22 December 2009

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year 2010!



We at BTS Tournaments would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and hope you will have the time to fully enjoy this magical season.

This year was a very important one for us. After a successful launch of an upgraded user interface, the new business simulation was very well received by our participants. Many teams from over 30 countries made the BTS Tournaments quite a global event. Congratulations again to the winners of our World Final 2009!


We genuinely look forward to continue improving participants' business acumen, strategic thinking and financial understanding. There are many success stories and it is to our satisfaction that we can see substantial results in their learning curves. Business simulations are proven to be the best way of learning by doing, in a risk-free and motivating environment.

What is more, we are proud to partner with our clients to add value to their business results and assist them to build on their talents to drive into a better future.


Let the next year be as much of a straight road towards successful results. Wishing you lots of sunshine and happiness for the upcoming Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

BTS Tournaments Team



BTS - Catalysts for Profitability and Growth

30 November 2009

Latvia wins SEB business simulation competition




A team from SEB Latvia won this year’s SEB Championship, an online business simulation competition, and will now move on to the
BTS Tournaments semi-finals, where they will meet teams from other companies.

The competition is arranged by BTS Interactive, a consultancy company. It is designed for individuals to gain a holistic view on the complexities of running a multinational company, to improve business acumen and financial skills, strategic thinking and learn the importance of team work. Each team has three to five members.

This year one team from SEB Latvia, one from SEB Norway and two from SEB Poland participated in the competition which stretches over ten weeks and consist of five rounds.

“The simulation presented interesting intellectual challenges, some ambiguity and serious number crunching,” says Mārtiņš Krūtainis who leads the Latvian team in the competition.

BTS Interactive arranges similar competitions for other companies and industries around the world and in total 900 teams competed this year. SEB Latvia’s team will now face other winners from the initial rounds in the semi-finals.

Later, the best teams proceed to the BTS World Final, where top three teams are invited to the BTS Awards, held in Cannes on the French Riviera. SEB has participated the competition since 2001 and two teams from the bank have made it to the finals over the years.


About the SEB Championships
The idea with the SEB Championships is to form teams of 3-5 people and have the team run an online simulated company in direct competition with other participating SEB teams for market shares, profits and revenue whereby the best team wins by gaining the most shareholder value. It’s like a flight simulator, only in business!

Simulations are one of the most effective learning methods and
BTS Tournaments, developed by BTS Interactive, are a growing trend in the area of corporate management training. You learn by doing through experience, and without real-life risks! BTS Tournament is the leading business simulation tournament in the world.

For further information contact:
James Baker-Duly
BTS, BTS Interactive
James.Bakerduly[#]bts.com
http://www.btstournaments.com/

6 November 2009

BTS World Final 2009 - Announcing the Results!


The winners of the BTS Global Semi-finals proceeded to the BTS World Final. All directly involved will agree: this year's Final was extremely exciting!

The Final was held on 5 November 2009, with the best teams from the 2009 Tournament competing for highest shareholder value. All the simulated companies performed at their peak, closing their fourth financial year with stunningly close results. This was the closest it has ever been with 4th and 5th place missing out on their spot in the top three by less than 1% difference!

We at BTS Tournaments are proud to announce the Ranking of the BTS World Final 2009:
  1. NOKIA / Finland - Team Uision
  2. VIPNET / Croatia - Team Red Devils
  3. SYNGENTA / Switzerland - Team Aspire
  4. ENDESA / Spain - Team APTC
  5. SEB KORT / Norway - Team PLASTIXXX
  6. NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS / Finland - Team Pohjatyö
  7. ANDRITZ / Finland - Team Eagles


From the almost 600 teams participating in the 2009 BTS Business Tournament, these amazing seven teams reached the World Final. So once again, a big round of applause to ALL competing Teams. They held under pressure to prove their business acumen. But unfortunately only the three best teams receive the honours of being invited to the famous BTS Awards. They will traditionally be held in Cannes on the French Riviera, in the Spring.


Thank you everyone involved for another great BTS Tournament Year!


