Student Testimonies[top]
ULB SOLVAY UCL SUEZ : Aurélie Miller, PhD Student, UCL
“Maximize your share value… This is a summary of what you have to do to perform well [in the Global Management Challenge]. Simple isn't it? Well, not that simple…Actually, [The Global Management Challenge] is much more than this. Because, to achieve this, you need to formulate some assumptions about what the market will be tomorrow. And you need to take decisions in all different domains of an enterprise's life… How many machines will we buy? How many persons do we have to employ? Which salary are we going to give? Which products do we sell? At which price? On which markets? Do we spend a lot in advertising? And in R&D? Is it necessary to borrow some money? Finance, Human Ressources, Marketing, Production… every cell of the firm we manage is taken into account. Because, to achieve this, you're 3 to 5 to make those decisions every week or every hour, depending on how far you go into the competition. To get the others to understand your point of view, you need to be able to explain it, in order to gradually achieve some compromise. [The Global Management Challenge] is an entire game. Of course, it is simplified compared to "real life", because the reality of a firm is much more complex. Still, it is complete enough to make it look real. And once you begin, you really get addicted to it. Soon, maximize your share value gets to be your life's aim during some months. And, as every round is different and offers a completely different macro economic situation, you keep being excited by this game more that you could ever expect. I heard about the game through a friend of mine who convinced me to take part in it. I had the opportunity to have in my team 2 persons who went twice to the international final, Marc Lévy and Jean-Philippe Devos, and working with them was such an interesting trip. Because they had the feeling of the game and could fast make me understand what the best solutions were. So… maximize your share value? Ok… but if I had to summarize the game in another way, I would just say: IT WAS GREAT! Therefore, thanks a lot! Thanks to my team, Claire, Marc and Jean-Philippe. It was great to make this trip with you and walk each step up to the national final. Thanks to our sponsor, Suez, and thanks to all the persons thanks to whom this game exists. Your staff is exceptional.”
VLERICK ALTRAN: Rolf Schoyen
“Our impressions were very good: We found the information timely and precise and the competition enjoyable. The only one missing we thought was information about how many teams would go to the next round. All the teams in our MBA class believed only the best one would continue, and this introduced risk taking strategies.As for our coach, from Altran, we had some contact, but since the coach did not know the game well it was a contact mainly for job search. this was good for us. Best regards, Rolf A-Team”
KUL ELIA: Kenny Henderyckx
“The [Global Management Challenge] Business Simulation Game was a great experience for us in many ways:First we enjoyed the team spirit that this game brought us. It really made us work together like a team which will be important in our future professional careers. Second we learned a huge lesson: theory does NOT equal practice. In practice you finally see how many things are important and with how many things you have to take care. This game gave us a glance on how business is conducted in practice and we hope the next time we encounter similar problems in real life we can use the knowledge we gained during these exciting five weeks of [the Global Management Challenge]. (…) Our relationship with our sponsor was minimal but good [and we] want to thank our sponsor Elia for the opportunity they gave us in participating in this game (…). Kind regards Kenny Henderyckx”
KUL HOBSONS: Dries Manshoven
“Our first impression of the game was quite freightning. We read the
manual and realised the game needed a lot of attention to fullfill our
mission. Our educeted cases never overreached more than one course,
but the case of euromanager was the first case where we needed to use
all the knowledge we got. It was a game where we learned something
more about the real business-world. An experience we can only
recommend to others.Best regards, Dries Manshoven - Team All the Way - KUL Belgium”
FUNDP HOBSONS: Eddial Yacine
“Notre expérience est très positive, d'autant plus que nous avons passé les qualifications pour notre 1ère participation. Ce concours est extrêmement enrichissant. (…)Eddial Yacine”
U GENT COCA COLA :Roel Boussemaere
“Beeing able to compete in the finals was already a small victory on it's
own. We soon noticed we were the only team that didn't exist out of 4 or
5 members, only 2 of us could make it to Brussels. But that does not
mean we had less fun!At the start of the final there was a rather tense atmosphere but during the competition we learned to know some other people. I even met someone I hadn't seen in a year if you speak about coincidence. Everything was very well organised and the reception in the cityhall in Brussels really was a great experience. So once again I would like to say thanks to my professor, Aimé Heene, and our sponser Coca Cola West who supported is and made it possible to take part in this competition regards”
UCL'S SMARTIES ALTRAN: David Verbustel
“This competition represented 18 meetings over a 2 months period and about 100 hours of harsh work. As finalist (3rd prize), we were proud to be part of this intense challenge and at the end it was, by far, one of the most entertaining competition we had ever participated involving the use of all our academic knowledge in a realistic environment.En espérant pouvoir se revoir l'année prochaine, David Verbustel”
ULB SOLVAY UCL SUEZ : Marc Lévy
“Après 3 participations, c'est toujours avec le même plaisir que nous redécouvrons à chaque fois de nouveaux cas. Ceux-ci donnent lieu à des discussions et des débats passionnés au sein de l'équipe. L'apprentissage lors de cette compétition se fait aussi bien au niveau des compétences en gestion, que des compétences analytiques et tout cela en équipe.”
