(L to R) Makeesha Allen, Billy Rogers, and Tai Roberts, with Dean Benjamin Akande, Professor John Jinkner, and Campus Director Dr. Pat Sager.

For weeks Burns, Roberts, Allen and Rogers wheeled and dealed, and plotted and planned how to handle millions of dollars in virtual money for their virtual company. Business management simulation software, like that used in the Webster University competition, helps students understand how to run business entities under a variety of ever-changing conditions. In competition, students take what they know and apply it to challenges and opportunities thrown their company’s way every few days.  Should they lower their price?  Should they produce more product? Teams’ expertise is tested in everything from research and development to strategy and finance. In the end, Jacksonville’s winning team made sales of more than $260 million and made a cumulative profit of $115 million.

 “This year’s winning team had extensive work experience in all four areas of expertise demanded by the simulated business experience that Capsim requires,” says Pat Sager, regional director at the Jacksonville Metropolitan campus.  “Billy Rogers was in charge of research and development; Marie Burns was in charge of production, Tai Roberts was in charge of finance, and Makeesha Allen was in charge of marketing decisions.”

 “We knew each other and our own strengths and weaknesses” says Rogers, who has been in construction for most of his life. “We all wanted a balanced strategy to carry us to the end, so we invested early and went for diversification.”
John Jinkner, the team’s advisor and business professor at Webster University-Jacksonville, agrees. Sager and team members describe Jinkner as a dynamic and motivated instructor who has had some great experience helping students forecast their strategy differently than other teams might have. But Jinkner gives the team all the credit, saying these winners put themselves ahead of their competition.

“What made the biggest difference for this team was their ability to forecast sales into the future,” says Jinkner, who calls marketing more of an art than a science.  For his part in the making of the masterpiece, Jinkner received $1,000 in prize money as the sponsor of the winning team. He’s also carrying a fair share of bragging rights, since Jinkner also advised another Jacksonville team made up of Donald Taylor and Harry Brodeen, which also made it to the finals, placing fifth in the overall competition. 

“We had two outstanding teams from Jacksonville due to the spirit to compete and win regardless of the odds,” says Sager.  “The students were excited to have the opportunity to excel and demonstrate what they learned during their entire MBA experience by competing to win with an unquenchable spirit to succeed. Win or not, they were having a great time and putting great effort into a ‘cyberplay’ experience.”

 The winning team of Burns-Roberts-Allen-Rogers received a $5,000 prize for their outstanding effort. The second-place team of Sara Russell and David Cooke from Fayetteville, Ark., received $2,500. Mirian Sordia and Ikuko Tanaka from Geneva, Switzerland, split the third-place prize of $1,500.

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