From 11 to 13 November, fourth-year Transport and Logistics students at TTK University of Applied Sciences Merilin Talu, Helerin Pietilä, Kaido Jakobson and Kaarel Gull will represent Estonia at the Global Management Challenge (GMC), an international business management competition held in Lagos, Nigeria. Having won the Estonian final, the team heads into the international competition knowing that its greatest strengths are the teamwork skills developed over four years and the ability to make data-driven decisions.
The Global Management Challenge is considered the world’s largest strategy and management competition. Launched in Portugal in 1980, it is held in countries around the world and challenges participants to manage a virtual company. Teams must make decisions about production, sales, marketing, pricing, transport and financial management. The goal is to achieve a better return on investment than their competitors.
Four years of teamwork give the team its edge
As they prepare for the international final, the students are focusing primarily on financial management and practising with the simulation models. They are creating spreadsheets with the necessary formulas and working through different decision-making scenarios to assess how their choices could affect the company’s performance.
However, the students believe that their main advantage lies in more than just their professional knowledge. Four years of studying together have involved numerous group projects and fostered a friendship that helps them navigate challenging situations. Alongside their subject-specific knowledge, a healthy sense of humour and the ability to share responsibility when needed are also valuable assets.
“Our strength is that we have worked together for four years. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and know how to support and advise one another. That gives us confidence when making difficult decisions, too,” says team member Kaido Jakobson.
Managing a virtual company requires seeing the bigger picture
In the GMC simulation, all decisions interact with one another, and the company’s performance reflects the team’s choices. This means that calculations alone are not enough: participants must understand the company’s financial indicators and assess how different decisions affect one another.
The competition consists of five rounds, each representing one quarter. Decisions must be made within a limited time, and the results of each round inform the choices in the next. In addition to analytical skills, the ability to manage time and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances is therefore essential.
According to team member Merilin Talu, there is also an element of excitement involved. “You can check all the numbers three times, but until the results come in, you still don’t know whether you’ve made a brilliant decision or a very instructive mistake,” she adds.
Putting knowledge gained through studies into practice
The students believe that the GMC draws on many of the subjects covered in their degree programme. The simulation allows them to apply their knowledge of demand forecasting, logistics, financial analysis, marketing and advertising. It also helps them understand how closely interconnected different business functions are and how equally important they can be.
The competition is particularly well suited to students nearing the end of their studies, when knowledge acquired across different subjects can be brought together into a coherent whole. The simulation reinforces what they have learned and allows them to assess how their skills work in a situation where the right and wrong answers are not known in advance and the success of decisions can only be evaluated through practical results.
“There are no predetermined right answers in the simulation. Everything depends on the decisions you make and how they affect one another. It helps us apply the knowledge gained during our studies as a whole and better understand how a company actually operates,” explains team member Kaarel Gull.
An opportunity to learn from others awaits
The students are travelling to Nigeria determined to do their best and represent TTK UAS and Estonia with pride. Beyond the competition results, they look forward to seeing the level of the teams from other countries, learning which strategies they use and discovering how different approaches to business management affect performance.
The international final therefore offers more than an opportunity to test their knowledge. It gives the students a chance to gain new experiences, connect with representatives from other countries and see how their existing knowledge and teamwork skills measure up in an international competition.
The opportunity to build international connections is another important benefit of the event. The intense days of competition will be balanced by group excursions, friendly matches and dinners.
Team member Helerin Pietilä says the team is heading into the final determined to give it their all and represent TTK UAS with pride. At the same time, she says they are excited to see how teams from other countries perform and how they approach business management. “We’re also looking forward to meeting and talking to people from different backgrounds. In logistics, connections are invaluable and can open doors that might otherwise remain closed!” she adds.
