Monday, April 6, 2009

One Month To Go

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the infrequent posting, life as a Sport Business Management student has been genuinely hectic over the last month, although we would not have it any other way. Group projects are the core of what we are doing this semester, so I'll give you all a breakdown of some of the projects we are working on right now.

Marketing - The first half of the semester was all about learning theory in traditional lecture style, but for the second half our class has immersed themselves in an online simulation known as Markstrat. The Markstrat game affords teams of students the opportunity to promote, position and develop brands of products in a competition for highest profit margins and stock prices. We are down to the last two periods of online simulation before making our final presentations. My group has been lagging a bit in stock price (currently #4 of #5 in our industry) but our stock just went up 200 points last week so things are looking promising for the stretch run.

Management - Our class has been divided into groups of 4-5 people all semester to analyze the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of many different companies through various case studies. For our group's last project, we took a field trip to meet management at a company and find out about their organizational structure first-hand. Lucky for our us our company was Wonderworks, an upside-down playhouse with all-you-can eat pizza and a magic show. Not a bad way to "research" a group project.

Diversity in Sport - We are juggling a few group projects right now in Dr. Harrison's class, from analyzing research articles, to forming our arguments for a class debate regarding whether college athletes should have to graduate before turning pro, to developing ideas for a Universal Orlando project initiative. These projects should be fun and keep us busy for this last month of classes.

Enjoy the Day!

Charlie

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