POWERED BY

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

CRIMSON EDUCATION

HCGCC 2023
REGIONAL
CASE
DECK AND PRESENTATION
CRITERIA

Deck Criteria

Create your Regional Qualifying slide in Google Slides for

easier collaboration. However, before you submit your
proposal, you should save your google slides as a PDF
(under “File” -> “Download”) and submit the PDF only.
Any other file formats will automatically be disqualified.

The top 50 submissions (10 teams per region) will advance

to the next round. The 50 advancing teams will submit a
video pitch with the slideshow. The slideshow submitted
must be exactly the same as the one originally submitted.

Decks can be a maximum of 12 Slides, including the

appendix and title slides.

1 title slide should contain: team name and region you

compete from
Case solution: each team may have a maximum of six
(6) case solution slides.
Appendix: an appendix can be included in slides after
the presentation and can contain additional market
research that can be referenced during the
presentation and Q&A. The appendix itself will not be
graded. Each team may have a maximum of five (5)
appendix slides.
Back up your arguments with evidence. Take data and
craft it into effective visuals to support your points.
Avoid using font sizes smaller than 10pt.
DECK CRITERIA

The slides will be evaluated out of 40 points and according

to the following:

Category Mark

Issue diagnostic
Correct identification of the problem that the 10
organisation is facing?

Analysis of issues
How does the team view scope of the issue
after it is identified - what are the key 10
bottlenecks or sub-issues that contribute to the
overall issue?

Scope of innovation in recommendations

How unique, bold but realistic are the 10
recommendations provided?

Metrics/validation
Data, analytics and visuals that confirm and 10
support the recommendations.

SUBMISSION
Use this link to submit your solution
PDF submission deadline Jan. 22 (GMT-0), 23:59
Regional Qualifiers announced Jan. 28 (GMT-0), 23:59
Please make sure you submit ONE correct and finalized
version. If you have to submit multiple times, please note that
we will accept the last submission before the deadline.
SHOPEE'S GLOBAL ADVENTURE: CHOOSING
THE PATH IN THE WORLD MARKET MAZE

THE CURRENT DILEMMA

In May 2022, Shopee Pte. Ltd. (Shopee), the e-commerce segment of

Singapore-based company Sea Limited (Sea), was at a pivotal moment in
its business development. Shopee experienced a period of significant
setbacks, withdrawing its operations from India and France, an apparent
reversal of its aggressive expansion into countries spanning Asia, Europe,
and South America over the past few years.1 Many investors had grown
skeptical of the financial sustainability of the aggressive and unprofitable
expansion strategy many e-commerce companies had undertaken.2 Amid
financial challenges, Shopee faced declining profitability, and the parent
company's stock value had significantly dropped, causing uncertainty
over the viability of Shopee’s ambitious global expansion strategy (see
Exhibit 1 for Sea’s income statement and balance sheet for the 2018–2021
period). Shopee was at a strategic crossroads, contemplating its future
direction. Would the company be better off focusing on Southeast Asia
and Brazil, where it had a good record of success, in addition to
supplementing this with a selective focus on other markets such as
Taiwan? On the other hand, Shopee could potentially tap into its more
than USD $9 billion cash and cash equivalents reserve, as of January 2022.
Perhaps its setbacks in India and France were temporary and the
company could resume its aggressively paced international expansion
after a pause. These decisions would influence Shopee’s future market
competitiveness and overall business growth trajectory.

1 https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/seas-shopee-to-shut-india-operations-in-second-pullback-this-month
2 https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/why-singaporean-tech-firms-grab-and-sea-are-seeing-their-stock-prices-tumble/#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20Singapor
e%27s%20Sea%20Limited,rapidly%20expanding%20e%2Dcommerce%20sector
INCORPORATION AND EARLY SUCCESS

Forest Li, alongside Gang Ye and David Chen, founded Garena, a game
3
development and publishing company in 2009. Li, who was born in
Tianjin, China, had worked for Motorola Inc. before pursuing a Masters of
Business Administration (MBA) from Stanford Graduate School of
Business. After graduating and receiving his MBA, Li worked for MTV
Networks Inc., focusing on digital media development.

