AU's "Cool Cats" sit atop the GLO-BUS ladder

ASHLAND, Ohio -- Three Ashland University business capstone students -- Brett Robinson, Brandon Davidson, and Joe Renner -- scored in the top 1% in a field of approximately 3,500 teams from 150 colleges and universities participating in the worldwide GLO-BUS simulation.

GLO-BUS is a completely online exercise where teams of students run companies that are in a neck-and-neck race for global market leadership in two product categories:  wearable video cameras and sophisticated camera-equipped copter drones. The companies compete in a global market arena, selling to buyers in four geographic regions — Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.  

“Glo-Bus is a lot of fun,” said Robinson, one of the members of the “Cool Cats” team. “We really enjoyed making decisions for the whole company. It encompassed our education at Ashland thus far, taking elements from many different majors and not just our own. Additionally, spending so many weeks on it allowed for us to develop our business model and watch it play out against the other companies.”

Seniors in the AU Dauch College of Business and Economics managed complex decisions about product design, marketing, compensation, facilities, social responsibility, and finance -- allocating cash to each in ways that would increase revenue and reduce costs.  These students ultimately surpassed simulated investor expectations for earnings per share, return on equity, stock price, credit rating and image rating.

The “Cool Cats” were one of 20 teams that presented their results in theme-based mock shareholder meetings, part of the Business Capstone: Strategic Planning and Policy class, taught by Rebecca Schmeller, assistant professor of management. "Our simulation runs for several mock fiscal years -- giving students valuable practice with data analysis and data-based decisions,” she said. “They experience first hand the balancing act of satisfying multiple stakeholders. Student& teams make choices about stock issuances/buy backs/dividend payouts, supplier audits, green manufacturing, charitable donations, product quality/marketing, employee wages/benefits/working conditions.

“It's always a thrill to see students realize that strategic planning and policy is really about making choices.”     

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. ###