[ALBSA-Info] Albanian students compete as Business Managers

[Agron Alibali]

                                Business Wire

               February 23, 2000, Wednesday 12:06 PM 



Students From 56 Countries to Compete as Business
Managers

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Feb. 23, 2000

 
 

    A record 874 teams of high school and college
students from six continents
and 56 nations across all 24 time zones are squaring
off to see who are the
world's best business managers.

   It's all part of the Hewlett-Packard Global
Business Challenge (HPGBC), a
Junior Achievement International web-based contest in
which students compete
against each other in running a computer-simulated
business. Students compete
for cash and travel prizes totaling over$40,000.

   How it Works

   Junior Achievement students from around the world
divide into teams and
become managers of computer-simulated businesses. The
students make decisions
about production, price, marketing, research and
development, and capital
expenses for the businesses. Decisions are then sent
via the web to a processing
center where they're tabulated. The teams whose
decisions produced the most
retained earnings advance to the next round.

   The competition continues from February to June
until eight teams remain. Two
delegates from those teams will go to Palo Alto,
Calif., to compete in a
championship round in August. The winner team
gets$3,000.

   Last year, teams from Argentina, Belarus, Brazil,
Japan, Lithuania and Mexico
competed in Brussels, Belgium, in the final round. The
team from Belarus won.

   This year, organizers created a new category for
contestants called CYBER
teams. Typically a team is formed of students from the
same school, but a CYBER 
team has four students, each from a different country.
The students communicate 
via a chat room to discuss and make their decisions.

   "CYBER teams add another dimension to a program
that's already rich with
international interaction," said Sam Taylor, chief
operating officer of JAI.
"Use of technology is helping expand learning
opportunities, bringing the world 
into the classroom."

   Lee Ting, vice president and managing director of
geographic operations for
the Hewlett-Packard Company, has been involved with
the contest for five years
and he believes it benefits the students in many ways.

   "The competition helps to open their eyes to all
the diversity that exists
around the world, making them better global citizens
in the future," said Ting. 
"Students also benefit by gaining a good understanding
of how companies function
in a real-world market economy and how to work as a
team in terms of
interpersonal relationships and decision making."

   "It's not just about economics, it's about
understanding international
cultures," said Charlotte Sonn, a senior from Auburn,
Ala.

   "This is not only a contest, it's a way of
communicating with students from
all over the world," said Maxim Derniatin, a student
in Russia. "The competition
makes learning very keen and exciting."

   "My students are thrilled about this simulation,"
said Chuck Autrey, a
teacher at the Career Development Center in Longmont,
Colo., USA, who has three 
teams of students competing. "The one real problem I
have is limiting the amount
of time they spend on it. The students would spend all
day in class every day if
I would let them."

   Autrey said he believes the practical nature of the
competition is key.

   "We can lecture until we're blue in the face and we
still wonder if the
student is understanding. This simulation gives them
the opportunity to see
first hand the direct relationship that decisions have
on the outcomes," said
Autrey. "Students are able to put into practice the
concepts they are learning
in the classroom and that's important."

   Countries from  Albania  to Zimbabwe are
participating. Here is a complete
list:
 Albania                      Germany              
Poland
Argentina                   Guatemala            
Romania
Armenia                     Honduras             
Russia
Azerbaijan                  Hungary              
Singapore
Belarus                     Indonesia            
Slovakia
Belgium                     Ireland              
Spain
Botswana                    Israel                Sri
Lanka
Brazil                      Italy                
Switzerland
Bulgaria                    Japan                
Taiwan
Canada                      Kazakhstan           
Thailand
Chile                       Kenya                
Trinidad and Tobago
China                       Latvia               
Turkey
Colombia                    Lithuania            
Ukraine
Costa Rica                  Macedonia            
United Kingdom
Czech Republic              Mexico               
United States
Estonia                     Moldova              
Uruguay
Fiji                        Mongolia             
Zimbabwe
France                      Norway
Georgia                     Paraguay
                            Peru

   You can view teams and more information at
www.jaintl.com/hpgbc. Click on
"Team Information" and search by country.

   Junior Achievement International (www.jaintl.com)
is responsible for
developing and serving JA programs in 106 countries
outside the United States
and reaches over 1.5 million primary, secondary and
university students each
year.  

   CONTACT: Junior Achievement International
Sam Taylor, 719/540-0200
sam at jaintl.com  

   URL: http://www.businesswire.com

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