World Champions from DB Schenker Poland

(Please note: this piece will be published in the interior international DB Schenker Newsletter)

Success of a five-strong team from DB Schenker in Poland: our colleagues have won the Global Open Tournament 2008 and will shortly leave for Cannes to attend a gala presentation of awards.



MEMBERS of the victorious team
The team’s leader: Dariusz Subda - Financial Controlling Manager, Schenker Sp. z o.o.
Piotr Bąbel - Sales Manager in Kielce Branch, Schenker Sp. z o.o.
Mariusz Kozłowski - Development Project Manager, Schenker Sp. z o.o.
Rafał Tarasewicz - Project Manager, Schenker Sp. z o.o.
Arkadiusz Wojtas - Key Account & Tender Manager, Schenker Sp. z o.o.

The team’s name: LOGICART.

(on photo above, from left to right: Rafał Tarasewicz, Arkadiusz Wojtas, Dariusz Subda, Mariusz Kozłowski and Piotr Bąbel)

Global Open Tournament
Global Open Tournament is an international strategic game in which teams representing numerous companies compete for supremacy in the virtual economy. The Tournament is organised by Business Game Factory, the world leader of the internet business games market. This year, the Tournament had its successive, 10th edition. Each edition of the Tournament attracts several hundred teams from companies active in various sectors of the economy and teams representing academic centres.

The game, which is a simulation of market operations, allows the participating teams to test the adopted strategies without getting exposed to a real risk. Additionally, the game offers the players a chance to learn and understand the business language, and to become acquainted with useful business indicators and factors decisive for the growth and profitability of enterprises.

”Every team, which comprises from three to five persons, assumes the role of a management board which is expected to run an international firm in a way that not only permits that firm to earn profits, but also to ensure it an advantage over rival companies. Essential, therefore, is the correctness of the taken decisions and the choice of a suitable strategy. The participating teams have to conduct thorough analyses based on facts, to properly analyse micro- and macroeconomic factors and to draw correct conclusions which make it possible to take strategic decisions concerning investments in the next twelve months and in the consecutive years of the firm’s virtual operation,” said Arkadiusz Wojtas, Key Account & Tender Manager at Schenker Sp. z o.o. and one of the members of the LOGICART team.

Also important are determination and the ability to answer many questions relating to various spheres of the firm’s operation. ”In Global Open Tournament organised by Business Game Factory we had to take a look at the firm as a whole and to consider many aspects of its management. We had to decide how much money we would like to invest and for what purposes, how many products we would like to sell and where we should get them – from our own factories or from other manufacturers? We had to define the capacity to be achieved by our factories and to decide how many and what workers would be needed, how much money ought to be invested in their training and how much in the promotion of the firm’s trademark and products, and in marketing in order to ensure the highest profit achievable with the proposed level of prices. We also had to make predictions concerning the activities of rival companies,” noted Mariusz Kozłowski, Development Project Manager at Schenker Sp. z o.o.

The road to victory
Some 400 teams from various parts of the world participated in the game. The initial situation of all teams, which were divided into groups, was identical: they were given the task of managing similar firms active in the same sectors of the economy. At this stage of the game our colleagues from Schenker Sp. z o.o. competed in the sector of telecommunications and had to manage a company manufacturing and selling telecommunications equipment, infrastructure and services. The teams from each group competed in four rounds. Every round represented a year of a firm’s activity. The winners from each group – 38 teams in all, met in the semi-final round. Next, the best six teams, including the Polish team from Schenker Sp. z o.o., qualified to the final round of the tournament. The team representing DB Schenker competed in the final round against teams which represented the following firms: SKF Austria, Ericsson from Sweden, Accenture from Spain, Nordea from Latvia and Nokia from Hungary.

