LAKELAND, Fl. (Sept. 16, 2009) Florida Southern College's business students fared among the best in the world in a 10-week online contest that simulated running a global business.

Competing against 1,600 student teams at 90 colleges and universities around the globe, the FSC team of Vijay Chandra and Alaina Hobbs finished first worldwide in the "return on equity" category and had scores in the Top 60 in "earnings per share" and "stock price." The team of Laveen Daryani, Kris Kneen, and Jeff Lunghofer finished third worldwide in "return on equity" and had Top 30 finishes in "earnings per share" and "stock price."

"Given the number of student teams and the complexity of the business simulation, I was amazed at how well our groups competed," said Dr. Michael Knudstrup, teacher of the New Venture Creation class. "They were outstanding representatives for Florida Southern College."

The Glo-Bus business simulation game, affiliated with McGraw-Hill, Inc., required students to act as top management teams in running a global digital camera company. They went online weekly to make up to 30 business decisions based on the operational information they were given. They were judged on four key performance indicators: return on equity, earnings per share, stock price, and total game score.

Among the schools participating were Elon University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Maryland, the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and the American University of Beirut.

"The Glo-Bus simulation was very helpful in grasping the essential business tactics of a global business," said Vijay Chandra. "My classmate and business partner, Alaina, and I were challenged throughout the simulation and the process made us analyze and think more critically as each week progressed. It got to the point that we truly felt as if we were running the business ourselves."

Alaina Hobbs added, "The thing I enjoyed most about the project was the ability to make a strategy and then see the decisions play out long-term throughout the simulation. Decisions didnt always have an immediate impact on the company, but sometimes they affected outcomes later on."