Wednesday, 4 July 2007

BGF In-House Tournament for Syngenta

Five teams of Syngenta coming from different countries (Brasil, Singapore and Swizterland) were participating successfully in the BGF In-house Business Tournament.

Andreas Steinle, member of the winning team in the business game said: "What an exciting time! For 4 weeks our daily work life has been additionally animated by a challenging and thrilling business game. Analysing the market, seeking opportunities and making your own decisions - in short: running our own business was worthwhile doing a few extra hours. The game illustrated in a very entertaining way, the complexity of a company and how difficult decision making can be. But there is not only the learning effect, which makes this game a special event. Competing against 4 other teams of the same company, the game became very quickly one of our main topics during coffee and lunch breaks and therefore also delivered a nice social component.

The final result of the first round tournament was very close. Luckily we managed to finish first, and, as we had to defend the leading position right from the beginning, it turned out to be quite a tough race. How we did that, we are not going to tell yet, of course. There is still a Semi-Final to play and we are very much looking forward having another go."


Team CellStar from Syngenta Switzerland: Simon Grundy, Kriszta Olah, Franziska Badertscher, Rodica Evtuhovici, Andreas Steinle.


For more information:


Petteri Salokangas

Business Game Factory Ltd

petteri.salokangas(#)bgfactory.com

Tuesday, 19 June 2007

KPMG Sweden will be participating in an In-House Business Training Tournament for September 2007

Four teams from KPMG Sweden will compete against each other in a Business Simulation over four days. The goal with this In-House Tournament will be for the participating individuals to improve on business acumen or “Get the Big Picture of Business” resulting in an improved understanding of their customers. Another base ingredient is that the participants will use this training as a team-building exercise whereby team members can exchange business ideas, thoughts and daily work procedures as a unit.

Let the Games Begin!

James Baker-Duly
james.bakerduly(#)bgfactory.com

Monday, 11 June 2007

BGF Business Tournament – The Semifinalists from the March Business Tournament

(On the picture, GRANIOU team from Spark Ibérica Spain (Vinci Energies), from left: Raúl Olid, Carlos Fresnillo, Marc Kienzler, Edgar Meseguer and Luis Enrique Truc)

Once again the competition was tough but rewarding! We have 8 new teams proceeding to the semifinals of the BGF Business Tournament:

- Atlas Copco Compressors, Canada, team 40PLUS
- Turku Energia Oy, Finland, team MAKERS
- Spark Iberica SA, Spain, team GRANIOU
- SKF Industrie S.p.a., Italy, team T9ITALY
- SCA Hygiene Products spol. s.r.o., Slovakia ,team FEMPRO
- Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab, Finland, team BOTNIA4
- SCA Hygiene Products, Czech Republic, team BIMBIS
- KONE Liften en Roltrappen BV, Netherlands, team SNEBB




On the picture 40PLUS from Atlas Copco (Canada): Front Row - Serge Labrecque (Area Customer Care Manager - Eastern Region), Leo Di Bello (Sales Manager - Eastern Region); Back Row - Al Moubayed (Custom Solutions Manager), Michael Pezzuto (Credit Manager), Michel Favreau ( Customer Service/ Supply Manager)




(On the picture Maria Pennanen, Sales Director and Marko Ruottinen, Technical customer service from Oy Metsä-Botnia AB)

There were four teams coming from the in-house tournaments: Atlas Copco, SCA Hygiene Priducts, Metsä-Botnia and KONE Liften en Roltrappen BV.



(On the picture Jyrki Merisalo, Business Development Vice President from Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab)

The BGF In House Tournament is arranged as a closed session for the client company, which takes client’s managers to an exciting ride in the global business world at the top. The internal competition and networking will lead to knowledge sharing among the teams and benchmarking from other great talents within the organization. In addition to this, the winners of the tournament will proceed to the BGF Semifinals, where the world leading companies are competing for entering the BGF Finals. As a reward, the three best teams in the world will be invited to the BGF Awards, a luxurious prize giving ceremony in Cannes, on the French Riviera




(On the picture SCA Hygiene from Slovakia)



Juraj Oravec from SCA Hygiene Slovakia said: "It was very positive experience for us to join this business game. Through it we learnt how important is to focus on each area which has impact to shareholder value of the company. It was also a good team building activity for us. Our vision was: "It is not needed to be perfect, but to be the best"

BGF Business Tournament is the biggest web based business tournament in the world. The tournament structure includes preliminary heats, semifinals and the BGF World Final. The three best teams of the year will be invited to the BGF Awards, organized in Cannes, on the French Riviera. BGF Business Tournament builds strategic excellence, management board dynamics, ability for financial analysis and fact based decision making and precise follow up.


The participants will be acting as the management board of a global company with the task of running the business successfully for 5 fiscal years. The winning criterion is total company shareholder value.




