Thursday, December 08, 2005
Issues in Centrum - Peru Business Game
The competition has finished... And the winners were... students of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (from the same organization). So we know that the purpose of this competition was to promote the institution and not to be a legal challenge for those people who wanted to demonstrate their skills.
The recommendation is to avoid studying in Centrum and in the institutions related to the "University" called Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
The recommendation is to avoid studying in Centrum and in the institutions related to the "University" called Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Issues in Centrum - Peru Business Game
Good day!!
This is the first entry in the MBA Peru Blog... Regretfully, it's to report a strange case in a education center which offers MBA Programs in Peru.
This organization is named Centrum and it's part of a well-known University called Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú.
Centrum organized a competition called "Peru Business Game". The original rules were:
(Source: Translation from the rules published by Peru Business Game organizers before October 11th, 2005) "(...) The maximum limit of teams which will be able to register themselves to participate in the competition is 125 (...) In the first stage all the teams registered (Companies), will be divided in groups (Markets) of five teams each one. The first team of each group and the second one - until a group of 25 teams is completed - will classify to the semifinals (...) The teams selected from each group (Market), are those which have the highest 'Accumulated Profit' in their Balance"
This meant that there were 25 groups of 5 teams (in total, 125 teams), and the first team of each group (25 x 1 = 25) would classify to the next round.
However, many teams which finished in the first place didn't classify. WHY?
The reason:
(Source: Translation from an eMail sent by Peru Business Game organizers on November 24th, 2005) "(...) the rules were approved by the official authority, in this case the Ministerio del Interior (MININTER), with Resolución Directoral RD 1969-2005-IN-1501, on September 20th, 2005 and with Resolución Directoral RD 2076-2005-IN-1501, on October 6th, 2005 (...) The convocation was initiated through El Comercio, official diary of this competition (...) Due to the success of the convocation of Peru Business Game (...), on October 13th, 2005, the Dirección General de Gobierno Interno del MININTER issued the Resolución Directoral RD 2230-205-IN-1501, giving permission to change the maximum limit of 125 teams. To give the opportunity to all the professionals who wanted to demonstrate their skills (...)"
However this change was not informed in an explicit way (the organizers said they published this through the diary El Comercio) and the participants which dedicated hours to this competition and finished in the first place didn't classify.
The issues here are:
First, the organizers (Centrum) didn't inform the change to the participants. This could mean that Centrum teaches that the changes in the policy of the company should not be informed to the employees. That's wrong.
Second, the organizers (Centrum) changed part of the rules but didn't see the "whole picture". If the number of participants increased, the number of teams classified should grow. If they didn't see the "whole picture", poor students...
Third, the groups (Markets) were different ones from others. In the "Real World" this happens. Many of the teams which classified, participated without competition (the competitors in their groups didn't register their decisions and lost). So, in those groups where 3, 4 or 5 teams participated and where the competition was harder, the team which finished in the first place obtained a smaller profit but had to made an effort to mantain the leadership. In Mathematical terms, if we have a USD 100.000 market with one team, this team will be able to obtain "all the pie" but if there are three teams, it will be hard to obtain this result.
This could mean that the organizers (Centrum) don't have the skills to teach about markets.
Finally, the organizers sent an email to indicate the change in the rules, but didn't accept the failed. This means they have not realized they failed or they don't have the skills to accept that any of us could fail (this is terrible in the Enterprise World).
Summing up, my opinion is that Centrum is not a reliable education center. Be careful!!
This is the first entry in the MBA Peru Blog... Regretfully, it's to report a strange case in a education center which offers MBA Programs in Peru.
This organization is named Centrum and it's part of a well-known University called Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú.
Centrum organized a competition called "Peru Business Game". The original rules were:
(Source: Translation from the rules published by Peru Business Game organizers before October 11th, 2005) "(...) The maximum limit of teams which will be able to register themselves to participate in the competition is 125 (...) In the first stage all the teams registered (Companies), will be divided in groups (Markets) of five teams each one. The first team of each group and the second one - until a group of 25 teams is completed - will classify to the semifinals (...) The teams selected from each group (Market), are those which have the highest 'Accumulated Profit' in their Balance"
This meant that there were 25 groups of 5 teams (in total, 125 teams), and the first team of each group (25 x 1 = 25) would classify to the next round.
However, many teams which finished in the first place didn't classify. WHY?
The reason:
(Source: Translation from an eMail sent by Peru Business Game organizers on November 24th, 2005) "(...) the rules were approved by the official authority, in this case the Ministerio del Interior (MININTER), with Resolución Directoral RD 1969-2005-IN-1501, on September 20th, 2005 and with Resolución Directoral RD 2076-2005-IN-1501, on October 6th, 2005 (...) The convocation was initiated through El Comercio, official diary of this competition (...) Due to the success of the convocation of Peru Business Game (...), on October 13th, 2005, the Dirección General de Gobierno Interno del MININTER issued the Resolución Directoral RD 2230-205-IN-1501, giving permission to change the maximum limit of 125 teams. To give the opportunity to all the professionals who wanted to demonstrate their skills (...)"
However this change was not informed in an explicit way (the organizers said they published this through the diary El Comercio) and the participants which dedicated hours to this competition and finished in the first place didn't classify.
The issues here are:
First, the organizers (Centrum) didn't inform the change to the participants. This could mean that Centrum teaches that the changes in the policy of the company should not be informed to the employees. That's wrong.
Second, the organizers (Centrum) changed part of the rules but didn't see the "whole picture". If the number of participants increased, the number of teams classified should grow. If they didn't see the "whole picture", poor students...
Third, the groups (Markets) were different ones from others. In the "Real World" this happens. Many of the teams which classified, participated without competition (the competitors in their groups didn't register their decisions and lost). So, in those groups where 3, 4 or 5 teams participated and where the competition was harder, the team which finished in the first place obtained a smaller profit but had to made an effort to mantain the leadership. In Mathematical terms, if we have a USD 100.000 market with one team, this team will be able to obtain "all the pie" but if there are three teams, it will be hard to obtain this result.
This could mean that the organizers (Centrum) don't have the skills to teach about markets.
Finally, the organizers sent an email to indicate the change in the rules, but didn't accept the failed. This means they have not realized they failed or they don't have the skills to accept that any of us could fail (this is terrible in the Enterprise World).
Summing up, my opinion is that Centrum is not a reliable education center. Be careful!!
