Global Management Challenge UAE

Over 2500 participants have taken part in the competition during its first 4 editions. The participants included students and managers. The winning teams from first 4 editions participated in the international finals in Sochi, Russia in 2014, Prague, Czech Republic in 2015, Macau, China in 2016 and Doha, Qatar in 2017. The 5th edition of UAE Global Management Challenge is scheduled for January to March 2018 and will consist of 3 elimination rounds leading to a UAE winning team. The UAE winning team will then compete with the winners of 30+ countries for the coveted top honour – Global Management Challenge World Champion. The international final will be played in April 2018 in Dubai, UAE. Experiential learning

The Competition focusses on experiential learning and comprises a management simulation where each team manages a virtual company over 5 quarters (5 weeks in real time) with the objective of achieving the highest investment performance for the company’s shareholders. The virtual company is based in Europe and manufactures 3 different models of a certain product. The company has to procure materials, manage a production process that involves machining and assembly and sell its products in 3 different markets. This involves several decisions, for example hiring/firing, pricing, capital expenditure etc. The decisions of one team are assessed by the simulation software in comparison with the decisions of the other participating teams. For example, the number of orders and therefore the revenue is based not only on its own decisions about prices, advertising, product quality etc., but to a large extent on the decisions of all its competitors. And this is what makes the Competition interesting because there is no right or wrong answer – all the answers are relative to the answers of the other teams. Competition format
To take part, participants need to organise themselves as teams comprising 3 to 5 persons per team. Teams are divided into groups of up to 8 teams per group. Each team manages a virtual company over 5 quarters (5 weeks in real time) with the objective of achieving the highest Investment Performance for the company’s shareholders. The winning teams proceed to the 2nd round. The 1st and 2nd rounds are played online and the participants require 2 to 3 hours per week to make the management decisions for their virtual company. The winning teams from the 2nd round then move to the UAE final which will be held in March 2018. Learning outcomes

We all learn from our mistakes. However, mistakes often have adverse consequences, and sometimes these adverse consequences can have disastrous results, not only for the person making the mistake but also for many others affected with those incorrect decisions. By providing an opportunity to practice management skills on a simulator, Global Management Challenge allows participants to test their theoretical learning of management principles in a competitive real life like scenario. Any mistakes made in the competition simply provide opportunities for learning, but do not result in unexpected losses. By participating in Global Management Challenge, students have the opportunity to make decisions for different management positions. This allows them to experience and address the constraints and the conflicts that managers in real companies face as part of their ongoing professional management role. Global Management Challenge helps students to develop skills such as leadership and team work, communication and time management, forecasting and what-if analysis and so on. However, Global Management Challenge goes far beyond. The true benefit of Global Management Challenge is that it allows participants to “learn by doing”. In the real world “doing” or implementing your ideas successfully is all that counts. Global Management Challenge provides that opportunity without the cost of making wrong decisions. And this is the best learning outcome that Global Management Challenge provides. Participation options

Students
Student teams enter the Competition free as several UAE corporates have agreed to sponsor student teams. Corporates
There are 3 routes available for corporates to participate in UAE Global Management Challenge. Enter professional teams – great training and staff assessment opportunity. Sponsor student teams – CSR initiative, PR and talent identification. Sponsor event – considerable PR, as well as staff training and CSR opportunity. Competition organiser

Beaufort Associates FZ-LLC (www.beaufort.ae) is the organiser of UAE Global Management Challenge. Beaufort Associates is a management consulting firm based in Dubai Internet City since 2000. For further information please contact Mian Muneer ud din by phone +97150 6451723 or by e-mail [email protected].