When founding Garena, Li was motivated by “connecting world gamers,”

viewing interactive gaming as more than just entertainment, believing it
to be a universal language that transcended national, religious, linguistic,
4
and racial barriers. Garena launched Shopee in 2015, and underwent
rebranding in 2017, becoming Sea Limited. Li said, “Our new name draws
inspiration from the acronym for our region, symbolizing our strong
‘home court advantage.’ . . . The sea connects every one of our markets,
symbolizing our corporate motto of ‘connecting the dots.’ . . . Sea is a
humble, authentic word that evokes the pioneering spirit of exploration—
a wonderful symbol of our corporate values.” Sea was built on five core
values: “We serve,” “We adapt,” “We run,” “We commit,” and “We stay
humble.” The company was committed to bettering the lives of its
consumers and small businesses through the power of technology,
focusing on its products and services as the main differentiating factors.

Sea made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in 2017 by offering
58.96 million shares at USD $15 apiece and thus raised US$884 million. In
the process, it became the first Southeast Asian company to be listed on
the exchange. By November 2021, despite its continued losses, Sea’s
shares were trading at around USD $360, representing an eightfold
increase in less than two years.

3 https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/garena-raises-us550-million-rebrands-as-sea
4 https://www.ft.com/content/8454485d-7054-41ae-9f7c-0e81d6e1b21b
Sea attracted various investors while on the stock exchange, with Chinese
tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. being an early backer. Even after selling
14.5 million shares of Sea at USD $3 billion in January 2022, Tencent
continued to own an 18.7 % stake in the company.

SHOPEE’S BEGINNING & EXPANSION

Shopee sold products across several different categories, including
fashion, electronic appliances, cosmetics, automobile accessories, grocery,
and sports-related items, becoming the largest pan-regional e-commerce
platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Shopee expanded outside of
Southeast Asia, to countries such as Brazil, Colombia, France, and Spain,
describing its expansion strategy:

Our Shopee e-commerce platform is a mobile-centric, social-focused

marketplace with integrated payment and logistics infrastructure and
comprehensive services we offer to sellers. It is a highly scalable
marketplace platform that provides users with a convenient, safe, and
trusted shopping environment. . . . Shopee provides users with a
convenient, safe, and trusted shopping environment that is supported by
integrated payment, logistics, fulfillment, and other value-added services.
We monetize Shopee mainly by offering sellers paid advertising services,
charging transaction-based fees, and charging for certain value-added
services, including logistics.

Shopee’s marketplace model allows it to scale rapidly. In addition, we

introduce many social and gamification elements into Shopee which we
believe enables us to increase organic user acquisition, user retention
and user time spent on our platform.

Shopee's growth in Southeast Asia and other regions was driven by four
critical strategic elements, essential to its success in the e-commerce
industry. First, they recognized that many customers utilized their mobile
devices to shop. To cater to this, they developed a mobile app, leading to a
significant majority of their e-commerce transactions being conducted on
mobile platforms by 2020. Secondly, Shopee implemented a hyper-local
strategy, acknowledging the distinct variations between countries. This
involved establishing local offices and teams in each market to tailor
product categories and marketing strategies to local preferences and
needs.
Thirdly, Shopee successfully blended social engagement with its
commercial model by creating a robust community platform. This
approach allowed users to connect and interact, enhancing the user
experience beyond just shopping. Lastly, Shopee focused on enhancing
value for its sellers by regularly updating its app with innovative features.
These updates made it simpler for sellers to monitor and manage their
sales, payments, inventory, and delivery processes, thereby improving
their overall business efficiency on the platform.5