The verdict proved favourable for the Polish team representing DB Schenker. It proved to be the best and won the 10th edition of the Global Open Tournament programme!
”The final round was not easy for the players due chiefly to the time limit. The competing teams had to swiftly analyse the market situation and to take decisions relating to many aspects of the firms’ operation, including the price, manufacturing, employment, investment and financial policy. In the final round we were given an hour and a half to analyse the market situation and to take some 100 decisions concerning all spheres of the firm’s operation. Victory in this global tournament depended on the correctness of the formulated decisions,” said Rafał Tarasewicz, Project Manager at Schenker Sp. z o.o.

Recipe for success
According to Dariusz Subda, Financial Controlling Manager at Schenker Sp. z o.o. and leader of the LOGICART team, several factors have contributed to its success:

”The fact that the team’s members represented different areas of business activity and could jointly draw on a wide range of experience and knowledge relating to various aspects of that activity – from financial matters, through sales and logistics to project management, was certainly an advantage. Apart from that we did our best to draw conclusions from any mistakes made in every round of the tournament and to continually make improvements in all these spheres that were crucial for the success of our virtual firm. We adopted a flexible approach and chose to swiftly react to the changing market situation, which proved fruitful.”

Rafał Tarasewicz, too, stressed the importance of the fact that the team’s members represented different areas of business activity “because this diversity and the abundance of concepts made it possible to form a group able to compete for the title of the tournament’s Winner!”

All members of the victorious team also stressed the importance of meticulous preparations for every round of the game. However, in their opinion the key to success was properly motivated team-work. “We proved able to act in concert. For although our opinions on many matters differed, we managed to draw conclusions from our earlier decisions and steps taken by rivals, and to give up individual ambitions and preferences. Thanks to this we have scored a success. It is evident that this was a correct strategy,” Mariusz Kozłowski noted.

“Our aim was to win. In order to win we had to play as a team. I think that our success can be described as the resultant of different (often divergent) opinions concerning the adoption of various decisions, for instance, financial ones,” added Piotr Bąbel, Sales Manager in Kielce Branch at Schenker Sp. z o.o.

(on photo above, from left to right: Arkadiusz Wojtas, Piotr Bąbel, Dariusz Subda, Rafał Tarasewicz and Mariusz Kozłowski)

Benefits of participation in the Tournament
In the opinion of the Tournament’s winners the most important benefit of participation in the programme is the opportunity to enlarge one’s business knowledge, to look in a comprehensive way at an enterprise and processes, to grasp the relation between decisions pertaining to various aspects of a firm’s operation and its performance. Apart from that, participation in the game leads to the exchange of knowledge and experience between the players and increases the analytical and strategic abilities of individual team members and the team as a whole. Experience gained through the game will be used during the implementation of other projects in our firm.

The members of the LOGICART team also stress that the game was not only an opportunity to learn, but also an amusement and a challenge. It was an amusement because it provided an occasion for interesting discussions and closer contacts between persons forming the team. And it was a challenge because of strong competition and demanding tasks.

We wish the winners further successes and new interesting challenges and unforgettable moments in Cannes! And above all we congratulate them on their victory!

Anna Majewska
Schenker Sp. z o.o.

NOKIA TEAM: What Is Needed for Success in the BGF Business Tournament - the Story of Team Turing&Co

Success Factors for BGF Business Tournament:

- Motivation - Constant motivation is a must-have and the main key to success. In this case, while crunching numbers week after week it helped greatly to remember that we are on the road to Cannes.

- Crossfunctionality - The game demonstrates well the importance of not to sub-optimize but to think holistically, whereas the human nature tends to lure one to overemphasize the importance of his/her own functional area. Hence, a crossfunctional - or crossfunctionally minded - team is an asset.

- Time & Energy - For sure the game required significant amount of both, but at the same time it was even surprisingly enlightening, rewarding and fun. Especially understanding the starting position and the game overall in the beginning was crucial. The last rounds were already rather routine for us.

- Strategy, Analytics & Intuition - Managing a large multinational company is challenging and we kept wondering "What would Olli-Pekka (Nokia CEO) do". Having a clear direction (strategy), understanding the situation (hard core analytics) and coping with uncertainty (intuition) proved to be a winning recipe.