Wouter Danckaert, Student at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School:
“I have a confession to make: I did not know anything about playing a business game. The first time I saw a "History file", I did not understand a thing about it. I really felt terrible: how can I ever participate in this if I even do not understand the basic files?Luckily, my teammates helped me out: together we figured out what it was about. The First meeting we had, was one to remember. We discussed every little detail on and on and kept going on for almost 10 hours. It was hell, that First meeting… But, as we went throuh an exhausting process, our team was ready to cope with all the obstacles to come. We would act as a team, we understood the game, we played well and… we reached the national finals. Only two of us could make it that day, but as I promised Brigitte and Geneviève: we really did a great job! Thanks a lot teammates for a wonderfull cooperation! Thanks a lot AXA for being our sponsor and supporter! Thanks a lot Euromanager for giving us the opportunity to experience this business game!”
Jean Philippe Devos, finalist in 2004 and student at the Université Libre de Bruxelles:
“Beside the incredible experience of participating the International Final 2004, the Euromanager challenge is also very interesting in terms of team working. The point is not only to dispatch the work and to define the role of each member of the team, but also and above all to take decisions in a limited period of time. Each participant has to convince the other team members, to present its point of view, to reach a compromise and to manage a possible crisis. All these are essential skills in a company, which are not thought at the university.”
Thibaut Otto, Student at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Master Industrial Management:
“When we first decided to participate to the Euromanager competition, we didn't think that it would be so complex and so complete. The first contact with the manual and the decision sheet was very destabilizing: would we be able to manage all these parameters? But, day after day and week after week, we got more and more used to these parameters. We are now all convinced that we learned a lot about topics such as finance, marketing, HR... and last but not least, team working. Euromanager is a perfect complement to our eduction, focusing more on production aspects.”
Denis Arendt, Student at HEC ULG:
“Je tiens à vous dire que j'ai vraiment apprécié participer à ce concours. J'aurais beaucoup aimé continuer l'aventure mais malheureusement, après une deuxième place lors du premier tour, nous avons terminé troisième lors des demi-finales.Je me suis réellement pris au jeu et j'ai consacré beaucoup de temps à cette compétition qui me passionnait. Je vous souhaite une bonne continuation et j'espère que votre concours aura encore plus de succès dans les années à venir.”
Alain De Wagter, ULB:
“The national and international finals are always very vivid. First of all, the finalist teams are about the same level, making it tough to win and creating suspens until the end. Moreover, time constraints are added to strategic and financial issues. In this context, taking a decision becomes even more delicate. All this requires an efficient coordination and communication within the team, because in finals, you hardly recover from mistakes.During each round, our main difficulty was to continually look for the well-balanced equilibrium between 'remaining coherent with the initially chosen strategy' and 'reacting to the ever changing market'. The Global Management Challenge gave us a glimpse into the difficulties faced by today's companies. This challenge thus enables its participants to learn and open themself to the business world in general. Taking part in an international final is the icing on the cake! This year, the final took place in the Warsaw Stock Exchange. All delegations were welcomed in the very heart of the city at the prestigious Polonia Palace Hotel. You can guess how imposing the atmosphere of the competition was. The moments of mere competition regularly led to well deserved breaks during which all the teams could converse in a convivial way. Guided tours, free time, parties and official receptions punctuated our stay and created an atmosphere particularly favourable to discussions and exchanges. In this regard, the challenge also was an extraordinary human adventure! Besides this incredible experience of the international final, the Global management Challenge also helped us tremendously to manage relationships and team spirit. The point not only consisted in assessing workloads and defining each other's responsabilities, but above all to take decisions together in a limited time frame. Each member had to convince its colleagues, present its point of view, reach a compromise and manage potential crisis.These constitute essential skills in the professional world and are rarely acquired in universities.”