- BTS Tournaments Team

18 September 2009

RESULTS of Global BTS Semi-finals 2009!


The Global BTS Semi-Finals took place over two sessions - on 10.09 and 17.09. It was a fierce fight for highest shareholder value of a virtual company.

There were 48 Teams lined up to compete in the annual Global Semi-Finals! As many as 20 countries were present and 28 companies represented, such as: ABB, Accenture, AstraZeneca, British Telecom, CP Kelco, Ericsson, LG, Maersk Line, PwC, Stora Enso and many more.

Congratulations to ALL competing Teams. They did a tremendous job in such a short time given to make decisions. Only the best Teams get the opportunity to proceed to the BTS World Final 2009 (will be held early November 2009). And to remind you, top three teams in the world are invited to the
Luxurious BTS Awards, traditionally held in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Special congratulations go to the winning teams, our finalists, who were the best in their divisions:

SEB Kort / NORWAY - Team PLASTIXXX
Endesa / SPAIN - Team APTC
Syngenta / SWITZERLAND - Team Aspire
Andritz / FINLAND - Team Eagles
Vipnet / CROATIA - Team Red Devils
Nokia / FINLAND - Team Uision
Nokia Siemens Networks / FINLAND - Team Pohjatyö

We wish them all the best in the World Final 2009!
BTS Tournaments Team


28 August 2009

Global BTS Semi-finals 2009!


Here at BTS Tournaments, we are very excited to announce that there are 48 Teams lined up and ready to fiercely compete in the annual Global Semi-Finals! As many as 20 countries are present and 28 companies represented: ABB, Accenture, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Maersk Line, Nokia, NSN, PwC, Stora Enso, Syngenta and many more.

The Semi-Final heats are held 8-17 September. Watch this space for the results!
Only the best Teams get the opportunity to proceed to the BTS World Final 2009. And to remind you, top three teams in the world are invited to the Luxurious BTS Awards, traditionally held in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Fortunately, everything is not just up to lucky charms. Teams will exercise their developed business acumen skills and strategic knowledge, among others, to create the highest Shareholder Value of their simulated companies.

We wish all participating Teams all the best!
BTS Tournaments Team

30 June 2009

Statoilhydro Business Development off to Semi-Finals





The BTS Tournament certainly triggered our competitive instincts, and our goal was of course to win! In the first round we planned fairly safe. We made our decisions based on analyses without taking much risk, which resulted in reasonably good results. There was another team that did exceptionally well and obtained a huge lead, which made us realise the importance of our competitors. Therefore we worked even harder towards the next deliveries to understand our environment and lay out a strategy for how to catch up with the leading team.

We believe we got paid for spending the necessary time to investigate the details. We were also courageous, coupled with a good portion of common sense; You have to stick to your strategy as well as adapt to the changing environment. This has made us more aware of how to treat uncertainty in decision-making.

The Kon-Tiki team members are of three different nationalities based in four locations on two continents. As a result, the work was conducted switching from one language to the other via phone, video conferences and not necessarily during regular office hours. Meetings were also held from airports, taxis and even from the delivery room (one of the team members became a dad the day before the 3rd round).. We clearly see the potential of the telecom business!

Best regards,

(on photo above, from left to right)
Ragnhild Ulvik: Senior Analyst (Team Leader)
Martin Debaig: Business Developer
Gudmund Hartveit: Business Developer
Nidia Alvarez Crogh: Project Leader
Lene Landøy: Business Developer


For further information:
Please contact James Baker-Duly at BTS Interactive: +46 735 109397

22 June 2009

NOKIA TEAM: There can be only one…

Reflections of Team Primrose from the BTS Global Tournament



In addition to referring to a catchphrase of a movie starred by Christopher Lambert, this wisecrack vividly depicts the grim realities of the BTS Global Tournament. In the simulation we found ourselves struggling with the challenges imposed by the management of a company operating in a number of interraled fields of business. What is more, we quickly realized that we are not alone, but pinned into a heated struggle with five other teams all with the same goal of winning the divisional victory.