- Physical Fitness - Like in any professional sport, we believe that also in this game excellent physical fitness takes you far. Hence we combined finetuning our analytical skills with running and gym. We plan to continue our training program and to be very fit for the semi-finals and finals - and for the beach in Cannes!

Johanna Lampinen (Development Manager, DSN Design at NOKIA),

Maija Kaukonen (Manager, Lifecycle Management - Analysis at NOKIA),

& Pekka Kokko (Manager, Marketing Investment Management at NOKIA)

Warm Christmas Season Greetings and All The Best for a Wonderful New Year!

We at Business Game Factory are very glad to have shared another successful year with You. Everyone contributed a great deal to make this Tournament Year even more exciting. Once again, congratulations to the Finalists, who have done a tremendous job in their performance, excelling in their business acumen.

We have a thrilling surprise coming up next year, so watch this space!

As our Neighbour from The Arctic Circle - Santa - would say - Ho Ho Ho! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Hyvää Joulua!

And a prosperous New Year 2009. Let's make it a superb one!

See you soon!

Taavi Thiel, CEO at Business Game Factory Ltd.
Together with the BGF Team

AstraZeneca Japan – We made it through !!

This was the third opportunity for AstraZeneca Japan to participate in this Business Game and we became the first team to advance to semifinals!

What made the difference? Our strengths were –
· Variety of members from Finance, Marketing and Human Resources
· Weekly meetings for reviews and decisions throughout the competition.
· Guys who could enjoy the game!

Our team was from different divisions. Yoshihiko Terada is a Finance guy who works as a financial analyst, Hitoshi Ishigaki is a Marketeer who is in charge of Portfolio Strategic Planning in Oncology, Shinichiro Mori is also a Marketeer who is in charge of one of mega brands in Primary Care and Fumiyasu Sakogawa is an HR guy who coordinates trainings in our Manufacturing division. We have extremely different backgrounds and that diversity worked very well in allowing us to make decisions by influencing each other.

Also, we held weekly meetings, 3 hour meeting before submission and 1 hour meetings for result review. Feedback from the review meeting was well utilized for the next round submission. Every day we learn!

Finally, we have really enjoyed the game, as it was exciting and fun although it was tough. Business Game participation had been prioritised rather than anything else. This had to be the biggest reason why we could enjoy and concentrate through the game for two months! (sorry, bosses!)

We really enjoyed it and are looking forward to competing in the semifinals again in September 2009.

Our motto is – "On va gagner le Grand Prix! La fête à Cannes!!"

Sandvik SSD/SIT to the Semi-finals of BGF Business Tournament

The first international team in the BGF Business Tournament competition has been born and so far mother Fortuna has been on their side.

This team, GFG, consists of Sandvik employees (SSD/SIT) from both Germany and Sweden. Frank Siebenmorgen is from Germany, Maria Wesslegård and Per Hälsingdal are from Sweden.

The first round of the Tournament which started in September 2008 is already over. Four business years have passed by and Maria, Frank and Per have made it to the semi-final next Autumn!

Something that might seem to be a difficulty is that they live and work in two different countries. They do not see each other in person so often. Instead of physical meetings, they communicate through telephone meetings and video conferences.
- It works very well to communicate by using this technology, Frank says.

Understanding strategy, economics and the drivers for a company are some of the challenges the teams have in the competition. According to the team, other challenges include taking the right deci­sions and trying to predict how the other teams will act in the different rounds. That is not easy, but they learn more and more as time passes by.

- We have learned how important it is to have a plan and to stick to it. Another thing that is essential is to listen to the Market Analysts, Per says.

They all have different roles in the competition, Per modestly says that his role is to make the other ones happy.

- Frank is the financial expert and he makes all the necessary analyses. Maria is the one questioning things and thinking in new directions.
- We all work perfectly well together, de­spite the geographic obstacle. And we all enjoy good discussions and we have a lot of fun as a team; and that is the most important thing, Maria says convincingly.

