of Tokyo

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for negotiation

The University of Tokyo

Highest score for the competition in English for arbitration

Chuo University

Highest score for the competition in English for negotiation

Osaka University