April 18, 2001

WKU Teams Win International Business Policy Competition

Bowling Green, Ky. - In an unprecedented sweep, two teams of Western Kentucky University students won first place in the 37th Annual International Collegiate Business Policy Competition in San Diego.

The undergraduate and graduate teams from the Gordon Ford College of Business won their respective divisions in the April 2-4 competition.

"WKU should be especially proud. Never has one school picked up both first-place prizes," said Linda Parry, associate professor of Management and Information Systems and adviser for the graduate team. "It illustrates the time and effort that students put into the project."

The International Collegiate Business Policy Competition pits students from 34 universities worldwide in a computer-simulated race for corporate dominance. Among the schools competing were San Diego State University, the University de Valle de Mexico, University of Windsor, Penn State University, California Polytechnical Institute, California State, Belarus University and Southern Illinois University.

In the competition, students make business decisions about their simulated company every week for a semester and submit them via e-mail. "The ICBPC tries to create an environment which replicates the situation in a real corporate boardroom," Dr. Parry said. "This year students faced rolling blackouts, earthquakes and massive inflation rates."

In San Diego, the teams had to make a series of decisions in a short time frame and presented their analysis to a board of directors composed of business people from companies like Cisco and Intel. Five members of each team made the trip to San Diego.

Members of the undergraduate team making the trip to San Diego were: Rebecca Cooper, a senior from Liberty, Mo.; Tobi Ferguson, a Bowling Green senior; Michael Lindskog, a senior from Stjarnhou, Sweden; Jason Oldham, a Princeton senior; Yulia Oleinik, a senior from Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Other undergraduate team members were: Robert Easterday, a senior from Brentwood, Tenn., Melissa Flowers, a Bowling Green senior; Toni Greulich, a senior from Tell City, Ind.; Bryant Phillips, an Edmonton senior; and Dana Smith, a junior from Lebanon, Tenn. The team adviser is Robert Wharton.

Members of the graduate team making the trip to San Diego were: James Crofford of Allensville; Mariana Hernandez of Queretaro, Mexico; Jeremy Kees of Bowling Green; Monica Patterson of Bowling Green; and Yoshie Togashi of Tokyo, Japan.

Other graduate team members were: Rox'Anne Gray of Bowling Green; Peter Kimaru of Nyandarua, Kenya; Tehanee Prashanti Ratwatte of Sri Lanka; and Timothy Young of Alvaton.

For more information, contact Linda Parry at (270) 745-5810. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.