Rangiora school ‘wins’ $8.8M

Press, 6 November 1986, Page 9

Rangiora school ‘wins’ $8.8M

Six Rangiora High School pupils whose company “made” a profit of $B.B million, have finished second in New Zealand in a Business Management Game entered by 100 secondary schools. First place went to Mount Roskill Grammar School, Auckland, which made SB.9M. The companies all began with the same quantity of raw material under identical market conditions. They were told to expect a “thriving” economy and given S3M.

All the realities of the business world, including overheads and bad debts, had to be considered as they decided whether to market their raw material wholesale or under contract, or spend money to make an improved pro-

duct. The final was run over five rounds, with companies able to see how their opposition were placed after each round.

The Rangiora pupils say they learned a lot from the competition in applying text book skills to a real company.

“Just like the real world,” said the Rangiora company members. “Mount Roskill triumphed only because they copied our tactics from the earlier rounds.”

The Rangiora tactics? They say it was definitely better to steer clear of expensive products.

The school receives a cash prize, given by International Computers, Ltd, which organised the competition.