Business Students Place in the Top 100 in Global Competition

It’s one thing to learn how to run a successful business and help it grow. It’s another to put what you learned into practice.

As part of the Business Policy and Strategy capstone course, NYIT School of Management business administration students did just that, participating in the online business decision game called GLO-BUS, where teams of students compete for global market leadership. Teams from 282 campus locations in 28 countries were challenged to build a competitive strategy for one of two product categories: wearable video cameras or sophisticated camera-equipped copter drones, and sell them to buyers in four geographic regions, including Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Each team had to create a respected brand image and produce good financial performance that was measured in three categories: earnings per share, return on investment, and stock price.

Beginning on September 17, teams competed weekly for the top spot in each category. And in the final week (November 23 through 29), three New York Tech teams placed in the top 100.

Wenjing Chen, Anqi Hu, Zhihong Ma, and Kyonis Owens on Team Captain America took the top spot in the best earnings per share for the week, with an earnings per share of $31.79. Their stock price of $839.80 was the second best worldwide.

“It was unexpected to achieve such results, but I think this competition really laid the foundation for my future work,” said Chen. “I can be proud to write on my résumé that I won first place.”

Two additional New York Tech teams also ranked highly in the competition.

Alberto Alonso Marchan, Shakya Suwarisge, and Taylor Tripptree on Team Hakuna Matata came in sixth place for best earnings per share ($22.32). The team also took 38th place worldwide for best stock price at $491.52.

“We didn’t think we would be able to perform this well in the competition. My team worked hard to see good results,” said Suwarisge. “Throughout the competition, I was able to see how businesses run their deals to secure their place in the market while trying to not get crushed by their competitors.”

Yifan Feng, Ding Liang, and Jinyu Wang on team Billionaire Co. had an earnings per share of $19.91, bringing them to 16th place.

Students were expected to think rationally and logically, running their business just as they would in a real-world setting. Participants had to make decisions relating to R&D, component usage, product performance, product line breadth, production operations, work force compensation, outsourcing, pricing, sales and marketing, finance, and corporate citizenship and social responsibility.

“Competitions like these can help the students in many ways,” said Swapna Gantasala, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of management and marketing studies. “They build confidence in analyzing the revenue-cost-profit economics of a business. These competitions help students understand how the functional pieces of a business fit together, gain valuable practice in crafting profitable growth strategies, and provide a capstone for their business school education.”

After she receives her bachelor’s degree in spring 2021, Suwarsige plans to pursue an M.B.A. at New York Tech. “This course gave me the chance to think back to what I learned in my management, economics, and finance courses,” said Suwarisge. “By participating in this competition, it expanded my knowledge on how I can use what I’ve learned throughout my years as an undergraduate.”