20th | 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.

20th (2021) Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

On November 6 and 7, 2021, the 20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition (INC) was held. Whereas INC has customarily been held at Sophia University in Tokyo, for the second year running it took place online using Zoom in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The contestants were 226 students of 34 teams competing in Japanese and 14 in English. 19 Japanese universities participated: Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, Yamagata University, the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Sophia University, Chuo University, Gakushuin University, Nihon University, Meiji University, Rikkyo University, Tsukuba University, Nagoya University, Kyoto University, Doshisha University, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka University, Kyushu University, and Seinan Gakuin University. Six teams participated from overseas: Team Australia (representing the Australian National University and the University of Sydney), the National University of Singapore, the National University of Mongolia, Chulalongkorn University, and Tashkent State University of Law.

Tournament chart

<Japanese>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Chuo 1	Kyushu 1	Chuo 2	Osaka 1
2	Meiji 1	Rikkyo 3	Meiji 3	Gakushuin 1
3	Chuo 2	Tohoku 1	Doshisha 2	Rikkyo 1
4	Kyoto	Waseda 1	Nihon	Kyushu 2
5	Mongolia	Waseda 2	Kyoto	Tokyo 2
6	Hokkaido	Osaka 2	Sophia 3	Tashkent
7	SeinanGakuin	Tokyo 2	Hokkaido	Rikkyo 3
8	Nihon	Rikkyo 1	Chuo 1	Gakushuin 2
9	Ritsumeikan	Tohoku 2	Sophia 1	Tohoku 1
10	Doshisha 1	Yamagata	Sophia 2	Osaka 2
11	Tsukuba	Gakushuin 2	Tsukuba	Waseda 1
12	Sophia 2	Gakushuin 1	Meiji 2	Yamagata
13	Meiji 2	Osaka 1	Ritsumeikan	Tokyo 1
14	Doshisha 2	Tokyo 1	SeinanGakuin	Rikkyo 2
15	Sophia 1	Kyushu 2	Mongolia	Tohoku 2
16	Sophia 3	Rikkyo 2	Doshisha 1	Kyushu 1
17	Meiji 3	Tashkent	Meiji 1	Waseda 2

<English>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Mongolia	Rikkyo	Australia 2	Tokyo
2	Chuo 1	Singapore 1	Chuo 1	Rikkyo
3	Sophia	Chulalongkorn	Sophia	Singapore 1
4	Australia 2	Nagoya	Mongolia	Chulalongkorn
5	Meiji	Singapore 2	Chuo 2	Nagoya
6	Australia 1	Kyushu	Australia 1	Singapore 2
7	Chuo 2	Tokyo	Meiji	Kyushu

The Theme 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. In both Round A and Round B, teams discuss international transactions as the protagonists of either Red Corp., which operates a restaurant business, or Blue Inc., which is a major beverage producer.

The problem to be arbitrated in Round A was trouble concerning Red’s purchase of “Blue One,” a premium wine produced by Blue, and the issues were 1) continuation of a sales agreement, 2) transfer of risk and force majeure, and 3) liability for damages and duty of mitigation of damages. The teams acted as the attorneys representing either Red or Blue and stated their claims in the presence of the arbitrators whose roles were played by the judges.

In Round B, on the premise that Red and Blue will jointly acquire a company that manages a winery in Meditoria, the teams negotiated on such matters as 1) winemakers and employees, 2) management policies, 3) wine production methods, and 4) post-acquisition costs.

Judges and Officials

Over the two days, a total of 122 people, including legal professionals, academics, and corporate legal staff, extended cooperation to INC by serving as judges. Moreover, 12 INC alumni supported INC as officials who smoothly operated the 24 Zoom meeting rooms where the competition was held.

Results of the 20th 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. National University of Singapore won the first prize. Team Australia won the Best Teamwork Award. The teams with the highest scores in the competition in Japanese were Chuo University for arbitration and the University of Tokyo for negotiation. The teams with the highest scores in the competition in English were National University of Singapore for arbitration and Team Australia for negotiation.

1st prize	National University of Singapore	217.375 points
2nd prize	Team Australia	215.6875 points
3rd prize	The University of Tokyo	211.1665 points
4th prize	Sophia University	208.5938 points
5th prize	Chulalongkorn University	204.5 points
6th prize	Chuo University	204.375 points
7th prize	Kyushu University	202.5833 points

Best Teamwork Award

Team Australia

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for arbitration

Chuo University

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for negotiation

The University of Tokyo

Highest score for the competition in English for arbitration

National University of Singapore

Highest score for the competition in English for negotiation

Team Australia