The tournament was a great learning opportunity. It did not, however, let you learn by the easy way. Throughout the competition, we had to rethink and revise our strategies and keep a close eye on the other teams trying to anticipate what they had in mind. But this is the core of the experience – competing against teams of professionals from around the world with knowledge that only one team will prevail. This is the occasion when one learns fastest and most efficiently – the baptism by fire.

Team Primrose wants to thank all the other teams in the BTS Global Tournament Division 26 for a tough challenge. The battle for market share and profitability taught us all important lessons, but unfortunately – there can be only one winner. As Conner MacLeod finds out in the above mentioned movie – the business competition is not an easy one but worth the struggle as the reward is a place among the immortals.
Team Primrose consisted of four persons from Nokia located in both Salo and Espoo in Finland:

Matti Torkkeli, Senior Manager DSN Design (Team Leader)
Kaj Lindfors, Senior Manager, Supply Logistics
Antti Rissanen, Manager Mid Term Supply Planning
Sami Sarpola, Manager Supply Capability Management

StatoilHydro: Our BTS Tournament experience: so far so good

We were all excited to be BTS Tournament participants and StatoilHydro Oil Trading and Supply’s representatives in the Tournament. The Oilers team consists of members with different backgrounds, both when it comes to education, work experience and nationality. This proved to be very beneficial in the competition.

The test round was very useful in that it gave us a chance to "feel the simulation" and try out different correlations. We were very curious about our competitors – who they were and how they would position themselves.

We decided to start out fairly safe in the first rounds. We planned to be more aggressive and take on more risk in the final rounds – but why change a strategy that seemed to work? As the Tournament continued, we got smarter and were able to get more profit out of our strategy. We also got better at analysing the market and reading our competitors. We were not the only ones getting smarter though - the race got really close at the end – luckily we pulled the longest straw.

This Tournament has been a great learning opportunity for us. We now have a better understanding of what it is like to run a business. Having to work as a team, agreeing on strategy and dividing tasks is always an important lesson. Last but not least, this was an excellent opportunity to get to know other young professionals in our company.


Best regards,

Linn Strømsvåg – Business Analyst Crude and Condensate (Team Leader)
Thomas Eltervåg – Contract Handler
Igor Volner – Contracts Coordinator
Jon Berntsen – Business Analyst Risk Monitoring
Natalia Vennikova – Sr. Business Analyst Risk Monitoring

For further information:
Please contact James Baker-Duly at BTS Interactive: +46 735 109397

Nordea Latvia: We’re in the semi-final!

From the left: Rolands Abele - Head of Product Development, Aiga Babre - Deputy Head of CSU, Girts Strazds - Local risk manager, Anna Meilere - Sales Manager, Rihards Petkevics - Credit Analyst.

Rihards Petkevics, Captain of Nordea team “K 15”, Credit Analyst:
“We’re glad that we have proceeded to the semi-final despite the tough competition. The main driving force that helped to win the competitors was the team spirit. Each of us acted in the interest of the team and was motivated to achieve the best result. No doubt that professional experience of the team members in various fields was important. Deep knowledge of company financial analysis, project / team management and decision skills helped to win the tournament. Team’s daily work was organized to make the best of each meeting by analyzing the market situation, forecasts and previous year results.”

Our team was in charge of a mobile telecommunication services provider and adopted strategic decisions regarding promotion of products in the market, prices and amount of investments. Our core strategy was similar to Nordea operation strategy as we chose “in the Middle of the road tactic” meaning not to exaggerate with product prices or volumes but be somewhere in the middle between our competitors’ offer. From the beginning of the tournament, we tried to calculate the most efficient way of capital management and the possible amount of investments. As years of the simulation passed by and as competitors changed decisions significantly, the important factor was flexibility of our decisions and proper reaction to current market situation. Consent of all team members in decision making process was important and in discussion process the best solutions were chosen.

The breaking point in the simulation was the third year as this was the year when we set and fulfilled ambitious sales targets. In the third year, our market share of five products out of six was with the highest market share. The third year was, to a large extent, crucial for the course of the tournament in our division. In the fourth year, our task was to keep the leading position which we gained in the third year.

