Business Simulation

abcde Everyone is on the edge of their seats wondering what I've been doing with this so called "MBA Program." Well here is a little peak. First of all, it is important to realize that the program is big on group activities. So here is a snapshot of my group (and 5 of the other groups in the program).



abcde You can see me in black and white on the Ferris team. That is important to note, because we will be viewing part of the Business Simulation report that shows how well I am doing compared to the rest of the pack (oh yeah, my teammates may have helped a little). At the beginning of Round 1, all the groups are equal. All 6 companies have the same property, plant and equipment as well as $1 million in sales the previous year. So how do you keep up with the growing demand of the market and the increased cost of labor and materials? That my friends is the $25 million dollar question. So let's look at how well I've been able to run the company (I mean team Ferris of course).



abcde Wow! Would you look at that. Ferris is blowing away the competition. I am absolutely shocked. Okay, not really. If I was getting my ass spanked you wouldn't see this data. It's now the end of Round 3 and Ferris is taking care of business. Round 4 has an interesting twist, though. You have to negotiate with the Union for labor. If you don't give them what they want in each of 4 categories (starting pay, annual raise, benefits and profit sharing), the workers will strike for up to 12 weeks until a contract is signed. This will be very important to me (and the team) as we have built our business on the back of well-paid, well-trained workers. The simulation ends in a couple of weeks, so I'll get back to you with how I end up. And if labor negotiations go South and the workers strike, I may post a quick update for the sake of making you laugh. I leave you with this next picture, which shows our success graphically.



abcde As you can see, Ferris is the only company with easily recognizable profits. We also have 23% of the current market share even though that's not what we really care about. Have a good holiday weekend.