$10,000 Capstone Competition Prize up for Grabs to MBA Alumni, Students

The Capstone Competition trophy

The prize may not be a job with "The Donald," but School of Business & Technology MBA students and alumni worldwide will have a chance to win $10,000 by "re-taking" a part of the MBA capstone course. While it won't change their grade, the shot at $10,000 is a great incentive to revisit BUSN 6200, Business Policies and Strategy.

For the past two years, the capstone simulation—or "cap sim"—has been a part of the MBA program's final course. During the course, students compete head-to-head in the strategic management of a virtual $100 million electronic sensor company by incorporating the business acumen acquired while pursuing their MBA degrees. Simulated business activities include: Strategy, R&D, Marketing, Production, Labor Relations, Finance and Process Management.

While a number of colleges and universities employ the cap sim software in their MBA programs, the School of Business & Technology is the first to launch a global competition among its national and international campuses, as well as the first to offer a "winner-take-all" cash prize. Doug O'Bannon, Business Department chair, introduced the innovative concept as a way to reconnect with alumni and leverage the unique strengths of Webster's worldwide network.

"The idea is for past and present students to compete in one worldwide mega-simulation event," O'Bannon says.   "A team from Little Rock or Los Angeles could be competing with a team from London and China," O'Bannon explains, cautioning, "Webster China swears they're going to win."

The competition, sponsored by World Wide Technology, is free to all eligible students and alumni who have completed the capstone simulation course. O'Bannon says that of the 3,000 or so Webster MBAs who have taken the simulation course to date, he expects anywhere from 100 to 1,000 students and alumni to take part in this groundbreaking global competition. Given that teams may be any size, the $10,000 prize could conceivably be won by a single person.

That said, O'Bannon thinks a number of alums will be motivated to take part more for the mastery of the challenge than the money. "I know from my own classes that many of these alumni are eager to have another go at the simulation now that they have gone through it once and have a better understanding of the strategy involved," he says.

In the preliminary round, teams will compete against virtual opponents—the same five computer teams—to establish a level playing field. In this round, each team will be vying for the best possible "score," based on cumulative profitability. The top six scoring teams will then go head-to-head in the finals round, which starts March 21.

In addition to the $10,000 prize, the Webster instructor who sponsors the winning team will receive a $1,000 award. The Webster campus sponsoring the winning team will receive bragging rights and a trophy, further upping the ante.

Registration is online from Nov. 15, 2004 to Jan. 7, 2005, and competition begins Feb. 7. The second round will begin March 21. The results will be announced in April 2005, and the winning team will be presented with its award in a special ceremony at a later date. For more information on the competition, or to register, go to http://business.webster.edu/capstone

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