During the training, we gained confidence in our capabilities, we improved team management skills and understand the decision making process better and gained trust in each other. Also the possibility to develop analytical skills and better knowledge of operations of a mobile operator services provider can be mentioned as benefit.

We would like to gratefully thank the organisers of the BTS Business Tournament and competitors for the good time that we had and the possibility to have time off from our routine work.


Nordea Latvia

FORTUM Distribution: Virtual Team enters the Global BTS Semi-Finals!

From left to right:
Lene Løkkeberg – Responsible Business Customers and Tariffs
The team’s leader: Staffan Andersson – Settlement Engineer
Petri Juhala – Technical Customer Advisor
Maarit Laiho – Process Manager

The team’s name: FORTUNE.




Team structure
Our team consists of team members from Sweden, Norway and Finland with different experiences and starting points. The only thing common for us (except working within same company) was that none of us had much of economical experiences. But in the end, this might have been one of our success factors.

In the beginning our team was not the strongest possible: participants missing, no leader and scattered in 3 countries. But once the roles were clear it started to come together. Our bearing force was the core of the team: leader Staffan and meeting facilitator Lene. The team warmed up till the end and we became stronger and stronger round by round.

The beginning and the end
The beginning almost slipped from our hands: just in time before the BTS Tournament started we were able to have our first introduction meeting: it all started to come together. Still we were missing parts of our team: but we started to learn what the whole thing was all about.

After first round we were at third position: far away from the leader team. Second round was a disaster for us: we tried to do our best, but dropped to 4th place. Even though we were just behind the third place it still felt pretty heavy. We were a little confused: at the time our main goal was to understand how the simulation works. How our decision affected our position, what did other teams do and how should we prepare ourselves to upcoming rounds.

Third round was the turning point for us: we started to gain to leader team and our previous decisions started to pay-off. We finally found the balance and managed to do the right adjustments.

The fourth and last round we polished our adjustments and tried not to be distracted by the other teams. We focused on making solid investments and not making hasty decisions just to get market shares.

After a rocky start what were our strengths? How were we able to make it through?

Learning by doing
One of our main goals was to understand how our decisions affected our position. We tried different things and after results we always analyzed how decisions affected the outcome. People whose background isn't in economics require a lot of work to understand numbers and economical terms all at once, but we were able to make it happen. It was interesting to see importance of investments.

Efficiency in meetings
We didn't have a single meeting face-to-face. All of our meetings were held with communicator and via phone: no travelling, clear facilitation, fast decision making and common agreement of decisions. Our longest meeting took 2 hours.

Intuition or simply luck?
The common sentence from us was: let's go with this and see what happens. After two first rounds we didn't fully understand what was happening. Once we got the understanding it was pure curiosity to see how our decisions affected results. It was very exciting to see the results.

Patrick Ekman, Manager CS Relations/Business Development, FORTUM DISTRIBUTION AB

10 June 2009

BTS Crowns 2008 Global Tournament Champions


Teams from Accenture, DB Schenker, SKF Take Top Honors

CANNES, France and STAMFORD, Connecticut, June 10, 2009 – BTS, the world leader in customized business simulations and other discovery learning solutions, today announced the winners of the 2008 BTS Global Tournament. The top three winning teams defeated hundreds of competitors in a series of simulations to run the most successful multinational corporation, as defined by a Balanced Scorecard - encompassing market share, revenues, cash on hand, and stakeholder satisfaction. Top winners DB Schenker Poland, second place winners Accenture Spain, and third place winners SKF Austria were honored in an awards ceremony hosted by the BTS Tournaments division of BTS on April 25.


"These three teams put their business acumen, teamwork and entrepreneurial skills to work to successfully run three simulated companies over four-year periods, and have gained at least that many years of experience, as well as cross-disciplinary expertise, in the process," said Taavi Thiel, senior vice president, BTS, and head of BTS Tournaments.

