Business Students Again Crack 'Top 20' in Corporate-Strategy Game

Pennsylvania College of Technology students once again have proved to be worldly-wise players in the Business Strategy Game, a Web-based competition that pits simulated corporations against one another in the fickle global marketplace.

The co-managers of the fictitious Delphi athletic-footwear company Jennie E. Mull, a technology management student from Huntingdon; Amy M. Richardson, an accounting major from New Ringgold; and Eric D. Rovenolt, a business administration-management student from Trout Run earned a Global Top 20 ranking for their overall game-to-date score during the eighth week of the current performance period.

"That is quite a feat, considering that the BSG is an online simulation that requires decision-making in all areas of business activity," said Gerald D. "Chip" Baumgardner, an associate professor of business administration. "(It) includes colleges and universities throughout the world and is the leading simulation game used in higher education."

Institutions such as Boston University, James Madison University, Oklahoma State University, North Carolina State University, the University of South Dakota and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas comprised this past week's Top 20.

"This is impressive competition and is a tribute to the students, faculty and the entire business administration program," added Baumgardner, the team members' instructor for Business Policy and Strategy, the capstone course required of all business administration, accounting and technology management students during their final year at the college.

Equally impressive, he said, is that the Penn College students come from across the business curriculum, combining their perspective from three distinct majors within the School of Business and Computer Technologies.

Each Monday, the creators of BSG-Online compile lists of the prior week's 20 best-performing companies internationally based on each of four measures: overall score for the current year, earnings per share, return on average equity and stock price.

According to a letter from the game's organizers to Baumgardner, the students' total score of 108 was among the best performances of the week in that category a tie for 17th place worldwide "a performance that reflects quite well on you and the caliber of instruction that students are receiving in your course."

That qualifies them to compete in the Best-Strategy Invitational, an all-star competition among Top 20 teams from the entire semester, to be held from April 17-30.

Mirroring the real world, the students' online companies compete in a global marketing arena, "selling" branded and private-label athletic footwear in Europe, Africa, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America. Company co-managers must make decisions relating to plant operations, distribution and warehousing, payroll, online transactions at company Web sites, sales and marketing, and finance.

This marks the second time that Penn College students have made their presence known in the online simulation; last fall, a two-member team finished 13th in that particular week's competition in the "equity" category.

For more information about majors in the School of Business and Computer Technologies, call (570) 327-4517, send e-mail or visit online.