Per Hälsingdal
Current role: Global Transition Manager, SIT
Team role: We all share the roles, but I am the President.
Contribution to the team: To make everyone happy, to be active in discus­sions, book meetings, send in our result to the tournament arranger and ask silly questions. In other words, to do what is expected of a President!

Frank Siebenmorgen
Current role: Manager SSD & SIT Germany
Team role: We deal with the questions and decisions as a team, but I believe I am the Financial Manager.
Contribution to the team: To be an active part of discussions, do the techni­cal calculation of prices and sales volume estimates.

Maria Wesslegård
Current role: Special Service MES Manager, SSD
Team role: No specific role, a team player.
Contribution to the team: To take an active part of discussions, read all the material concerning the competition and come up with ideas for strategies and operations.

Abertis Championship winners!

The Lynx Team is a truly multinational team of 5 members. Our lynx spans from Bolivia (Eduardo) to France (Françoise) and Spain (Xavi, Jordi and Adria). We like the challenges and we managed to make lively and positive meetings/conference calls where all members added value from their unique angle.

Eduardo has a friendly way to say business is business and stick to the common sense. Spanish Xavi is always looking at the risks and tries to keep the four legs of the lynx on the ground. On the other hand, Jordi likes to think out of the box and stretch us towards bigger objectives, and Françoise always making us think again about the whole picture and the balanced scorecard! Finally, Adria likes Excel spreadsheets and likes to coordinate the meetings while crunching numbers. This melting pot has been capable of having a clear sight for victory! That is the Lynx.

Team Lynx proceeds to the BGF World Semi-final in September 2009!

From left to right: Jordi Bosom, Françoise Riou, Adria Canals, Eduardo Canelas and Xavi Serra.

Working instructions: How to go to Cannes-from SKF TEAM

Pat Benatar was singing "Love is a Battlefield" - which is of course true, by the way - but now we can sing "Business is a Battlefield" with no doubt. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't have made this World Final more thrilling. We can only describe what was going on here in Austria - but let us assume the very same scenarios were happening at the very same time in some specific places in Poland, Spain, Hungary, Latvia and Sweden.

After you successfully managed to beat a number of other teams out of the game in qualification round and semi-finals, you will be one out of six finalists - leftover from 300 teams which entered the BGF Global Tournament. In the world final, do as follows:

Tuesday afternoon...
Schedule a nice little meeting in the afternoon, starting at 3pm. Well, at 19:30 you will have to order some Pizza to keep the systems running. The meeting will be a heavy duty test for your coffee machine. At around 22:00 you will be already more clear about what to do. Finally you send in your decisions for the first round...

Wednesday afternoon...
Same as above. This is the time to realize - there is some serious competition. Refine your strategy and put up an action plan. The Pizza service will come in again at 19:00...

Thursday morning...
Starting at 07:00 you will need some fresh ideas to improve your business and somehow beat those ...aarrghh... competitors. Good sales and production alone won't win the game, pay enough dividends, motivate your employees.
From round to round you will come closer to the edges of your seats. The coffee machine will at this time be in continuous operation. Lunch is of course only sandwiches while you fight your battle...

Thursday afternoon...
Before you send in your decisions for the last round, you will already know that the final scores won't be far from each other - everything is still possible. Then at around 16:11 you will stare at your screen with eyes wide open - the relief... you will have to look at the results more than once to realize - your team has made it. Finishing in third place (optionally: first, second), you will be going to Cannes.

Friday morning...
Exchange nice mails with the other teams, have a look again at the pictures from previous award ceremonies, check if your dinner jacket still suits you, gear up your cigar depot and wait for BGF to book your flights...

Congratulations to the winners Schenker and second Accenture - be sure we will have a drink together in Cannes...
...and greetings to all from the third, team of SKF (Austria) - Erwin Übleis, Simon Blasl, Jörg Schlager and Klaus Zeppezauer

SEB's team Plastixxx in the BGF Semi Final: going the first step!

SEBs team Plastixxx contains of five enthusiastic members from Norway, who daily work in the credit card business.

