Isle students win British
management contest

The MBA candidates beat out other schools
in a strategy game

Star-Bulletin staff

A team of five Hawaii business students studying for their master's degree has won the Universities Business Challenge, a management simulation game for universities and colleges primarily in Great Britain.

The test of business ability involved working with beer, cider and potato chip ventures.

The students had to set the pricing, and decide how much to expand production. said Curtis Washington of Hawaii Kai, chairman of the student group. The key was to sell off inventory but not to run out of product because then they would lose customers, he said.

"We came in with a strategy but the market didn't allow for that," said Washington. They decided not to expand as aggressively as planned.

The teams made both short- and long-term decisions on pricing, marketing, production and stock control. They also faced other factors such as recession, rising transportation costs, beer contamination and image problems.

Washington, who is looking toward a possible career in equity trading, said the winning strategy allowed them "to price competitors out of the market."

It was the first time a team came from Hawaii, and the first time a team from outside Great Britain had competed in the challenge.

The Hawaii team was sponsored by the Japan-America Institute of Management Science (JAIMS) in Hawaii Kai. The students are in the Japan-focused master's degree program offered in partnership with the University of Hawaii College of Business Administration. Other Hawaii team members were Chee Meng Chan from Singapore, Marie Antoinette Go from the Philippines, Sanjay Pareek from India, and Suzanne Nakano from Hawaii.

They beat out teams from the universities of Edinburgh, Newcastle, Lancaster and Warwick. The JAIMS team won $1,600 and crystal bowls engraved with their names as winners.

Initially, 52 teams from five regions were involved in the challenge in the preliminary round held last October to December. The local team competed from Hawaii via e-mail and the Internet.

The semifinal competition, which included 20 teams, was held at the Guiness Brewery in London during January. The finals this month were held in Windsor, outside of London.