Jonathan Gross, Electromechanical Engineer, KUL:
“Je vous remercie pour ce jeu qui a été très enrichissant. J'ai appris énormément de choses, aussi bien sur le business que sur moi-même.Bonne continuation!” Professor Testimonies[top]
Alain Delchambre, Dean of the ULB Engineering School:
“Each year, I am very glad that several ULB teams are participating to the Global Management Challenge. This competition is extremely exciting for our engineering students and this experience is highly profitable for them. Multidisciplinary environment, team building, entrepreneurial approach : our students are familiar with these skills after their studies in our engineering school but you give them the opportunity to experiment them in a market-like environment.”
Prof Aimé Heene Ghent, University:
“Each year I experience that my students participating in the game enjoy the experience. The learning effects they gain from their participation are great. This game offers what lectures can never offer and I thus will continue to stimulate my master students to take the challenge. Thanks to the organizers for creating this irreplaceable opportunity for students.Vriendelijke groeten - Kind regards ”
Pierre de Maret, Recteur de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles:
“As Rector of the Brussels University (ULB) I was extremely glad to notice the diversity of the teams. They came from most of the best Belgian universities, and were composed of students from different faculties (engineers, managers, economists). The success of the ULB team is probably due to their multidisciplinary skills: engineers specialising in management! An effective solution, that has been stimulated by our academic environment. Next year the ULB has always been very active internationally, we would be glad to host next year's international final of Euromanager.”
Koenraad Debackere, General Manager of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven:
“As General Manager of K.U.Leuven and Managing Director of K.U.Leuven R&D, it was a pleasure for me to be witness to the enthusiasm of six groups of young K.U.Leuven academics in this business game contest. The combination of their analytical skills with an entrepreneurial drive and their determination to succeed in a market-like environment, perfectly illustrate the enormous potential we can tap into to rejuvenate our European economies. I am; of course, glad to see the good performance of our K.U. Leuven teams. Howewer, I am also convinced that the multiplier effect of this contest across many European academic institutions, warrants our continued support for this initiative.
Experiences like these stimulate our young academics to truly become European entrepreneurs.”Manager Testimonies[top]Valérie Mellul, HR Development Manager PPR:
“Due to our partnership and mutual investment, we manage to improve the proximity between students and our brands, and share together a great ambition of conquest and achievement in a national and international environment with a strong enterprise spirit. Thanks to all the Global Management Team, to all the students… Let's meet next year in France and Europe.”
Michel Lievens, Recruitment and Carreer Manager, Total:
“Total took part in the Global Management Challenge Euromanager by sponsoring two teams of students. We were very proud of our GMC's first year results: one of our teams even took part to the National Final! The Global Management Challenge Euromanager is not only an excellent way of networking but it is also a great opportunity to get closer to both academic and business environments. The challenge helps us to meet students corresponding to our targeted resources in an original way. Today, we consider our participants as a team working in "live". The tournament gives indeed an opportunity to detect potential co-workers and inform students about our company.”
Philippe Vranckx, Human Resources Director Benelux Scandinavia, Altran:
“As a Global Partner in Innovation, the Altran Group is very proud to be one of the first sponsors of the "Global Challenge" competition in Belgium. We were attracted essentially by this pioneering aspect which is also present in our business values.The last 2 years, Altran coached 2 teams of engineering students and thought this was a perfect opportunity to get to know each other. Level of these students was excellent and the spirit created by the game was a real stimulator. This year we have decided to bring it a step further being a partner of the organization and try to optimize the benefits of the event for all participants.” |