- Although telecommunication is a rather different business from ours, I believe we have been able to use some of our experience and business understanding in the BGF-game, says Brian Malm, teamleader of Plastixxx. We found the game very realistic and exciting, and we had a lot of fun during the four decision making rounds.

- I believe we won our division mainly because we did a thorough job setting up the game strategy, and following it throughout the whole game.

- We had a lot of exiting discussions in the decision making, but it really took both time and effort to complete the decision sheets during each of the four rounds. But it paid of, and we are now headed for the semifinal in September 2009.

- Plastixx is a team with great ambitions, and we have strong faith in the forthcoming semifinal in September 2009. We are really looking forward to the next rounds of competition, and we expect nothing less than advancing to the final next year!

Picture: The Plastixxx team is (from the left) Øyvind Christie, Brian Malm, Hilde Fredheim Høgberg, Ole Kristian Duaas and Eivind Løvig.

Tomm-Fredrik Olsen, Head of Marketing, SEB Kort

.

BGF WORLD FINAL 2008!

This year's BGF World Final took place on 27 November 2008. It was a very tight race and everyone's mission was to make it to the very top. There were so many emotions, a lot of excitement, anxiety, and of course analysis and focus... From over 400 teams during the year and about 60 teams competing in the semi-finals, only 6 made it to the very top. This was quite an achievement!

We at Business Game Factory are very proud to announce the official ranking of the 2008 BGF Business Tournament World Final:

1. Schenker - Team LOGICART (POLAND)

2. Accenture - Team DTN (SPAIN)

3. SKF - Team SKFonic (AUSTRIA)

4. Nordea Bank-Latvia branch - Team NORDTEL (LATVIA)

5. Ericsson-Business Unit Networks - Team KEY (SWEDEN)

6. Nokia - CREATEAM (HUNGARY)


The Top 3 Teams will be flown in for the Exclusive Awards Ceremony in Cannes on the French Riviera in the Spring. There, they will be get a chance to celebrate their success together and receive their big and well-deserved trophies!

Congratulations to all Teams! You made this an experience to remember!!

Taavi Thiel
CEO of Business Game Factory

Ericsson Sweden in BGF Final: the backstage story

On the photo (from left to right): Monica Jansson (Project Office Manager), Stefan Engström (Strategic Product Manager), Östen Johansson (Senior Project Manager), Mikael Wahlén (Career Model Project Manager) and Team Leader: Anette Jansson (Project Office Manager).

Ericsson is always committed to do good in business. This beautiful competition is no difference! The Team Key has found this competition very challenging and rewarding. We are very committed to go to Cannes, not being satisfied with 2nd or 3rd place. The first two rounds were very tough with fierce competition but we prevailed. We have overcome temporary setbacks, and with a lot of analysis work we managed to find a strategy that proved to be successful. We are in the finals; having beaten over 310 other teams. That is really a confidence booster.

The team consists of people from the Ericsson R&D and Product Management organisations. The team spirit is excellent with a lot of laughs and creative discussions. The basic round was extremely tough with our final colleagues SKFonic as one competitor. We meet again in the Final!!!! We are very happy to play against such noble and respected companies as Nokia, Schenker, Nordea, SKF and Accenture. We will certainly do our best to earn the top position. The game as such is very rewarding in terms of knowledge and team management, thus we have learned a lot. It was very exciting in the semi final round to wait for each round result, the nails got short and the heartbeat was picking up as the clock was ticking. This type of game is not only good for personal development but also a perfect break in the daily work routines. Well done Business Game Factory!

A final remark to our Final competitors:
The force might be with you and the wind might be blowing from behind. But, Ericsson with Team Key will fight to the bitter end with the goal to win the prestigious trophy and the total universal glory of being on top in BGF 2008.

May the best team win!

