The first edition of Supply Chain Cup has come to a close, and what a week it was.
From March 18 to March 27, 2026, students from six universities worldwide stepped into the shoes of supply chain managers navigating a global smartphone operation under pressure. Armed with SCM Globe’s map-based simulation platform, they were tasked with rebuilding, optimizing, and reshoring a supply chain in the middle of geopolitical disruption, a challenge that mirrors the very real pressures facing supply chain professionals today.
A Competition Built Around Real-World Stakes
This year’s case study, Smartphone Global, placed participants in charge of a fictional global smartphone manufacturer facing cascading operational challenges. The competition ran in three progressive challenges:
- Challenge 1: A Working Supply Chain. Before anything else, students had to get the existing supply chain to run without breaking for 30 days. A seemingly simple task that quickly revealed the fragility of complex global networks.
- Challenge 2: Break Even. With the supply chain stabilized, the pressure shifted to profitability. Students had to optimize routes, vehicles, and facility configurations to generate a positive P&L over 30 days of operations.
- Challenge 3: Reshoring Incentives and Supply Chain Overhaul. The most demanding challenge of the three. Rising US-China tensions and new incentives tied to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) forced students to relocate their assembly operations to India while keeping the supply chain profitable, lean, and geographically realistic. Final scoring was weighted on profit, average on-hand inventory, and CO2 emissions.
Six Universities. One Winner.
Supply Chain Cup 2026 brought together students from universities worldwide, including the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Moulay Ismail, and Georgia Tech, among others.
Participants competed solo or in teams of up to three, submitting their SCM Globe simulation files, results sheets, and P&L reports through a centralized grading process managed entirely by the SCM Globe team.
After careful review and ranking of all submissions, the winning team is from Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh School of Business:
- Pratyaksh Jain – Masters in Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics – Expected Graduation: December 2026 (LinkedIn)
- Yash Panda – Masters in Marketing and Business Analytics – Expected Graduation: December 2026 (LinkedIn)
- Naveen Srinivas Akoju – MBA – May 2026 graduate (LinkedIn)
Congratulations. Their supply chain design demonstrated outstanding performance across all three scoring dimensions: profitability, inventory efficiency, and environmental impact.
What Participants Said
We asked the winning team to share their experience.
On why they took part: “This competition was introduced to us by our Supply Chain Professor, Dr. Prakash Mirchandani. We decided to participate in the Supply Chain Cup because we wanted to challenge ourselves in a practical, competitive supply chain environment beyond the classroom.
The competition provided an opportunity to adopt a holistic view of supply chain management in a realistic simulation setting, and apply concepts such as demand planning, inventory management, transportation optimization, and strategic decision-making. We were especially interested in experiencing how real-world supply chains respond to operational constraints, disruptions, and trade-offs under pressure. We were also eager to explore and learn more about the SCM Globe simulation platform.”
On what they gained: “The competition helped us better understand how interconnected the supply chain decisions are. We learned that even small operational decisions can significantly impact costs, customer service levels, and overall network efficiency.
Through the SCM Globe simulation, we gained hands-on experience with:
- Inventory and replenishment planning
- Transportation and distribution strategies
- Capacity balancing
- Cost optimization
- Demand forecasting
- Data-driven decision-making
- Team collaboration under time pressure
The experience also strengthened our ability to analyze problems strategically rather than focusing solely on isolated operational tasks.”
Would they recommend it? “Yes, absolutely. We would highly recommend both the Supply Chain Cup and the SCM Globe simulation tool to students interested in supply chain management.
The simulation provides a far more interactive and realistic learning experience than traditional case studies or classroom lectures. It helps students understand the complexity of real-world supply chains while developing analytical thinking, collaboration, and decision-making skills.
The competitive environment also adds excitement and encourages participants to think critically, adapt quickly, and continuously improve their strategies. Overall, it is an excellent way to bridge the gap between academic concepts and real-world supply chain challenges.
Based on our experience, we can confidently say that the competition is challenging, but participants will learn a lot and have fun in the process!”
Why Competitions Like This Matter
Supply chain management is one of the most dynamic and consequential fields in the global economy. Yet too often, students learn it through textbooks and case discussions alone. Competitions like Supply Chain Cup bridge that gap by putting students in real decision-making scenarios where every choice has measurable consequences.
As past SCM Globe competitions in France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia have shown, simulation-based challenges don’t just teach technical skills. They build confidence, strategic thinking, and the ability to operate under time pressure, all of which are exactly what employers are looking for.
We were impressed by the quality and creativity of submissions across all participating universities. Every team that completed the competition demonstrated genuine supply chain thinking, and we are proud to have provided the platform for that learning to happen.
What’s Next
We look forward to welcoming even more universities to the next Supply Chain Cup, returning in the fall 2026 semester. If you are an instructor interested in bringing your students, or a company interested in sponsoring, reach out to us at info@scmglobe.com.