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AMERICUS —  A team of three Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) senior business students received high accolades for their performance in the Business Strategy Game (BSG) over summer term when their “company”, Catalyst Kicks, tied for first in the entire world out of 1665 teams from 131 colleges and universities.

The athletic footwear company, Catalyst Kicks, was managed by online students Baylie Lane of Brunswick, Jessica Sparkes of Linwood, Michigan, and Wessley Sutton of Cordele.

The BSG is an integrated and comprehensive computer simulation which requires senior students in the capstone strategic management course to manage a worldwide manufacturing company a total of 12 “simulated” years of operation.

The course, led by Robert Bennett, Ph.D., professor of management in the College of Business and Computing, is the integrative business course which ties together all the areas/functions of business and requires students to position their firms competitively and achieve overall company success.

Bennett remarked that the team made very strong decisions for their company throughout the 12 years of competition. “This group made outstanding marketing and customer service decisions, but I was especially impressed with their manufacturing and financial direction.”

Catalyst Kicks also ranked very high on measures such as cost efficiency, stock price, return to investors (ROE), and product and company image. Bennett observed the group benefited from diverse knowledge and backgrounds, with Lane coming from a human resources background, Sparkes bringing in marketing knowledge, and Sutton coming in as an accounting major with good numbers skills.

Liz Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business and Computing noted, “I am proud of how well our students did in the simulation, but not surprised. GSW students and graduates compete favorably with anyone — and they continue to take the world by storm!”

Lane, a senior human resource management major, said that enrolling in GSW’s College of Business and Computing, has been the best decision she’s ever made in regard to her education. “Although taking classes exclusively online and living hours from campus can be challenging,” she said, “my instructors have consistently made themselves highly accessible and are very technologically skilled, making my learning and overall college experience seamless and, without a doubt, the best I could have ever imagined.”