(On the picture, SNEBB team from Kone Netherlands: Back Row - Paul van der Kwartel, Rudi van Seters, Tijmen Leusink; Front Row - Ruud Feenstra and Bas Degeling)

Some testimonials from the Kone In-House Tournament:

“It was an exciting game with several advantages, like getting to know the other team members coming from different functions in the company. During the game you can see the influence from the aspects (e.g. marketing, process improvements) that contribute to the benefits of a company and you learn to manage them in a sensible way. The competition was strong; this forced us to play the game in the best possible way which made the game even more exciting!! We think it is a great game to learn from and above all enjoy it!” Ruud van Seters, Commercieel specialist, KONE bv Liften en Roltrappen

“My team found the whole experience both interesting and enjoyable. The competition aspect of the game adds an extra layer of focus to the learning experience. Background material and "rulebook" is valid and thorough.. It was a good opportunity to work closer together with colleagues that otherwise does not work together regularly. I speak for the whole team when stating that this was the most fun, comprehensive and, not least, instructive business game any of us has participated in.”
Erik Johnson, Installation Manager, KONE Scandinavia

“The development of team’s financial and decision making skills are made by building participant’s own understanding of material rather than the memorization of facts. This is very effective method to learn how different functions work together in the organization. It also demonstrates how the top management needs to balance between different expectations of the customers, employees and shareholders. Business game was an excellent team building exercise. It will help you to get to know everyone in your team and work out a decision making process to reach the objective more efficiently. Overall, I can truly recommend this game to build better teams.”,
Tuukka Komssi, Senior Specialist, KONE Corp.





(Team MAKERS from Turku Energia on the picture from left Markku Vesala, Anki Kiviniemi, Mika Karbin, Jani Rantanen and Jukka Hummelin)


(Team Bimbis from SCA Czech Republic, from left Petr Sztkowski, Jitka Strnadova, Jozef Bojkovsky, Helena Dvorakova, Marcel Fajtova and Igor Holzknecht)

Friday, 8 June 2007

BGF and Aditya Consulting announce strategic partnership

World's top online business simulation game organizer Business Game Factory Ltd, Finland, has made its new partnership with Aditya consulting in India. The partnership between BGF and Aditya consulting will be a milestone for both of the companies as the companies share the common values in Business developing.



India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the corporate culture follows a spirited trend towards the domestic and the international market. BGF's key product 'Business game' will play a major role to spur the indian market, thus is believed by the both companies.



Business Game Factory Ltd, which has leading international companies as its clients in 66 countries, is looking forward to work with Aditya consulting and discover the Indian market. BGF's Managing director Mr. Taavi Thiel hopes, the partnership between Aditya and BGF will bring the glory of the world leading business game tournament in the Indian market. Mr. Thiel added: 'We are happy to have a Aditya consulting on board as our partner in India.'



Mr. Mathew Antony, Managing director of Aditya consulting India, is also looking forward for a great cooperation with BGF in the coming years. He thinks Indian market is fascinating and ready to make the best of such a world class product as Business simulation game.


For more information:



Riz Haque

riz.haque(#)bgfactory.com

Business Game Factory Ltd.



Mathew Anthony

mathew(#)adityaconsulting.com

Adytia Consulting


Tuesday, 15 May 2007

BGF Business Tournament Awards - Cannes 2007



The luxurious BGF Awards were once again successfully arranged in Cannes, on the French Riviera, in March 2007. The top 3 teams in the world celebrated their victories together with the BGF Cannes crew. Teams from Nokia, Philips and Stora Enso were taken to exclusive dinners, to a private wine yard, a private residence on the hills of Cannes and cruises on the shore of Cannes and St. Tropez. The rumor has it that also the original Rat Pack paid them a visit and performed the old classic “come and fly with me” in tuxedos.


(On the picture the top 3 teams in the Global BGF Business Tournament in Cannes France: Nokia Finland, Philips Ibérica and Stora Enso Finland)



(On the picture the winning team from Nokia. From left to right Itsvan Kello, Stefan Widomski (board member of BGF), Anna Ryden, Pekka Säynätjoki, Jan Luukkonen (from BGF) and Stefan Nymander)



(On the picture the 2nd best team from Philips. From left to right José Ramón Córcoles, Ana Solano, Susana Sebrango, Juan Carlos Aguilera and Fernando Borau)


(On the picture the 3rd best team in the Global BGF Business Tournament from Stora Enso. On the picture from left to right Toni Tahvanainen, Sanna Sorsa, Krista Forsström, Anu Silvennoinen and Harri Taipale)

Monday, 16 April 2007

BGF Business Tournament - New semifinalists from the January tournament

(On the picture from left to right Markus Alitalo, Akira Kameda, Tomi Kuparinen, Akira Nakano and Takeshi Oyama from Nokia Japan)

- Atlas Copco Spain, Team OLÉ
- Skanska Foundation Projects Sweden, Team Grund AB
- Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Oy Finland, Team RockRock
- Fortum Power and Heat Oy Finland, Team Chaleur
- OJSC VimpelCom Russia, Team Advanced
- Nokia Corp Japan, Team 5samurai

BGF Business Tournament is the biggest web based business tournament in the world. The tournament structure includes preliminary heats, semifinals and the BGF World Final. The three best teams of the year will be invited to the BGF Awards, organized in Cannes, on the French Riviera.

