Malone University business students thrive in world market

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How do American students stack up against their peers in the world market? Pioneers are finding themselves at the top, thanks to a simulation activity with college participants from around the globe.

Professor of Business Administration Jack Harris is using a sophisticated online simulation called “GLO-BUS” in his senior-level Strategic Management class. With GLO-BUS, participants are assigned to run a digital camera company in head-to-head competition with their peers from all over the world. The companies also compete in a global market arena, selling to camera retailers in Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Students make all decisions about the products in terms of quality, functionality and production. They determine wages, benefits, bonuses, and incentives for the production teams. They also determine the marketing promotions, duration, and percentages as well as what kinds of stores they will sell in the various parts of the world.

In Harris’s course, students are divided into teams of three. Recently one of the teams tied for 32nd out of more than 1,000 teams nationwide.

Harris was notified by GLO-BUS management about the team’s top 100 ranking in an email that read, “You should be quite proud of your students for such an excellent performance — a performance that reflects quite well on you and the caliber of instruction that students are receiving in your course.”

The following week, the same team tied for 14th, and is now in 12th place internationally.

“The high ranking is the result of previous courses in accounting, finance, marketing, operations, ethics, and international business, all being used as they determine the strategic directive for their company in the simulation,” said Harris. “I am pleased with the success of the students and the opportunity for them to show what they have learned in their time at Malone.”