Dec 11, 2024
St. Bonaventure University MBA students Ethan Kerr and Daniel Schiffhauer tied for first place over three consecutive weeks in The Business Strategy Game, an ongoing online exercise in which teams of students from around the world are tasked with running an athletic footwear company.
Kerr and Schiffhauer received their bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration at SBU in 2024. Kerr, from Putnam Station, New York, was a Finance major, with a minor in Economics. Schiffhauer, a dual-degree Honors student from East Aurora, New York, earned bachelor’s degrees in Finance and Economics, and completed a minor in Law and Society. They will complete their MBA degree requirements in May 2025.
“Ethan and Daniel were best in the world over three consecutive weeks,” Dr. Konrad Jamro, associate professor of Management, said. “They were tied for first with a few other teams out of more than 4,000 teams globally.”
In The Business Strategy Game, teams of top students representing colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, France, Mexico, Saudia Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and other nations compete against each other in a global market arena, managing company operations that parallel those of actual athletic footwear companies.
The game rates teams based on six performance variables: stock price, earnings per share, return on equity, credit rating, brand recognition, and corporate social responsibility. The company run by the Bonaventure duo had a three-week run of first-place finishes in the overall game-to-date category, which reflects how well a company does on all these six performance indicators and its relative standing in an industry.
“Ethan and Daniel consistently achieved excellent financial results, getting in the top 1 percent worldwide in stock price and earnings per share in the two final weeks of the competition,” Jamro said. “They did it while investing the maximum amount allowed by the simulation to various corporate social responsibility initiatives such as energy efficiency, recycling, charitable contributions, enhanced working conditions and benefits, and supplier code of conduct, which all relate extremely well to SBU’s Franciscan legacy.”
The business simulation game is part of SBU’s MBA 649 capstone course, Business Policy, taught by Jamro. “In each week of the simulation, students make business decisions related to production, distribution, workforce, marketing, sales, finance, and corporate social responsibility,” Jamro said.
Dr. Jinjing Zhu, associate professor and chair of the Department of Management at St. Bonaventure, said the performances attest to the quality of students and professors at the university. “It is incredibly rewarding to witness our students achieving great things and exceeding expectations. Our work speaks for itself,” she said.
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).