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| From left: Matthew O'Connor, dean of the School of Business, freshmen David Paljevic, Stephen Vesce, Nicholas Forgione and Alexander Smith, and Kathleen Simone, associate professor of accounting. |
The undergraduate students were enrolled in the introductory business course, "The Business Environment."
Four teams of Quinnipiac students ranked among the top 20 participating in the competition, which explores accounting, finance, management and marketing theory and practices.
"They run their own bicycle company," said Kathleen Simione, associate professor of accounting and facilitator of the winning team, "Boomer's Bikes. "The beauty of this simulation is it has the students see how their decisions are all interconnected."
The business simulation allows the student teams to compete against students in the 15 sections of the course at Quinnipiac, while also having their progress compared with students playing around the world, Simione said.
The project starts with each team having identical companies and products. The teams must then name their respective companies and create promotional strategies. New products are introduced along the way, and the winner is determined based on the highest shareholder value.
"Some of the students really get into it, and it becomes all about winning," Simione said. "It becomes very competitive, and I think the students like the competitive atmosphere."
Quinnipiac has been using the simulation since 2000, Simione said, but the game has gone global in just the last year.
"It's a great exercise in learning how to run your own business," Simione said. "It's just a nice product, and a great learning experience."
The leading Quinnipiac team that finished fifth internationally included Nicholas Forgione '13, David Paljevic '13, Alexander Smith '13 and Stephen Vesce '13.
The other top students from Quinnipiac included: Mark Andriulli '13, David Carroll '13, Matthew Franklin '13, Tara Irving '13, Vincent Marando '13, Robert Naranjo '12, Rares Negustoru '13, Megan Newkirk '13, Miralys Rivera '13 and Marc Vandal '13.