ABS Students World Class

Anxiety levels amongst the students in BBUS37400 Strategic Responses in Business were at all time highs for the last class of the semester, because they were about to face a room full of shareholders keen to push them for answers about their companies.

In this unit, students are allocated to groups and are given responsibility for managing a company that competes against each other and other AI teams in a computer simulated environment. Each “year” (week) they consider all aspects of the business, including production, R & D, marketing, HRM, finance and more with around 160 decision points that they input that influence the company’s performance. Financial statements and industry reports are produced for the students to see the consequences of their decisions and to prepare for the next “year”.

At the conclusion of 8 “years” Avondale student teams can compare their results not just with each other, but with every other team across the world who has been doing the simulation at the same time, but within their own institution. This year at the conclusion of the simulation there were 91 teams across the world, and our two Avondale teams did very well. We are proud of them for both performing very well. One team in particular achieved in the top 12 for six of the seven performance measures and were ranked 4^th in the world for two of these. This is a very significant achievement, and we are very proud of our students.

This unit is the culmination of the Avondale Bachelor of Business degree that all final year students are required to do in order to graduate. The unit also encompasses a course in corporate governance, which includes each team conducting in the last class of the semester an annual general meeting (AGM) of their shareholders (comprised of Avondale University Staff and fellow BBus students invited to act as such) in which they report on their company performance. Team members act as directors of their respective companies and “face the music”. In this, they learn the importance of being able to conduct effective meetings, how to present and communicate effectively, and how to think on their feet in response to questioning from the shareholders.

Throughout the unit the students gain valuable practical experiences that give them practical business skills in readiness for launching into their careers. This unit, like so many other others, and indeed the entire teaching approach of the Avondale Business School team is to ensure our graduates are “job-ready”, equipped for the business journey ahead.