BGF Business Tournament builds strategic excellence, management board dynamics, ability for financial analysis and fact based decision making and precise follow up.




(On the picture from left to right Carlos Moreno, Eva Hernández, Emilio Diez, Marina Romero and Roberto Pascual from Atlas Copco Spain)


The participants will be acting as the management board of a global company with the task of running the business successfully for 5 fiscal years. The winning criterion is total company shareholder value.

96% of all participants would like to play again and recommend participation to other colleagues




(On the picture from left to right Matti Savolainen, Oskari Lehto, Petteri Kuusela, Sakari Imeläinen and Fred Nykänen from Fortum Power and Heat Oy)




(On the picture from left to right Kimo Mikkonen, Petri Jokinen, Tuomas Salo, Juha-Erkki Nieminen from Pöyry.


Suvi Anttila, CEO and President of Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Ltd. said: "We found the BGF Business Tournament very enjoyable and useful. It is great for team building and improves internal networking while at the same time challenging strategic thinking and analytical skills. We feel that the game nicely combines a big picture approach with sufficient room to maneuver and implement oneʹs strategies and tactics. The program is also very well organized and due to the conceptʹs flexibility, teams with tight schedules can also find the time to participate."



On the picture Mats Tidlund and Anneth Aglo from Skanska Foundation Projects. Missing are Joakim Berg, Frida Lindmark and Christelle Södergren. Mats Tidlund said: "The participation in the BGF Business Game has been an encouraging and enjoyable experience for everyone in our team. On a fundamental level, it has increased our ability to see the overall picture of business and how different business functions and the interrelations of these influence the performance of a company in a dynamic environment. The most important benefits for us were the development of our analytical and strategic skills and the improvement of the group decision-making process by taking advantage of the different knowledge and experience in the group. The competition atmosphere gave an exciting touch to the game and we will gladly recommend the BGF Business Game to other business units in Skanska."

Sunday, 18 February 2007

Business Game Factory Ltd. and Ace Group announce strategic partnership

Business Game Factory Ltd. and ACE Group announce a strategic partnership to extend deeper into Bulgarian market. BGF is the number one choice when it comes to deciding on web based business tournaments mainly due to our expertise in carrying out global projects in different time zones, and very little impact to job constraints caused by a shortage of time.

Taavi Thiel, Managing Director of Business Game Factory Ltd. says: "We look forward to bring the world biggest and most exciting business tournament to the Bulgarian market. Our strategic partner locally is ACE based on a major client recommendation. Business tournaments and simulations are a growing trend in the management training business and more and more innovative companies from different countries are choosing BGF Tournaments as their training tool to stimulate growth in both revenue and profit.

"The main benefit from the BGF business simulation game is the learning that occurs during the training" says Borislav Ignatov, Managing Partner of ACE Group. "It proved to be very effective to work with a model close to the reality. The game shows how various decisions made in production, marketing, finance, personnel and other areas affect each other, and most important, how they affect to the bottom line. It demonstrates how difficult is to manage a company in a constantly changing market."

Learning takes place online, facilitated by ACE group training support. From start to finish, the training typically takes 15-20 hours, usually spread over 10 weeks of calendar time, including a practice round and four game rounds. Several teams compete against each other in a game division, each team consisting of 3-5 participants. The more diversity in participant backgrounds, perspectives and personalities, the better decisions the team is likely to make.

More information:

Shawn Graver
Businsess Game Factory Ltd
shawn.graver(#)bgfactory.com

Taavi Thiel
Business Game Factory Ltd.
taavi.thiel(#)bgfactory.com


Wednesday, 7 February 2007

BGF Business Game Seminar for Kekkilä


Strategic excellence, management board dynamics, team work skills, financial understanding, analyzing skills and fact based decision making were the learning objectives of The Kekkilä Management Development Seminar organized by BGF.

The Seminar was targeted for the 20 key people in Kekkilä management. The participants came from Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmank and Spain.

The five participating teams were formed from the actual real-life management teams. The practice round was played and facilitated remotely before the seminar. This was the way to ensure that participants were well prepared for the actual seminar.

The seminar started with a kick-off including the analysis of the practice round. In the first day there were two game rounds with two hours interval. Between the rounds Ilkka Koskinen (People Focus) was running a know-how session about the management team work; pitfalls, tips for high-performance teamwork, decision making in teams, etc. Vesa Kurikka (BGF) was debriefing the game results round after round.

In the second day the decision making time was cut down to 1,5 hours in order to make the team work even more challenging and to increase the pressure.

By the end of the seminar Vesa and Ilkka held a wrap up session going through the lessons learnt and how to transfer the learning into the daily real life challenges. Also each participant made a personal action plan which was reported to Petri Alava CEO of Kekkilä. Last but not least the final result of the Business Game was released. The Champions got a cool looking trophy, a bottle of champagne and place in the semifinals!!

More information regarding the Seminars:

Taavi Thiel
Business Game Factory Ltd.