SHOPEE'S GLOBAL GROWTH BEYOND

SOUTHEAST ASIA AND TAIWAN

Shopee expanded into Latin America, launching its localized Brazilian site
in 2019. In 2021, Shopee accelerated its global expansion, marking its entry
into new markets including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia. In
September 2021, Shopee expanded its international reach by launching a
marketplace in Poland. This move was quickly followed by the
establishment of marketplaces in Spain and France over the next two
months, further broadening its global presence (see Exhibit 3 for a
breakdown of Shopee’s revenues across different geographic regions).
Two months later in November, Shopee expanded into India and started
operations in South Korea.6 Xiaofeng Wang, an analyst at Forrester, a
research and advisory firm, said “Shopee is making the right move. Latin
America and India have great potential, so they are the obvious choice for
Shopee. Within Europe, Shopee is also pushing in the right order: Poland
first, then Spain, and France the last because it is the most difficult market
in the region.”
5 https://www.edb.gov.sg/en/business-insights/insights/how-5-year-old-startup-shopee-is-leading-e-commerce-growth-in-southeast-asia.html
6 https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kr-asia.com/as-shopee-expands-aggressively-around-the-world-will-it-become-the-amazon-of-emerging-
economi es&sa=D&source=apps-viewer-frontend&ust=1703189960850683&usg=AOvVaw0RzrEuOeB7ttMiuS07z8Ie&hl=en
Beyond its traditional e-commerce services, Shopee expanded its
business scope to include food delivery services in Indonesia, Malaysia,
and Thailand. This diversification placed it in direct competition with Grab,
a major player in Southeast Asia's service industry. Terence Pang, Chief
Operating Ocer of Shopee, said, “It’s not just the food delivery business
that we’re interested in, but how do I engage and find more ways to
feature in and be a part of my consumer’s lifestyle? That’s what we’re
going after.”

Shopee achieved significant success in Brazil, where, within just two years
of its launch, it became the country's most downloaded shopping
application, marking a notable achievement in its international expansion
efforts. It adopted a novel approach to e-commerce by providing in-
app mini-games offering coupons to winning users. In additional to novel
e-commerce engagement methods, Shopee’s timing in the Brazilian
market was fortuitous, as “the COVID-19 pandemic drove consumers away
from physical stores, pushing up 2020 e-commerce sales by 44% to $42
billion,” according to data from Brazilian payments company EBANX.
With recent success, Morgan Stanley identified Shopee as a top-three e-
commerce purchase destination in Latin America, where it had gained
7
37% of consumers in 2021, up from 6% in 2020.

THE INDIAN E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY AND

SHOPEE’S SUCCESS IN INDIA
The surge in smartphone and internet usage in India over recent years
significantly boosted the e-commerce sector. The 2021-22 Economic
Survey of India reported that India's internet user base grew from 200
8
million in 2015 to over 830 million in 2021. This increase paralleled a
significant rise in online sales, which reached USD $9.2 billion during the
2021 festive season, a notable increase from USD $7.4 billion in the
previous year.

7 https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/shopee%E2%80%99s-rise%C2%A0raises-risks-for-brazil%E2%80%99s-battered-retail-stocks
8 https://inc42.com/buzz/indias-internet-data-usage-shoots-up-to-14-1-gb-per-month/
Many firms were predicting continued healthy growth for the e-
commerce sector in India. A report released by EY- IVCA in 2021 said “the
e-commerce sector in India is predicted to grow at a 27% CAGR
[compound annual growth rate] over 2019–24 and is expected to reach
USD $99 billion by 2024.” Much predicted growth would come from “a
surge of demand from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns in India, bringing
in the next 100s of millions of consumers. A new wave of investments in
this sector in both B2B [business to business] and B2C [business to
consumers] commerce are creating a huge gig economy; several sub
sectors have emerged; and innovation is going to storefronts, local
commerce, e-commerce infra and payments.”

With attractive growth opportunities within the market, several firms

jostled for market share in the Indian e-commerce arena. One of the
earliest ones was the Flipkart Group (Flipkart), founded in 2007 in
Bangalore by engineering graduate students. In August 2018, US-based
retail chain Walmart Inc. (Walmart) acquired a 77% controlling stake in
Flipkart for USD $16 billion. Amazon Inc. (Amazon) was next to join the
Indian e-commerce market in 2013, utilizing massive investments to build
infrastructure and logistics to overtake Flipkart’s early lead. Other
companies, including members of India’s biggest business firms,
competed for a share of India’s e-commerce market. AJIO (a unit of
Reliance Retail affiliated with India’s largest conglomerate), TataCliQ (part
of the Tata Group), and Paytm Mall (part of Paytm, a leading payments
company) were all trying to gain a foothold. Meesho, an Indian social e-
commerce start-up, had enjoyed some recent success by adopting an
aggressive strategy of offering cut-rate prices to price-conscious Indian
consumers on low-ticket products ranging from apparel to electronics
and jewelry. It primarily sold through two million resellers and more than
20,000 manufacturers from more than 500 towns.
With competitors entering the market, Shopee focused on the long-tail
categories in Indian markets, such as fashion items (35% of revenue),
mobile devices and accessories (19% of revenue), then followed by
houseware and furniture (14% of revenue). It also sold electronics,
consumer appliances, groceries, and health and beauty products. Shopee
also implemented free delivery to customers and did not charge sellers a
commission on the products they sold. Since Shopee did not have its own
logistics, it tied up with independent logistics platforms like Delhivery. As
a result, its delivery time was longer than those of its competitors.
However, the pricing and discounts it offered were comparable to those
of its competitors.