The winners of the 2009 BTS Global Tournament will be determined in late 2009. The 2010 BTS Global Tournament commences September 9, with additional first round start dates of October 6 and November 4. More information about BTS Tournaments is available at www.btstournaments.com and www.bts.com.

About BTS
BTS is the world leader in customized business simulations and other discovery learning solutions that enable leading corporations to change, grow and succeed. We partner with our clients to develop the mindset and capabilities that their people need to accelerate change and improve business results.

BTS has 300 highly talented professionals serving over 400 clients, including 40 of the US Fortune 100 companies and 25 of the Global Fortune 100 world’s largest corporations. Select BTS clients include AT&T, Ericsson, Kimberly-Clark, Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Unilever and Xerox.

BTS adds value to its clients through three practice areas: Strategic Alignment & Business Acumen, Leadership & Management, and Sales. BTS also has strong capabilities in Operational Excellence & Project Leadership and offers an innovative Engage for Change process.

BTS serves its clients from offices in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Stamford, Beijing, Bilbao, Brussels, Helsinki, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Oslo, Singapore, Stockholm, and Sydney.

For more information please visit www.bts.com.

# # #
Media Contacts:

Emma Rosen
Activa PR for BTS
+1-415-385-2843
emma[#]activapr.com

Rommin Adl
Executive Vice President, BTS USA
+1-484-391-2902
Rommin.Adl[#]bts.com

13 March 2009

BTS offers way to be virtual boss

Published in THE STAMFORD ADVOCATE
By Richard Lee, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 03/12/2009

Rommin Adl, Executive Vice President of BTS USA Inc., stands in the company's office at First Stamford Place. BTS, a developer of customized business-simulation software, is launching BTS Tournaments in the United States next month.

Baseball, basketball and football come to mind when thinking of team sports, but now a company that has its U.S. base in Stamford is translating the excitement of team competition to the business arena.

BTS, a developer of customized business-simulation software, is launching BTS Tournaments in the United States.

The technology was developed by Finland-based Business Game Factory, which BTS bought in 2003.

Now, companies can pit teams of three to five in these tournaments, as they simulate running multinational companies over four years. The games provide a cost-effective way for managers to apply business skills, according to Rommin Adl, executive vice president of BTS USA Inc. The first tournament is next month.

"BTS Tournaments is truly a unique offering in the e-learning, virtual learning space. We have been successfully offering this in Europe and other parts of the world for several years," Adl said, touting the games' usefulness in a tough economy. BTS has been spreading the word to its 125,000 North American clients, saying the games help build skills in strategic and systems thinking, finance, customer focus, marketing and competition.

"Throughout its 12-year history, BGF has served more than 30,000 participants in 65 countries, including teams from Accenture, Ericsson and Nokia. Participants give the experience extremely positive reviews," Adl said.
Rommin Adl, executive vice president of BTS USA Inc., stands in the company's office at First Stamford Place in 2004. BTS, a developer of customized business-simulation software, is launching BTS Tournaments in the United States next month.

Tournaments are held over eight weeks with four to 10 teams.

"Our new tournament portfolio is built based on excitement and engaging learning with a variety of customization options. We believe the competitive nature of our concept will be received with great enthusiasm," said BTS Senior Vice President Taavi Thiel.
Businesses increasingly see the value of serious gaming, said Lisa Mercurio, director of the Fairfield County Information Exchange at The Business Council of Fairfield County.

"Many now in the workplace have been raised on simulation gaming -- to take that platform into the global marketplace to train and strengthen distributed work forces makes sense," she said. "Competition can be a great teacher, particularly in challenging economic times.

"The future for serious gaming is strong as people adopt technology and "Millenials" -- those born from 1977 to 2000 -- enter the workplace, but companies must see benefits, said Thomas Keitt, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc.

Developers of online training games pitch them as cost-efficient, Keitt said, and that may be the case in a disaster simulation.

