MONTANA HIGH SCHOOL BUSINESS CHALLENGE

The Montana Chamber Foundation sponsors a business simulation called the High School Business Challenge. Since the Spring semester of 2000, over 1,000 students in over sixty schools compete annually in the program. Our goal is to offer the Business Challenge in every Montana high school. The High School Business Challenge follows the former Business Week, an annual week-long program on the MSU-Bozeman campus that taught high school students business principles from 1978-1998.

The High School Business Challenge now goes directly into the classroom. We contract with the Montana Council on Economic Education (MCEE) to provide teachers the materials and support to conduct the High School Business Challenge as part of their curriculum. Teachers still attend Business Week for Teachers at MSU-Bozeman each summer to learn the High School Business Challenge and other economics programs. They (and other teachers who are instructed individually) then schedule the High School Business Challenge for students in their business, math, and social studies classes.

 "Students enjoy the challenge of making critical business decisions and seeing the results. This simulation is great!" Carol Perlinski, Instructor, Bozeman High School

Students form teams of three to five students and make all the operating decisions for their simulated business, manufacturing compact personal DVD players. Each week of classroom decisions represents a business quarter. The game runs for 8 weeks during a semester, the equivalent of 2 years in their business.

Students make decisions in:

    Research and Development 
    Marketing and Advertising 
    Production and Inventory 
    Pricing 
    Ethics

"We have taught the Challenge to students with all levels of abilities. I believe that in many cases it made the difference whether some student attneded school that day or not The decision making and teamwork skills that HSBC teaches are simply outstanding." Florence Gold, Math teacher, Laurel High School


Each week (business quarter), the MCEE game administrator collects the team decisions, evaluates them against “competitors” (other teams), computes the sales for that quarter, and returns the results to the teams, who then make new decisions.

Each team starts with a stock price of $25. The final stock price is based on: 

    Total Profits 
    Profit Trends 
    Return on Sales 
    Stock Price and Dividends 
    Good Corporate Citizen Mini-Cases

"There's a lot of things we (our team) would have done differently if we didn't have to make money!"-Lewistown HSBC student team member

The three teams with the highest stock price at the end of the semester win scholarships and are presented with recongition plaques at a community ceremony. Teachers of the top team each semester are also rewarded. The top team each semester is invited to one of the Montana Chamber's major events: Business Days at the Capitol in January for winners of the Fall semester and the Montana Chamber and Governors' Cup golf tournament in summer for the Spring semester winners.