MBA Team Gets Top Score Amid Increasing Competition in Global Business Simulation

The MBA accounting team that finished in the 99th percentile (from left to right: Pondpat Tohsanguanpun, Ram Neupane, Merveille Tiani)

 

The team worked together for three weeks and completed eight rounds of simulation.

 

Professor Andrew Bargerstock with the entire class who participated in the Capstone simulation
(photos by Ken West)

A team of MBA accounting students finished in the 99th percentile in an online integrated decision-making simulation that involved 1,271 master’s-degree-level teams worldwide. During the past seven years, MUM has consistently placed at least one team in the top 10 percent, while the number of competing teams has increased more than tenfold.

This year’s top-ranking team included Ram Neupane (Nepal), Merveille Tiani (Cameroon), and Pondpat Tohsanguanpun (Thailand). The students were participating in the competition while enrolled in Dr. Andrew Bargerstock’s MBA Capstone course.

“We had four teams competing during the three weeks ending Feb 5, and our class performed overall at a level higher than 81 percent of the participating graduate schools worldwide,” said Professor Bargerstock.

The online Capstone simulation challenges students to draw on their acquired knowledge to create and execute a strategy in a competitive and dynamic environment. Students have the opportunity to test their assumptions and learn from their mistakes so they are better prepared for their careers. They get the chance to apply what they have learned across all disciplines of business and experience what it’s like to run a business in a competitive marketplace.

“With each round of the simulation, we experienced layers of growth in 360-degree vision, which is so important for guiding a successful business,” said Ram Neupane.

“The Capstone simulation enabled me to revisit each section of a company and see how each decision that we made had an impact on the financial statements, the productivity, and our ability to meet customer demand,” said Merveille Tiani. “It is, therefore, an ideal tool to experience Maharishi’s five qualities of executive mind, which are comprehension, creativity, initiative, vigilance, and foresight.”

Other U.S. universities in the top 10 percent included DePaul University, Indiana University, Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Massachusetts, University of Northern Iowa, and Western Michigan University.