Greenville Technical College Student Excels in Business Simulation Exercise
June 16, 2014
GREENVILLE, SC – Taylor Ledford, a Management student at Greenville Technical College, was part of a team that competed near the top of the international GLO-BUS competition. After the semester ended and his team qualified for the playoffs, he continued the simulation himself and placed second out of all the colleges and universities represented.
GLO-BUS (Global Business Simulation Strategy Game) is a highly-sophisticated free market simulation where small groups of students “run” a digital camera company for the semester and compete with other teams of students in their class. They are evaluated on such things as growth in earnings per share, stock price, ROE, image rating, and credit rating. They are responsible for approximately 51 different decisions for each “year” they compete. (One week of the semester equals one “year” for the simulation.) These decisions cover virtually every category of running a company including marketing, tech support, warranties, product design, employee pay and benefits, outsourcing, etc.
Their quantitative performance is also measured against all teams at schools worldwide who are using the GLO-BUS simulation. The number of teams this past semester when Ledford’s team competed was over 2,500. The number of colleges and universities using this simulation was over 270 worldwide during this time.
Over 90% of the institutions involved are 4-year programs, so most of these students are seniors in college and a few are even MBA students. Those who finish first in any given category at the end of the semester are invited to participate in an intense two-week playoff where they compete directly with the other high-performing teams from other schools. Ledford was the only one from his team who was able to participate in this playoff, and he ended up finishing 2nd worldwide out of approximately 40 invited to compete.
Ledford, who describes himself as extremely competitive, said the biggest takeaway he had from the competition was that the time spent matters. “Putting in extra work is key to being successful,” he said.
Greenville Technical College Management Professor Vincent Weaver, who teaches the capstone class for Management students in which the GLO-BUS simulation is featured, said the process equates to what takes place in the real world. “In business, you make decisions using the information you have available, but you never know what the competition is going to do,” he said. “This software allows students to learn valuable lessons virtually rather than on the job.”
Ledford, who graduated in May, 2014, now works as a Shipping and Receiving Manager for Pharmaceutical Associates, Inc.
