Dr. Larry Chasteen‘s business-simulation teaching scored another win with the first-place finish of a Jindal School student in the Spring 2021 Capsim Foundation Challenge.

Double-degree seeker Timothy Shiveley, a student in the Professional MBA Evening Cohort program as well as an MS in Business Analytics student, scored 820 of 1,000 possible points in the online international business simulation competition.

Capsim, the Chicago-based simulation and assessment company that sponsors and runs the twice-yearly competitions based on two of its simulations, reported that Shiveley outperformed hundreds of students from 10 countries across five continents.

Despite — or maybe because of the COVID-19 pandemic — Capsim reported a 25% increase in participation in the spring event.

How the Challenge Works

Challenges are open and free to Capsim “alumni,” undergraduate or graduate students who have learned how to run one of the online simulations in a class. Individuals can compete on their own or on a team with a maximum of five members.

Winners demonstrate their capabilities in research and development, marketing, production, finance — and other business functions — and adapt them to run a multimillion-dollar simulated company and lead it to success in an international marketplace.

Enjoying the Process, Learning From Classmates

Shiveley, a solo competitor, learned the Foundation simulation in Chasteen’s online Strategic Management (BPS 6310) course.

Currently a data engineer at USAA, the San Antonio-based insurance and financial services company targeted to members of the military, veterans and their families, Shiveley aims to leverage his two JSOM degrees to accelerate his career and fast-track into a management position overseeing others performing the same kind of work.

Shiveley praised his evening cohort MBA classmates as one source of his success. Conversations with them about their professional experiences, he said, helped him solidify underpinning concepts.

Chasteen, who routinely encourages his Strategic Management students to enter the Capsim challenges, has a growing list of winners and top finishers, including:

• John Setty, a 2015 Executive MBA alum, who won second place in the fall 2015 Capsim Foundation Challenge
• Jordan Matheney, a 2016 BS in Accounting and 2017 MS in Accounting alum, who finished second in the fall 2016 challenge
• Brendan Wiley, a 2018 Online MBA alumnus, who won the challenge in fall 2018 with the then-highest score to date, and
• Yang (Eric) Liu, a 2020 MBA, alum, who finished fourth in the world in fall 2019 challenge.