2008 Woodie Awards
Mitchell MBA student Jonathan Daigle races to the top
Devi Sampat
SENIOR REPORTER
Issue date: 8/11/08 Section: News
With a little good luck and an attribution to South Alabama, 2008 graduate
Jonathan Daigle finished at the top of a worldwide simulation business competition
where he presented an athletic footwear business at high quality and low
costs. Graduating with a master's degree in Business Administration from the
Mitchell College of Business under his belt, Daigle finished at the top of the competition
known as the Business Strategy Game Invitational. After Daigle's graduation
from USA in May 2008, he went on to place first in his division of 12 competing
footwear firms.
The Business Strategy Game simulation, used at more than 600 universities in
the United States and internationally, is an online exercise that prompts players
with the task of running an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competitions.
It specifically allows students from many schools to run an athletic footwear
company against other competitors. Teams must first win at competitions in their
perspective schools to get to the invitational.
Daigle and his team were asked to devise a respected brand image that would
keep their shoe company high in the profits as well as stable in the category of
financial performance. According to the USA Press Office, teams mapped out and
wrote a strategy to create this image, and Daigle and his competitors made decisions
in more than 50 functional and operating areas during each of the 10 rounds
of the simulation.
Many of the teams at the competition sought out methods to bump up sales with
lower pricing, more selection, better quality, endorsements and even smaller scale
advances such as mail-in rebates and shorter shipping and handling. Daigle's
strategies proved to be not only efficient but profitable enough to bring him to the
top of the game.
"There were two things about my strategy that were different from the other
teams," Daigle said. "First, I concentrated on a high quality niche while everyone
Jonathan Daigle finished at the top of a worldwide simulation business competition
where he presented an athletic footwear business at high quality and low
costs. Graduating with a master's degree in Business Administration from the
Mitchell College of Business under his belt, Daigle finished at the top of the competition
known as the Business Strategy Game Invitational. After Daigle's graduation
from USA in May 2008, he went on to place first in his division of 12 competing
footwear firms.
The Business Strategy Game simulation, used at more than 600 universities in
the United States and internationally, is an online exercise that prompts players
with the task of running an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competitions.
It specifically allows students from many schools to run an athletic footwear
company against other competitors. Teams must first win at competitions in their
perspective schools to get to the invitational.
Daigle and his team were asked to devise a respected brand image that would
keep their shoe company high in the profits as well as stable in the category of
financial performance. According to the USA Press Office, teams mapped out and
wrote a strategy to create this image, and Daigle and his competitors made decisions
in more than 50 functional and operating areas during each of the 10 rounds
of the simulation.
Many of the teams at the competition sought out methods to bump up sales with
lower pricing, more selection, better quality, endorsements and even smaller scale
advances such as mail-in rebates and shorter shipping and handling. Daigle's
strategies proved to be not only efficient but profitable enough to bring him to the
top of the game.
"There were two things about my strategy that were different from the other
teams," Daigle said. "First, I concentrated on a high quality niche while everyone
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