Best Regards
Team Key

Anette Jansson, Manager Project Office RBS Node, Business Unit Networks, Ericsson Sweden

Nokia Hungary in BGF Final: Looks like we made it :-)

"... the smell of the leather always excited my imagination
And I picture myself in this different situation
I'm a company director … lalalalaaaa"

We felt somewhat similar to what Sting sings in this brilliant song. Sitting behind closed doors, calculating, coffee after coffee, increasing pressure and feeling really important. For 24 hours during the semi-final we forgot about our everyday problems and most important decisions in our life seemed to be investing in the logistic and human resource processes of our Asian Magnetic Resonance Imaging business, or allocating money to R&D and so having a long-term effect on our lives. :-)

Besides finding the numbers for each cell in Excel, we continuously kept guessing who the other teams in the "BGF Universe" are, and what kind of thoughts they might have. Overall, this was really great fun. The 30 minutes between two rounds [waiting for results] seemed to be endless as we got closer to the last round. After receiving the reports simultaneously every member of our team jumped from His/Her seat and rushed to the "Createam Headquarters" with the new report in the hand, already having some comments about our expectations vs. actuals. Overall, the hardest part was anticipating what the reactions of other teams are going to be for the situations we were put in, and so basing our decisions on something without hard evidence. However, we seem to have had the right crystal ball, as we came first in the semi final. :-)

We are looking forward to the Final and really recommend to everyone who has a chance to go and find out what BGF Tournament is about!

May the force be with us in November!

- Createam

Greig Williams, Managing Director, Nokia South East Europe

Accenture Spain in the BGF Final: DTN's mission is TO WIN!

Some months ago… In 2008, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court called BGF for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Accenture Madrid office. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as consultants of fortune (winning game after game). If you have a (business) problem, no one else can help (increasing your profits), and you can find them, maybe you can hire... The DTN-Team.

Their leader is Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (Starring David Radío Gallego and co-starring Antonio Rodriguez-Vilariño Poza who is the specialist for the dangerous scenes), whose plans tend to be unorthodox but effective. Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Diego Ramirez Adrados) is a smooth-talking con-man who serves as the team's appropriator of vehicles and other useful items. The team's pilot is Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, (Sergio García Castilla), who has been declared insane and resides in a mental institution. Finally, there is the team's strong man and mechanic, Sgt. Bosco B.A. ("Bad Attitude") Baracus (Francisco Fernandez Parra).

Apart from the brave men mentioned above the team was led by two guest stars: Artemio Luna and Alfonso Peña who will be coming with our friends in the craziest adventures to achieve one target in their next mission… WIN THE BUSINESS GAME!!!

Maria José Sobrinos, Human Resources Director, Accenture Spain

BGF and Northeastern University success story in “Business Education"

Capstone Simulation At Northeastern

The Northeastern University College of Business Administration in Boston, Massachusetts, has chosen a new Web-based simulation for its undergraduate capstone course. Designed by Business Game Factory, a Web-based business tournament design company in Helsinki, Finland, the simulation is run in the last three weeks of the semester-long course "Strategy in Action". More than 200 seniors take part in the simulation. Students are divided into five-person teams, each managing a global mobile cell phone manufacturing company and network service. Their goal is to win the game by conceiving and implementing the best working strategies, winning market share, and maximizing long-term shareholder value. The simulation is held in four rounds, each equaling one year of business operation. For each round, teams submit dozens of online spreadsheets that outline their financial and operational decisions regarding product line, manufacturing options, pricing and marketing strategies, competitor analysis and benchmarking, and investment in new services such as music or games. Those "year-end" results are analyzed and returned to them within 36 hours. The experience demonstrates the cross-functional links inherent in business enterprises, says Bert Spector, professor of international business and strategy. "The emphasis is not on the technology," he adds. "The emphasis is on the process of information sharing and decision making that occurred within the groups."

BizEd September/October 2008 (pp. 67-68)

The LOGICART team (representing DB Schenker in Poland) qualified to the BGF World Final !!!

The LOGICART team consists of 5 people: Piotrek Bąbel (Sales Branch Manager), Mariusz Kozłowski (Project Development Manager), Darek Subda (Controlling Manager / Team leader), Rafał Tarasewicz (Project Manager) and Arek Wojtas (Key Account Manager).

