A student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo College of Business and Economics (CoBE) recently finished first in his industry in the international version of the Business Strategy Game (BSG). Mark Tokuuke was invited to take part in the competition following his first-in-class performance in Strategic Management 490, the college’s required capstone class.
The Business Strategy Game is a popular simulation used by both undergraduate and MBA programs. Over the last 12 months, the game has been used by 48,314 students in 2,729 classes at 566 campus locations in 51 different countries.
In the Business Strategy Game, students are assigned to operate an athletic footwear company that produces and markets both branded and private-label footwear, competing in the global market arena with up to 12 companies in a single industry grouping. The players are responsible for assessing market conditions, determining how to respond to actions of competitors, forging long-term direction and strategy for the company, forecasting sales volumes and making related decisions.
Each company’s performance is based on a balanced scorecard that includes brand image, earnings per share, return on equity investment, stock price appreciation and credit rating. Players who finish first in their institution’s BSG simulation exercise advance to the next level by receiving an invitation to participate in the Best-Strategy Invitational: a global competition among high-performing BSG companies from around the world. Tokuuke’s team “K” competed within an industry that included teams from California, Nevada, Malaysia, Canada, Greece, Mexico and Nigeria.
He finished first in his industry by earning a perfect score of 100 in performance plus six bonus points for accurate forecasting. “Mark approached the game very systematically. He put in the time to understand the algorithms, anticipated the likely moves of his competitor, and consistently planned and executed his strategy,” said Emmeline de Pillis, UH Hilo professor of management. “The strategy class is where the student has the opportunity to use everything they’ve been exposed to up to this point, and Mark was really able to show what he’s learned in the program. Congratulations to Mark on a job well done!”
