A student team from Greenville Technical College finished #35 out of 108 competitors in a global simulation exercise.

Rita Ford and Paula Conyers came together as teammates in MGT 240, Managing Decision-Making, the capstone course for the college’s associate degree in management. The class simulation is provided by GLO-BUS, a completely online exercise where teams of students run a digital camera company in head-to-head competition against companies run by other class members and by students at more than 300 colleges and universities around the world including California State Polytechnic, University of Maryland, University of Technology in Australia, Nebraska Wesleyan, and University of Texas El Paso. The students are rated according to brand image, earnings per share, return on investment, stock price appreciation, and credit rating. A week in the exercise is equivalent to a year in real life, and students make weekly decisions on all aspects of running a company including human resources, marketing, finances, production, and environmental concerns.

Ford and Conyers tied for first place overall in their industry during class competition. They were also tied with four other teams for first place among all GLO-BUS competitors. The other teams were from Northeastern State University and Kettering University.

As a result of their performance, Ford and Conyers were invited by GLO-BUS to participate in a higher level of competition. This two-week competition required three or more hours of teamwork per day in addition to individual assignments. Due to the workload, 75 teams that began the competition dropped out.

Out of 108 teams finishing at the invitational level, Ford and Conyers placed #35. Less than 5% of all players in GLO-BUS competition receive a certificate of “Distinguished Participant” as the Ford/Conyers team did.

Both team members are company owners. Ford and her husband operate Motivated Opportunity Makers, a company that purchases, renovates, and rents affordable housing. Conyers, a double major in management and marketing, established Healthy by Nature, a business which sells all natural probotics and core defense products for the immune system.