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NC State Jenkins MBA Teams Ranked in BSG’s Global Top 100

The online simulation exercise, used as a teaching tool in the college’s Global Strategy class for MBA students this spring, has student teams completing tasks that parallel business activities involved in running an actual athletic footwear company. The students compete with their peers on a global basis.

The following NC State Jenkins MBA student teams appeared on the Global Top 100 during the week of April 20 through April 25, 2009. During this week, there were 2,904 teams competing from 210 colleges and universities around the world. The top performances in this business simulation exercise are posted each Sunday night during the academic semester.

The MBA team Fivewire completed the game in the Top 100 Overall Game-to-Date Score category. They tied for 98th place worldwide on cumulative team performance for the entire simulation. Team members were Patrick Livingstone, Sean Will, Fabrice Meunier, Michelle Shamer, Arash Ardestani and Amit Sachan.

“Given that these students work full time and made two strategy decisions per week – versus the one decision per week by most of the 2500-plus participating teams – they did an excellent job,” said Steve Barr, professor in the college’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIE). “They also were invited to compete in the BSG Invitational, which is the ‘top gun’ competition for the program’s best teams.” The NC State Jenkins MBA students participated as part of a short course and thus needed to make their strategy decisions in a more compact timeframe.

Also invited to the BSG Invitational was the Jenkins MBA student team New Balance, comprised of full time MBA students Ryan Mills, David Kleisch, Amy Oechsli, Subramani Yetur and Suki Batni. “They scored a Top 100 at the end of the game for return on equity ROE (tied for 82nd) and for Stock Price (tied for 84),” Barr said.

“Another of our full-time MBA teams, Capital Gains, with members Christina Clark, David Nachman, Kavya Nagendra, Mac Rich and Tejas Sangoi, barely missed an invite to the BSG Invitational as they were edged out by New Balance. However, Capital Gains did post a top 100 (46) for ROE,” Barr said.

“The BSG simulation is very realistic and provides students with an experience in managing and running the strategic operations of an organization in a dynamic, global environment,” Barr said. “Parameters of the game change constantly and teams must monitor their environment and competition to perform well. Students report that it is an excellent introduction to the intricacies required in developing and implementing a global strategic plan. It provides a ‘richness’ not found in interactive discussions or case studies,” he said.

The college has used this simulation exercise to provide both graduate and undergraduate students hands-on experience in managing the many tasks involved in running a global company, including making decisions relating to plant operations, distribution and warehouse operations, work force compensation, online sales, sales and marketing, and finance. The students are challenged to craft and execute a competitive strategy that results in a respected brand image, keeps the team’s company in contention for global market leadership, and produces good financial performance as measured by earnings per share, return on investment, stock price appreciation, and credit rating.

The simulation has been used in the MBA business strategy class in the past by Steve Chapman, professor in the MIE department, and in undergraduate business strategy classes taught by Greg Young, associate professor in the MIE department.

Four student teams participating in the simulation in the past 12 months earned places on the Most Outstanding Corporate Citizen list, an honor earned by having at least two Gold Star Awards for Corporate Citizenship. These awards are presented annually by the World Council for Exemplary Corporate Citizenship to the student company team in each industry in the simulation exercise that spends the highest percentage of revenues for corporate social responsibility and citizenship initiatives.

On the list from the NC State College of Management in the past 12 months are:

  • MBA teams: Taguchi Sauce, with four Gold Start Awards, and High Flyers, with two awards
  • Undergraduate teams: Catfish and Gravti, each with two Gold Star Awards

Also, College of Management teams have achieved Best-Strategy Invitational Grand Champions status in 2005 and 2006, earning for their professors, Chapman and Young, a place on the Master Professors rolls.