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The main objective of Entrepreneur & Business Strategy Competition is to learn how to operate a business successfully, while balancing personal life goals. The competition will use a computer simulation featuring realistic graphics, 3D-modelled environments, and interactive video.
Here are just a few of the decisions and activities your team will experience:
Business Start-Up Activities
- Develop business goals and objectives
- Secure financing
- Select and register a business name
- Choose a legal structure
- Select a location and site
- Purchase equipment
- Obtain necessary licenses and permits
Personal Activities
- Establish personal goals and wish list items
- Evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses
- Consider underlying motivations for being an entrepreneur
- Schedule time to spend with friends and family, respond to any family problems, and get enough sleep
- Manage personal stress levels
- Manage daily, weekly and monthly living expenses
- Purchase personal items
- Monitor personal financial status
Daily Business Management Activities
Products & Inventory
- Set product prices
- Order inventory
- Manage inventory
- Staffing
- Review resumes
- Hire employees
- Motivate employees
- Organize work schedules
- Finances
- Negotiate bank loans
- Write checks to pay bills and wages
- Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable
Advertising
- Plan advertising: TV, Radio, and Newspaper
- Purchase advertising
- Design and print business cards
- Management
- Review financial statements
- Monitor hours worked
- Monitor revenue, customers served and lost, business and personal cash levels
- Monitor employee morale and customer satisfaction levels
- Seek advice from accountant
- Seek advice from lawyer
- Use telephone, fax machine, organizer, calculator and computer to run business
Professional Presentation & Judging
Four teams with the highest computerized score after the simulations sessions will be asked to deliver a 3-5 minute presentation to a panel of judges. Each team will be expected to discuss their business goals and objectives, the strategies employed during the simulation (successful and unsuccessful), and an analysis of the degree to which the team achieved its goals.
Selection of the winning team will be based on the computer simulation score and the scores given by judges for the professional presentation.
How to Prepare
In addition to reviewing business functions and decisions outlined about, teams may want to "practice" using popular free games simulations such as Yahoo.com's Lemonade Stand, Lemonade Tycoon, etc.
All business planning and decisions will be done during the competition. There will be nothing to prepare in advance. MSOE will provide each team with a laptop computer and necessary software to use for the event.
For More Information
Professor Kristin Shebesta
MSOE Rader School of Business
(414) 277-7279
Send email