North Sea Student Competition, 2021 - Be bold and take risks!

258 students, 40 teams, 3 universities, 2 days, 1 winner!

On Wednesday 10^th and Thursday 11^th February, students from Liverpool Hope University, UK; Universitat de Girona, Catalonia, Spain; and Han University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands competed in our annual North Sea Student Competition (due to the pandemic, we held this year's competition remotely - thanks, Zoom!)

What is the North Sea Student Competition?

It is an annual competition where students from universities in the UK, Netherlands, and this year, Spain take part in one of our management simulations with the aim of becoming competition champions! (But don't play that Queen song just yet!) 

How does it work?

Using Edmundo’s own Phone Ventures management simulation, teams of 7-8 students from all three universities work together to design and manage their own smart phone brand, make informed business decisions to gain investment and ultimately make profit.

They do this whilst competing with fellow student teams to earn points. At the end of each simulation round (equivalent to one year of trading) these points are tallied up. After the 6th round the team with the most points wins the competition!

They'll go down in Edumundo history and live long in the memory - well, at least until the next one.

Have I peaked your Interest in our management simulations? If so, click the button below (which, don't worry, will open a new tab. Phew!)

Anyhow, back to the event and it all kicked off on...

Day One – Wednesday 10^th February 2021

Ian McKenna, Interim Head of Business School at Liverpool Hope University opened the day.

“We’re really pleased we can offer our students an international and inter-cultural experience. For the next two days you’ve got a real opportunity to try new things, meet new people, and stretch yourself.”

He emphasised the importance of enterprising, being bold, and taking risks referencing basketball great, Michael Jordan: “You make 0% of the shots you don’t take.” This set the tone for two days of high-energy simulation rounds and separate assignments! Coffees at the ready, students! 

UK-NL Relations

The afternoon session opened with the day's Key Note speaker, Michiel van Deursen, Director of The Netherlands-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) who presented on the commercial relationship between the UK and Netherlands, including the impact of Brexit on Anglo-Dutch trade relations and requirements. 

This was a great opportunity for students to understand the wider commercial context and interests between neighbouring countries. 

At the End of Day One…Who was in the Lead?

After two rounds of play on the first day, the top three groups were:

With all to play for on Day 2…

Day TWO –Thursday 11^th February 2021

Edumundo's UK Director, Milo Hendricks opened the day with a reminder of the league tables so far, viewing a selection of some the brand logos created by the teams - GREI PHONE in particular stood out!

From the investor’s assignment “almost £6 billion of capital" was raised providing a boost for teams looking to creep up that almighty table.

The teams were then introduced to the day’s assignment: create a job vacancy for a new member of the Board of Directors of their Smart Phone company. Better get hiring, guys!  

This preceded rounds 3 and 4 of the Phone Ventures simulation. 

The afternoon session was opened by key-note speaker Paul Cherpeau, CEO of Liverpool and Sefton Chamber of Commerce. He introduced the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce which represents hundreds of businesses in the city of Liverpool. He also explained the current impact of Brexit and Covid-19 on Liverpool's local economy, as well as opportunities for future growth.

He emphasised how students, as future business managers, can assess business environments in terms of political, economic, and legal contexts, as well as strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities (the famous SWOT analysis) to a company’s success.

He was joined by his colleague and recent graduate from Liverpool Hope University, Conor Williams who gave students this advice: 

“Take every opportunity that you can...the greatest opportunities sometimes present themselves as the hardest challenges.” 

 

Very wise words from Mr. Williams! Speaking of challenges, this led nicely on to the final simulation rounds, 5 and 6. 

Then it was time for...

The Winner’s Ceremony

Nervous? Yes, we all were, too. The results were in…did ISUNG maintain the top spot? Or were they overtaken?

The silence was deafening - okay, the students were all muted on Zoom, but still, it was deafening. 

Without further ado, here is the final table:

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK, JETHRO, CALLUM, AND ELIZE OF UPHONE!

Welcome to Edumundo's Hall of Fame!

They scored a record number of 10,450,251 points overall! We can’t wait to buy a new phone from you soon.

ISUNG and OPHONE dropped to 7^th and 5^th after a strong first day leaving PINEAPPLE and HIPHONE to take 2^nd and 3^rd place.

A brilliant showing all around from the 40 groups as Ian McKenna put it nicely:

“Everyone’s a winner! I’m really delighted with how the two days have gone...you’ve certainly been enterprising, being bold in taking risks..."

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the student participants, the staff at Liverpool Hope University, Han University of Applied Sciences, and Universitat de Girona (Gràcies amics!).

This was a fantastic event and one we hope to continue to run in the years ahead. Ian also had these kind words to share:

Thank you to Milo, Gijs, Jeroen and colleagues from Edumundo, we’ve worked together for 4 maybe 5 years now and we hope to continue that relationship.” 

We certainly do, too, Ian! 

Find out more about our management simulations

Phone Ventures is one of over 10 management simulations we have to offer, covering a wide range of business disciplines such as Marketing, International Business, Business Consultancy, Business Management, Accountancy, and Financial Management.  Find out more about them or request a free demo via the button below.

Want to run a similar competition at your University?

We run management simulation competitions like this at a variety of different universities across the globe, please click on the button below to get in touch about running one at yours!

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