Despite the intense competition, Shopee rapidly gained users and market
share in India. By January 2022, its app had been downloaded over twenty
million times, and by February, it had over 21 million monthly active users
and was processing ten million orders a day in India, becoming the third
most popular e-commerce platform in India.

WITHDRAWAL FROM TWO MAJOR

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

At the time Shopee entered France, in October 2021, it considered the

country to be one of the most significant new markets to drive growth
beyond Southeast Asia. But on March 6, 2022, Shopee announced its
9
withdrawal from France. Despite its size, the French market presented a
highly competitive e-commerce landscape, hosting approximately
120,000 active sites. This included major international firms like Amazon
and Alibaba, alongside numerous local entities.

9 https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/india-ban-on-chinese-app-free-fire-wipes-out-16-billion-fortune-from-tencent-backed-company-
11644907071 988.html
In this crowded market, Amazon emerged as a sales leader, securing
around 2% of the total market share, indicating the intense competition
and market saturation challenges faced by new entrants. In a statement,
Shopee said that entering France had been “a short-term, preliminary
pilot” and that it had decided not to continue the service. The company
also explained, “Other markets are unaffected. We continue to adopt an
open-minded and disciplined approach to exploring new markets.”

While Shopee achieved growth and market share in India, its operations
encountered several challenges that adversely impacted. In February
2022, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
announced a ban on over fifty-four apps with origins or connections to
China, citing national security concerns. Although Sea, Shopee’s parent
company, was headquartered in Singapore, Shopee was still banned.
Following the ban, Sea’s stock market value experienced a sharp decline,
losing over USD $16 billion in market capitalization. This reaction likely
stemmed from investor concerns that the ban signaled the onset of
broader challenges for the company.

Shopee encountered additional challenges in India. The Confederation of

All India Traders (CAIT) advocated for a ban on Shopee, alleging violations
of India's foreign direct investment regulations. CAIT's chair said, “The
entry of the likes of Shopee means compromising data and security of
Indian citizens, flooding of the market with Chinese goods, anti-
competitive tie-ups with large manufacturers with exclusive access—all of
which will strike at the belly of our small trader who is already suffering
from the impact of COVID on their businesses.”
With pressure mounting, Shopee announced it would shut down
operations in India on March 28th, 2022. A Shopee spokesperson said,

In view of global market uncertainties, we have decided to close our

early-stage Shopee India initiative. During this period of transition, we
will focus on supporting our local sellers and buyer communities and our
local team to make the process as smooth as possible.
We will continue to focus on our efforts to deliver a positive impact to our
global communities, in line with our mission to better the lives of the
underserved through technology.

Shopee would continue “seller services related to payments, refund,

returns, and disputes, among others, will continue to be operational until
May 30th. Existing orders by customers will also be shipped and delivered
as per process.” CAIT approved of Shopee's decision to withdraw from
India, emphasizing that any company infringing upon India's sovereign
laws or misusing data collected within the country would face similar
consequences.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Following its exit from high-profile markets, Shopee's top management
faced crucial strategic decisions about the future of its international
expansion. They needed to evaluate whether the challenges in France
and India were unique to these democracies' political climate, wary of
foreign investments impacting local businesses. This raised questions
about entering similar markets and whether to focus on existing
operations in Southeast Asia and selected Latin American countries,
including newer markets like Poland. Additionally, the declining stock
price of its parent company, Sea, despite its strong cash reserves,
suggested potential demands for improved profitability and operational
efficiency from Shopee in the future.
YOUR MISSION:

How can Shopee effectively realign its international

expansion strategy to better suit the changing
global market dynamics and its own operational
strengths?

What are the potential challenges Shopee might

face in new markets, and how can it develop a
comprehensive risk management plan to mitigate
these risks?

