Students at the University of Texas at Dallas—Naveen Jindal School of Management have found ways to mix fun and function with their own Business Strategy Game (BSG)—an online simulation which allows students to compete against each other and practice real-world business scenarios.
One Jindal team among the 53 that entered last week earned top honors with a perfect score, tying for first place overall. Just within that week, 4,267 teams had competed from 262 colleges and universities around the world.
Some classes at Jindal, such as Dr. Shawn Carraher’s international marketing courses, require all students to participate in the BSG. He finds that students can learn their strengths and weaknesses in business as they strive to reach the goals he sets for them through the game.
BSG is a multiplayer online game which allows for real-time simulation of a business environment. The game scores players in several areas similar to those which mark success in a real-world market: earnings per share, overall score, stock price and return on investment, among others.
David Nobles, an MBA and MS in finance student, has now competed three times in the BSG, finishing first in July with his company Apple iShoe. According to Nobles, the game “helps you either reinforce what you’re already thinking about how things work, or it changes the way you think.”
For students like Daniel Blough, a senior majoring in information technology and systems, the BGS spoke to his competitive nature. After winning first place he moved on to compete in the Best-Strategy Invitational, another global competition in which he also took first place.
“You have to know your business inside and out, and you have to be able to recognize your competition,” Blough told the school. “Then you will be able to recognize when your competitor makes a move, how it will affect your business and how you need to adjust to be successful.”