A team of IUPUC business students placed first and was named a Grand Champion team in the international Business Strategy Game. Another IUPUC team placed fourth.
A total of 66 teams, from 49 schools and eight countries, participated in the competition.
The team of Ryan Roller, of Franklin, and Geoff Gerline, of Edinburgh, placed first in their division and was named a Grand Champion team.
The team of Chad Storm, of Columbus, Jessica Margison, of Shelbyville, and Phil Hargrove, of Seymour, placed fourth.
“This is as close to the real world as a simulation can be,” said Thomas Clerkin, assistant professor of business at IUPUC. “We use this as a way to see if our students really understand how to plan and execute a winning strategy and if they understand the function of a business.
“They literally run a global company. The decisions they make are extremely realistic.”
“I learned a lot in all of the classes that led up to this and then I could apply that knowledge and see if it was applicable in a real-world scenario,” said Ryan Roller, a senior majoring in finance. “You really had to balance risk and reward.”
Clerkin has coached IUPUC teams in the Business Strategy Game since 2005. Six IUPUC teams have been named Grand Champion teams since 2005. Clerkin is a five-time inductee into the BSG Hall of Fame as a Master Professor.
The Business Strategy Game is an online exercise where class members are divided into teams and assigned the task of running an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competition against companies managed by other class members. Company operations parallel those of actual athletic footwear companies. Just as in the real-world, companies compete in a global market arena, selling branded and private-label athletic footwear in four geographic regions — Europe-Africa, North America , Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
Company co-managers must make decisions relating to plant operations, distribution and warehouse operations, work force compensation, online sales at the company’s web site, sales and marketing, and finance. The challenge is to craft and execute a competitive strategy that results in a respected brand image, keeps your 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.
For more information about IUPUC Division of Business, visit www.iupuc.edu/business. For more information about the Business Strategy Game, visit www.bsg-online.com.