Three Cal Poly students are currently ranked No. 1 in the world in an online business simulation competition called Glo-Bus. The simulation is part of Advanced Seminar in International Management (BUS 403), a required class for all business administration majors with a concentration in international business.
Glo-Bus is a website that creates the simulation of a real-world digital camera company. The simulation gives participants the opportunity to build strategies to successfully run the company against one another.
At Cal Poly, the class is divided into teams of three who then compete against each other and others from all over the world.
Currently, business administration seniors Victoria Valentine, Elizabeth Talbert and Jordan Carson are ranked No. 1 in the simulation, not just at Cal Poly, but also in the world.
“We run a digital camera company that has two product lines, a point-and-shoot camera and a multi-featured camera,” Valentine said.
The teams make every decision for the company, and are then scored on how well the decisions would turn out in the real world. Some of the decisions include finances, marketing, labor, compensation, promotions and production costs.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to make the most revenue for our company, be the most successful and have the highest demand,” Valentine said.
The simulation is split into 10 rounds, and each round represents one year.
“It’s a continuous game, so you have to keep maintaining your strategy and improving each year,” Valentine said. “And of course, since we’re playing against other teams, their strategy is continuously changing so we have to watch that.”
The class is useful because it combines skills that have been learned in other Cal Poly business classes, Valentine said.
“It’s really incorporating each one of our different classes that we’ve taken in business,” she said. “It shows how finance correlates with accounting, marketing and strategic management and puts everything together. It puts it all into perspective.”
Not only does the class incorporate skills learned in other classes, but it also helps prepare students to enter the business world after college.
“(The class) gives each of us new skills like learning how to forecast and predict our demand,” Valentine said. “All those things are going to be necessary when we go out into the business world and get jobs.”
Amber Diller contributed to this article.