Since I would have been bored out of my mind at home this winter break, I convinced my bosses at my on campus job that it would be a really great idea to keep me here over break so I could work and be productive. After a few weeks of work I saw that UNH was offering a Management course that would help me complete my major a little bit early and I jumped at the opportunity.
MG 454 was a global business simulation course that was held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for two weekends. The class divided was divided into four teams of two to three people, and we were all top level executives at competing digital camera companies. We played for eight years, and after each year progress was evaluated through the game and scores were posted. Hundreds of decisions had to be made for each year based upon decisions we had to make given our market share in various regions, cost of production, advertising, debt payoff capability, credit, and numerous other factors. Making the decisions for the year could take up as much as two hours of our time, and sometimes we were put under time constraints.
On top of strategizing on how we could increase revenues and profits by ten percent per year, we also had to figure out how to crush our competition. We were allowed a few practice years before we had to go in it for real. Our professor, Dr. Abbas Nadim, guided us through the first few years, helping us when he could, but after the first weekend we were on our own to make or break. My co-manager Brandon and I were able to get a quick handle of the simulation and managed to remain number one throughout the whole game. Much to our pleasant surprise we found out that we were number one in the whole world ! Countless countries, universities and managerial teams were all competing right along with us, and we beat 'em all!
All in all, this was the best course I have taken so far. It integrated everything I have been learning over the past few years, and it was an amazing way to learn how to take risks and make huge decisions at no out-of-pocket expense!
