Management Simulations Announces Winners of its Fall Global Business Simulation Challenge

NORTHFIELD, Ill., Nov. 16, 2007 – Management Simulations, Inc. (MSI®), the largest provider of business simulations to college graduate and undergraduate students, announced today the winners of its Fall 2007 Capstone® and Foundation® International Challenge – two global online business simulation competitions undertaken this fall by nearly 700 graduate and undergraduate student teams worldwide.

Kerim Koyunoglu, under the tutelage of Professor Tom Osegowitsch of University of Melbourne in Sydney, won MSI’s Fall 2007 Capstone Challenge. Koyunoglu, expected to graduate in July 2008 with a Master of Applied Commerce degree and a concentration in Marketing, seeks to reach a strategic managerial position at a multinational company in the consumer packaged-goods industry.

“When I took the Strategic Management course, I was given the chance to show my ability to apply the lessons I’ve learned through Capstone. Participating in the Capstone Challenge provided the opportunity to see how far I could go globally," says Koyunogly. “[The Challenge] has helped me improve and develop my skills toward dealing with uncertainties that are bound to be seen in the real business world."

After doing well in the Foundation simulation during Professor Greg Swango's course at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, Christina F. Vaughn decided to enter the global Foundation Challenge. And for the first time in MSI Challenge history, a community college student took first place honors.

“The Business Simulation was exciting to play, and I never really thought I would do as well as I did,” said Vaughn, who will receive an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Administration after the spring 2009 semester and plans to transfer to the University of Arkansas to work toward an accounting degree. "It really helped me to understand all the numbers behind running a business."

“The Capstone and Foundation Challenge provides an action learning device that is enabling students at all professional levels to learn in a risk-free environment,” said Dan Smith, president of Management Simulations, Inc. and adjunct professor at DePaul University, Chicago. "The global competition teaches important and complicated business principles that result in better-prepared and more-skilled students.”

This was the 14th Bi-Annual Capstone and Foundation International Challenge hosted by Management Simulations, Inc. The Challenge ranks participants using the Balanced Scorecard, a strategic assessment tool that accurately measures a business unit's progress. Prior to the competitions, all participants learned finance, research and development, marketing and production through the use of the Capstone Business Simulation and the Foundation Business Simulation in their college courses. This year, the competitions included teams from dozens of countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, France, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Nicaragua, Poland, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Finalist results from MSI’s Fall 2007 Capstone Challenge include:
First Place: Kerim Koyunoglu University of Melbourne; Professor Tom Osegowitsch
Second Place: Martin Schmidt, Colorado School of Mines; Professor Robert Tucker
Third Place: Ralph Cassara, Jan Niewiadomski, Dale Meinen, and Carl Zimmerman, Stony Brook University; Professor Michael Nugent
Fourth Place: Shu-Ya (Rio) Peng, Binghamton University; Professor Robert Cline
Fifth Place: Anthony R. Castelbuono, Webster University; Dr. Thomas Janke
Sixth Place: Shaun Bryan, Dixie State College of Utah; William Christensen, Ph.D.

Finalist results from MSI’s Fall 2007 Foundation Challenge include:
First Place: Christina F. Vaughn, NorthWest Arkansas Community College; Professor Greg Swango
Second Place: Sean Ping Quah, University of Technology, Sydney; Dr. Bruce Perrott
Third Place: Anna Bruen, Alex Cequea, Donielle Freeberg and Jeremy Jones, Maharishi University of Management; Scott Herriott, Ph.D.
Fourth Place: Stephen Varkey, Drexel University; Dr. Robert E. Laessig
Fifth Place: Oluwole Sokoya and Qisheng Zhang, University of Houston-Downtown; Dr. Steven Maranville
Sixth Place: Fouad Jeryes, Dave Loescher, Leo Shellmer, Patrick Sjolund and Mike Wishnow, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth; Dr. Walter Einstein and Professor Chris Papenhausen

Jason Abrahams, KemperLesnik Communications
312.755.3533, jason.abrahams@kemperlesnik.com

About Management Simulations, Inc.
Founded in 1985, Management Simulations, Inc. (MSI) is the leading virtual business simulation program provider worldwide and is the founding member of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) Leaders Circle. Its Capstone® Business Simulation is the best-selling business simulation that teaches strategy/tactics, accounting, marketing, finance, human resources, teamwork, leadership, and other topics. MSI's Comp-XM®, used in conjunction with Capstone, evaluates the business acumen of participants. MSI works with more than 550 universities, including Harvard, Wharton, Northwestern and Vanderbilt, and more than 250 high schools as well as countless leading businesses, such as Microsoft, Alcoa, BP, Allstate, Samsung, General Motors and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Visit www.capsim.com for more information and a complete list of past winners.

This release was published on openPR.