JA Worldwide (Junior Achievement) announced Team Topol-M from Russia as the winner of the HP Global Business Challenge, a worldwide competition designed to increase students' business knowledge and skills. '
The 2009 HP Global Business Challenge is based on JA Titan, Junior Achievement's online simulation program that allows teams of high school students to act as chief executive officers of virtual manufacturing companies. The teams are prompted to make decisions that affect the profitability and sustainability of their virtual companies as they attempt to outperform their competitors in profit, sales and market share. By exercising critical economic and managerial decision-making, students get firsthand experience in the challenges of operating a successful global enterprise.
JA Worldwide and HP hosted 16 students representing eight countries in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as the two-member teams competed on the financial field of battle in the final round of competition. Team Topol-M emerged victorious, receiving first-place honors and a cash prize of US $3,000. Second place, and a US $2,000 prize, went to Team 4 Life from Kazakhstan, with Team Phi from China placing third and receiving US $1,000. Fourth place and US $500 went to Team Intell, also from Russia; Team Adna from Azerbaijan rounded out the top five and received a US $250 prize.
Registration for the international competition began in October 2008, drawing 300 teams and nearly 1,000 student-competitors from Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Turkmenistan and the United States. After two elimination rounds fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit, eight teams emerged as finalists to compete in the last round of face-to-face competition to win the title of "JA Titan of Industry."