Propose a detailed business plan for Shopee’s next

phase of growth. Include projected revenue and
profit figures in US dollars, based on your strategic
recommendations.

Use the material in this pack, as well as any additional

research that your team completes, to create a Google
Slide Deck of up to 6 slides and Appendix up to 5 slides,
but no longer, detailing your strategy and
recommendations.

Good luck!
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
PREPARATION TACTICS

APPROACHING THE CASE

It's normal to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you learn

about a new case. How do you even begin?

Overwhelmed? Simplify.
Perform a thorough diagnosis of the key challenges the business is
experiencing
Propose the most efficient strategies to solve challenges
Explain strategy implementation and include financial projections of
costs and revenues
Support all points with data and clarify assumptions with rationale

In the regional round, each team will have approximately 5 days to

accomplish the above. Teams will need to allocate their time efficiently.
In the global round, teams will have 72 hours from case release to
presenting, meaning there is very little time or room for error.

Efficiency is key.
PREPARATION TACTICS

PREPARING IN THE LEAD-UP TO

THE COMPETITION

Due to the nature of HCGCC, there is very little time after the case is
released to develop a highly compelling strategy. However, reading
business news and other business-related websites before the case is
released can help further one’s understanding of how the business world
works.

Here are some recommended readings and research areas:

Industry reports.
Industry reports are periodical publications that discuss the current state
of individual industries. These reports are great to learn vocabulary and
identify relevant industry-specific trends. Some suggested publications:
Bloomberg, Investopedia, Harvard Business Review, and Seeking Alpha.

Practice strategic thinking.

Start by crafting solutions for everyday life challenges. Notice something
that bothers you? Pinpoint it and think of simple solutions. A creative,
problem-solving mindset can be developed and perfected to the point
where it comes naturally in the prep room.

Current affairs.
Check the news at least twice a week, especially business news. This can
be found by clicking on the business section of all major news outlets or
going to Yahoo Finance to keep up to date with mergers and IPOS. Yahoo
Finance also offers the option to follow the performance of individual
businesses, so treat these as mock case studies and analyze their
decisions.
PREPARATION TACTICS

PREPARING IN THE LEAD-UP TO

THE COMPETITION

Step 1: Understanding the case

Generally, this time should not be used for discussion, except to ensure
that everyone understands the case. Each team member analyzes the
current state of the business and its problems. Tools such as a SWOT
analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) can be useful.

Step 2: Discussion time

Share initial thoughts and insights. Ensure that every team member
understands the company's situation and challenges.

Step 3: Diagnosis of issues

As a team, choose 1-2 issues to address. In some cases, pressing issues can
be identified immediately. In others, the business may appear to be doing
fine. The first step is to choose and justify which issues should be
prioritized. A market study can be necessary to determine whether
growth opportunities exist or why growth is stunted. Remember to link
the issues to tangible impact on the business.

Step 4: Strategy brainstorm

If the team has chosen more than one issue, an option is to break into
smaller groups for more efficient use of time. Brainstorm as many
focused, results-driven ideas for solving the problem as possible.
PREPARATION TACTICS

PREPARING IN THE LEAD-UP TO

THE COMPETITION

Step 5: Strategy implementation

Carefully consider the difficulty of implementation, risk, and short and
long-term impacts of each strategy to narrow down which to develop.
Keep the strategy concise. Judges will see right through any fluff.
Consider different stages of implementation and different components
that serve slightly different purposes. Put everything on a timeline in the
presentation.

Step 6: Financial projections

Most business leaders think in financial terms, so this is the chance to
prove that the monetary benefits of the proposed strategies outweigh the
costs. Consider both forecasts where everything goes to plan and when
market changes or other factors could take place. Although accuracy is
always good, don’t get trapped into thinking every dollar must be
forecasted – the uncertainty of future circumstances allows for a fair bit of
creative license.

Step 7: Putting it all together

As each aspect of the presentation comes together, gather the
information and create a deck and script. Even though the script will only
be useful in the live presentations, it is more efficient to write it
simultaneously with the pitch deck. We suggest splitting the presentation
up, and then individually rehearsing. When everyone is ready, make sure
you have time to run through it a couple of times together (virtually)
under timed conditions.