Over the course of the winter quarter, two Northwestern teams participated in the MEMPC PriSim Business War Games Competition. As a friendly competition between the Master of Engineering Management Program Consortium schools (MEMPC), seven universities had the opportunity to participate in this business competition and challenged each other to think strategically.
The web‐based competition ran from February 1st to March 3rd and allowed participants to run a simulated domestic automobile company and make decisions as a team. Each team’s results differed and was dependent upon how the competitors interacted, what new products were introduced and how those products were supported.
Overall, 11 MEMPC teams participated representing six universities such as Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, Stanford and University of Southern California. Northwestern was well represented with two amazing teams, each participating in a different simulation. Matt, Marcus, Andrew and JJ (as pictured above, JJ not pictured) won Simulation One in the MEMPC PriSim Business War Games Competition and were each awarded a Nexus 9 Tablet!
It was a great experience for all those who participated. When asked about key takeaways, one team mentioned, “Sound and well developed strategy is very critical for a business success. It drives analyses and decisions. It provides clarity to all decision makers and establish a common understanding between executive board members, who agreed on the strategy initially, resulting in effective team dynamics”.
Another team reflected on their strategy, “We took a big risk introducing a new family car late in the game which ended up hurting our performance. Based on our mission to provide quality cars to families, we should have introduced the Catalyst earlier. This would have given us more time to adjust to the market”. Surely these students have obtained a new way to approach business strategy and can apply the skills learned to future job roles.
Dave Semb, partner at PriSim Business War Games Inc, looks forward the next competition. “For next year, we’re looking forward to similarly intense competition. Given the demand for placement on the school teams this year, we think there is energy building around the event. And the Nexus 9 is a great prize, but bragging rights go a long way too!”
If you did not get a chance to participate in this amazing simulation, look out for details next winter, grab a team and let’s put your business strategy to the test!
Want to read more about the five week competition? Read the kick off press release or visit the PriSim website.
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