SIMULATING SUCCESS
UM students lead mock multinational to the top in business strategy game

Courtesy of the Press-Register 2007 © . All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

By GEORGE R. ALTMAN
Press-Register Staff Reporter

For 11 years, Garrett Wolf has led an international shoe company to the top, putting in long hours to help the business succeed, trying to anticipate his competitors' moves and learning the advantages of keeping his employees happy.

But while other chief executive officers look forward to multimillion-dollar severance packages, the best Wolf can hope for as he leaves the company is an "A."

Wolf, 23, led a team of two other University of Mobile students - Jennifer Kyser and Meghan McCollum - managing a fictional shoe company in a computer business simulation for their Business Policy class this fall.

The Business Strategy Game simulates the challenges of running a major athletic footwear business, from managing warehouse operations to deciding where the shoes will be distributed to maintaining a respected brand image.

Teams of co-managers take over 10-year-old mock companies and manage them for 11 "years" in the game, all in 11 actual weeks.

The business run by Wolf, Kyser and McCollum, Shnikees Kicks, competed against 3,247 teams from 226 colleges and universities worldwide. Their company is in the top 100 worldwide and its stock has performed in the top 10.

But the first three years were a struggle.
"We didn't really know what we were doing, just trying to figure it out," McCollum said.
The company's sales and stock prices suffered, Wolf said.
"If you want to do well, it takes lot of time," Wolf said. He took the time, spending as many as 15 hours per week managing the company, and Shnikees slowly began to overtake its competition, Wolf said.

Part of the secret to the company's success was keeping its employees happy. While some shoe companies are notorious for manufacturing sneakers in sweatshops, Shnikees opted for good labor instead of cheap labor.

"It helped the company make money ... putting more money into the employees," Wolf said. "We made the top 100 because of it."

McCollum said the experience taught her the importance of treating employees well.
Kathy Dunning, who teaches Wolf, Kyser and McCollum in the business class, said most teams do not adopt such a strategy. But their unique approach helped demonstrate an important business lesson, she said.

"That is something that we talk about, in terms of a company's internal environment," Dunning said. "I think it's interesting how that has turned out to be extremely profitable."

Dunning said the game gives students the opportunity to make business decisions in a realistic corporate scenario.

"So much of academia, you're guided. You're instructed," she said. "They are making decisions on their own."
Kyser said the simulation helped her understand how different parts of a business are related to one another.
"You don't realize how one small decision affects the whole company," she said.