What is it?
The ABW Inter-school program allows groups of 4 - 10 participants to take over an established company and run it for a simulated period (normally 2 years) competing against other teams locally, nationally and internationally to improve the company's performance.
Simulations include:-
- Cafe - running a cafe chain
- Hospitality - leasing a 200 bed hotel with the option of leasing another four hotels
- IT - manufacturing plus implementation of IT strategies to improve the company's performance
- Manufacturing - operate a sporting goods company
- Retail - operating a Consumer Electronics company
Participant teams will make the decisions necessary to run their company in a simulated global marketplace. Typically eight decisions are made in real time throughout the period allocated to the program. Usually these occur once or twice a week.
When is it?
There are a four Inter-school programs running in 2010 that may fit into your school timetable. To find out more information about when these programs are running, simply click on the corresponding program from the menu.
You can also organise your own Inter-school program at a time that suits you using the simulation of your choice. Challenge other schools in your district, region, state, country or even internationally!
How does it work?
The school will appoint a coordinator who registers and sends the Team Participation fee to ABW. ABW will then forward the Kit which contains all necessary resources for each participant, the Coordinator, supporting teachers and business mentors.
Throughout the program, students will:
- Form a company team of 4 - 10 participants each with an assigned role in the running of a company
- Review a comprehensive ABW student manual covering the key business areas of operations, marketing and finance
- Make decisions over the allocated number of business 'quarters' about their business in a competitive market against the other student companies - up to 54 decisions need to be made each quarter affecting such areas as price, product, target market, staffing, training, raw materials, production process, financing, dividends and share price
- Complete the Decision Sheet (one per team) at sim.abw.org.au by the specified deadlines provided. ABW will then run the simulation and a new set of financial reports and market forecast will be accesable for you to enable each team to work on their strategy before the next deadline
- Students may also make an optional oral presentation of the company report to an audience of business people, teachers, students and parents at their school; however, the oral presentation will not count toward the ABW assessment
Each school can work out how to best incorporate the program into their timetable. Some schools will form an ABW club of interested students and hold meetings at lunchtime or after school, some will be allocated class time to complete the decision sheets, while others will allocate tasks to be completed out of school time.
Following the final decision and processing by ABW each team will receive their final placings and feedback via email.
Winning
Performance is calculated by the computer based share price. The winning company will be the company with the consistently highest share price across the simulated two year period. Share price is a reflection of how well the management team has run the company and maximised the performance indicators of After Tax Profit, Market Share, Return on Assets, Debt Ratio, Return on Equity, Total Assets, Occupancy and Gross Yield.
All participants, teachers, business mentors and ABW Coordinators will receive a certificate of participation. Each participant in the top teams also receive an additional certificate. The winning team will also be recognised on the ABW website.
Why do it?
Young people learn more about business and the economy by applying their classroom learning. The program generates work-related skills such as teamwork and leadership and gives students the motivation to investigate and develop vocational interests. Significantly, it reinforces outcomes across the school curriculum.
In completing this program, participants develop skills in a number of key competencies. These include working with others and in teams, collecting, analysing and organising information, expressing ideas and solving complex business problems. These competencies appear on the certificate of achievement that students can then use in their resume.
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