The day of BGF Semi finals was really exciting. After the first round we were on the fifth position and we knew that it would be extremely difficult to win this game. Obviously we like such challenges! Then, it was only better: second place after 2 round and finally we were the first after next rounds. I think time pressure really helped us and forced us to focus only on the most important factors impacting our results, but it wasn’t easy as our competitors also did play really well.

After all, we are definitely satisfied and look forward to the Final.

Agnieszka Józwik, HR, Schenker Poland

SKF Austria goes BGF World Finals 2008!

Coming from Steyr, a small town in the middle of Austria, SKF rolling bearings as well as SKF Business Game Factory players conquer the world.The motivated finalists are team leader Erwin Uebleis (controlling), Simon Blasl (business development), Joerg Schlager (supply chain) and Klaus Zeppezauer (human resources) - in the picture from left to right. Veronika Pfeffer, participating in the first round, stepped out due to her pregnancy. Veronika, in this way we wish you all the best for your personal challenges ahead!

Over the last five years, SKF - a Swedish company and world leader in rolling bearings and relevant products - has sent over 30 teams from 17 nations to participate in the BGF World Tournament. "Out of those, three teams have made it to the semi-finals, and we are the first team to enter the World Finals", says team leader Erwin Uebleis without hiding his pride.

Being among the top six of over 320 playing teams of this year´s Global Tournament is certainly something special. "The first three will make it to the BGF awards ceremony in Cannes. However, we won´t play for the third place - we will go for victory", says business developer Simon Blasl, knowing his optimism was always reasonable so far.

Not everyone was so happy from the very beginning - besides BGF, there was a lot of "real" work to be done. However, what SKF does - we do properly, and with the success in the first round, the fire got started. "Now we see the Business Game Factory as an excellent way of learning in a challenging, competitive environment and working as a team close to the reality of company management - including the time pressure" says Six Sigma Black Belt Joerg Schlager.

"The game became more and more realistic. In the semi-final, personnel was increasingly important, as it is in reality. In the final round, we will probably have to think about proper training of our virtual employees - for example by Business Game Factory", says Klaus Zeppezauer, representing the HR part.

The Team of SKF Austria looks forward to the upcoming challenge of the World Finals - take the chance now or never, following the SKF vision "To equip the world with SKF knowledge".

Elisabeth Krennhuber, Personnel and Organizational Development, SKF Österreich AG

BGF World Semi-Finals!

In September 2008, the Semi-Finals of BGF Global Open Tournament were held. Representing 17 countries, 38 best teams from the entire tournament year were competing against each other. The time for decision-making was short, adding more spice to the tournament excitement.

We are proud to announce that 6 of the semi-finalist teams qualified and are on their way to the BGF World Final. It will take place this November. The best three teams will be invited to our prestigious BGF Awards Ceremony, held in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Please welcome the following teams to the BGF World Final:

• Nordea Bank Finland - Latvia branch: Team NORDTEL
• Schenker - Poland: Team LOGICART
• SKF - Austria: Team SKFonic
• Accenture - Spain: Team DTN
• Ericsson Business Unit Networks - Sweden: Team KEY
• Nokia – Hungary: Team CREATEAM

Congratulations to all the teams who were participating in the BGF Business Game Tournament!

And all the best to the Finalists! May the best team win!!

Taavi Thiel
CEO, Business Game Factory

SNPower Invest win the BGF Global Energy Tournament

Teams from the Energy sector competed against one another in one of the most challenging Global Business Energy Tournaments to date!

