Dr. Atul Gupta, professor of management, has been inducted into The Business Strategy Game Hall of Fame as a "Master Professor" and senior Reese Thompson III of Lynchburg was named a Best-Strategy Invitational Grand Champion.
Dr. Gupta's designation was for outstanding achievement in teaching the concepts and tools of strategic analysis in a globally competitive market. Out of more than 3,600 registered BSG instructors, Dr. Gupta and 27 others have achieved Master Professor status by having one or more Grand Champion teams in the Best-Strategy Invitational competition for May of 2009.
Thompson was the manager of G Company (Green Earth Shoes) in Industry 15, competing against 12 teams in most industries. Dr. Gupta's Management 470 class uses the BSG simulation every fall semester. A total of 394 teams from around the world competed in the May 2009 BSI. There were only 34 Grand Champions.
The Business Strategy Game is an online exercise where class members are divided into teams and assigned the task of running an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competition against companies managed by other class members. Company operations parallel those of actual athletic footwear companies. Just as in the real-world, companies compete in a global market arena, selling branded and private-label athletic footwear in four geographic regions: Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
Company co-managers must make decisions relating to plant operations, distribution and warehouse operations, work force compensation, online sales at the company's web site, sales and marketing, and finance. The challenge is to craft and execute a competitive strategy that results in a respected brand image, keeps your company in contention for global market leadership, and produces good financial performance as measured by earnings per share, return on investment, stock price appreciation, and credit rating.