SNPower won the Tournament with Vattenfall taking second place and Norsk Hydro in third. Jan-Erik Felle of SNPower's team “yPhone” said, “SN Power Invest participated with a team bringing in representatives from different functional areas to mirror the way we would work with many of our daily corporate tasks. The competition gave individual team members a good insight into how a company functions as a whole, and proved to be a good way to develop the key business skills of market analysis, strategy formulation, pricing, production planning and financial analysis. The competition proved to be a very good way to mimic the market dynamics, where tough competitive strategies have a direct effect on the market and ultimately on the fate of a company and its profitability. The Business Game proved to be a good learning experience as well as a tool for letting colleagues from various areas of our company get to know and learn from each other in an informal and fun way. A very good experience on the whole”

SNPower are now entered into the BGF semi-finals, where they will compete against other international division winners, upon success, they will be off to the BGF Finals from which the top three teams will be invited to Cannes, French Riviera for the BGF Award Ceremony.

Members of the yPhone Team are Hilde Gillebo, Kathinka Rudlang, Inge Løvåsen, Markus Wilkens and Jan-Erik Felle.

BGF would like to congratulate SNPower on their achievements and we wish them well in the semi-finals, well done!

For further information regarding the Global Energy Business Tournament or team registration:
Contact - James Baker-Duly
james.bakerduly(#)bgfactory.com, +46 735 10 9397

Vattenfall Poland was ambitious from the very start!

SPoT Team representing Vattenfall Distribution Poland will compete in September's BGF World Semi-Finals. On the photo: Przemek Karaś, Olek Knesz, Karolina Mucha-Kuś (team leader), Asia Burcon, Andrzej Szyp and Przemek Waszczyk.

The game gave us an opportunity to feel like Top-Managers for a while! During the Tournament, we got an overall picture of making business, and it also showed us clearly how different parts of the company interact.

We learnt to develop trust in each others’ opinions, listen and communicate in an effective way.

What made the game the most exciting was the competition aspect. It was an extra source of motivation and it influenced our performance in a dynamic environment.

All in all, we experienced the BGF training as both exciting and rewarding. We also had a lot of fun!

Katarzyna Markowicz, HR, Vattenfall Distribution & Sales, Poland

John Holland ready to take on the world!

Our team from John Holland (Australia's leading contracting, engineering and services provider) came from a diverse set of backgrounds. This diversity in skills and management style added to colourful, but fruitful, discussions on our BGF strategies. We found the development of our sales and marketing strategies behind a consumer product challenging at first due to our contracting backgrounds, but it didn't take us long to develop our style.

With the true spirit of the ANZACs, after trailing for the first two rounds, we didn't give up, but decided to stand behind our strategy and our consistency finally paid dividends in rounds 3 and 4.

John Holland, although predominantly operating only in Australia, is now ready to take on the world in the BGF Semi-Finals!

John Holland team: Greg Taylor, Jeff Price, Glenn Palin, Paul Gallo and Robert Rabie.

In Sandvik Systems Development we know how to run a business!

We're doing IT! Team Sandvik SSD/SIT is a recently established Company with focus on growth and profitability within the business. Strange, isn't it?

Sandvik SSD/SIT is a fusion of skilled workers and managers from different companies and that is one of our key factors, says Jerker Lantz, the president of Sandvik SSD/SIT. Another one is our aggressiveness, stamina and agility. Quick decisions and risk management is our guiding star, he continues. Jerker is the Chairman of the Board and beside him he is accompanied by Anders Öhlund and Daniel Eriksson.

“Sandvik SSD/SIT” was the name we gave to our company in the BGF Business Tournament, where we were faced with a challenge of running a global company with thousands of employees.

In reality, we all work for Sandvik; Jerker is working as a release manager and project leader for Sandvik Systems Development. Sandvik Systems Development is one of two data companies within Sandvik AB with main focus on developing data services for the Sandvik business. Daniel Eriksson is working as license manager for Sandvik Information Technology. His role is taking care of all different kind of licenses and to coordinate all activities around licensing within Sandvik. Sandvik Information Technology has the responsibility for all data production within Sandvik. Anders Öhlund is responsible for data integration within Sandvik. He is also working for Sandvik Information Technology, where he runs a team with responsibility for all integration services within Sandvik AB.

IT is Business and Business is IT. Sandvik SSD/SIT are running IT and therefore, of course, we can run the business...