"Things get squishy when you talk about business training -- custom games can cost between $300,000 and $1 million," he said. "Over the long haul, these games might save the company money if they use the game over and over, but it can be a great upfront investment."



http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/ci_11900307


10 February 2009

BTS Launches First U.S. Online Business Tournaments

Leading Customized Simulations Provider Offers Cost-Effective Tournament Solutions for Business Skills Training

Stamford, CT, February 10, 2009 – BTS, the world leader in customized business simulations and other discovery-based learning solutions, today announced the launch of BTS Tournaments in the U.S. BTS Tournaments integrates BTS-owned, Finland-based, Business Game Factory (BGF), the world leader in web-based business simulation tournaments, with BTS's development and distribution expertise. Now U.S.-based teams can participate in these acclaimed business tournaments, in which teams of 3-5 people run a simulated multinational company over 4 fiscal years, against real competitors in a virtual market environment. Generating high levels of excitement, these open tournaments provide a flexible and cost-effective, yet powerful way for companies to give managers an integrated application of business skills in a time-sensitive, competitive environment. The first U.S. tournament heat will commence in April.

Like BTS custom simulations, BTS Tournaments emphasize an engaging and effective way for managers to build business acumen including: strategic & systems thinking, financial acumen, customer focus, market and competition savvy. The program is also a powerful team building experience. BTS Tournaments boasts many years of success in "serious business games." Throughout its 12-year history, BGF has served more than 30,000 participants in 65 countries, including teams from Accenture, Ericsson, and Nokia. Participants give the experience extremely positive reviews -- 98% would recommend the BTS Tournament experience to others.

In a challenging economic environment, learning and development organizations are increasingly turning to BTS for new solutions that provide the high engagement and impact of discovery learning for both business acumen and strategic execution. BTS will offer three types of tournaments to meet a variety of client needs:

• Global Tournaments: open tournaments for teams from a variety of companies, industries and geographies globally to enhance business acumen, strengthen execution skills and build teamwork

• Custom Tournaments: client-specific tournaments customized to solutions for clients with distributed and global workforces who need to align the organization to their strategy and enhance business acumen of business units, departments or high-potential leader groups

• Sponsored Tournaments: custom and/or best practice industry tournaments for companies, organizations and associations that need to build brands, strengthen networks and align to shared goals

"BTS Tournaments is truly a unique offering in the elearning/virtual learning space. We have been successfully offering this in Europe and other parts of the world for several years. Our upgraded platform and new tournament portal will make this a valued offering by our clients and companies seeking high impact, cost effective learning in a tough economy" said Rommin Adl, executive vice president, BTS. "This product is just one of a suite of highly innovative interactive tools and custom built solutions. We expect this to be a continuing trend for the coming year into which our investment will reap benefits for customers."

“Our new tournament portfolio is built based on excitement and engaging learning with a variety of customization options. We believe the competitive nature of our concept will be received with great enthusiasm in the US market,” said Taavi Thiel, senior vice president, BTS, and recent president, Business Game Factory.

The new BTS Tournaments website can be viewed by visiting www.btstournaments.com. The new state-of-the-art BTS Tournament simulation platform will be launched in April and incorporates feedback from hundreds of teams who have participated in the competitions. The new tournament will provide more intense competitions to participating teams and the companies that sponsor them.


About BTS

BTS is the world leader in customized business simulations and other discovery learning solutions that enable leading corporations to change, grow and succeed. We partner with our clients to develop the mindset and capabilities that their people need to accelerate change and improve business results.

BTS has 300 highly talented professionals serving over 400 clients, including 40 of the US Fortune 100 companies and 25 of the Global Fortune 100 world’s largest corporations. Select BTS clients include AT&T, Ericsson, Kimberly-Clark, Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Unilever and Xerox.

BTS adds value to its clients through three practice areas: Strategic Alignment & Business Acumen, Leadership & Management, and Sales. BTS also has strong capabilities in Operational Excellence & Project Leadership and offers an innovative Engage for Change process.

BTS serves its clients from offices in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Stamford, Beijing, Bilbao, Brussels, Helsinki, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Oslo, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney.

For more information please visit www.bts.com.

# # #


Media Contacts:


Marina Greenwood
Activa PR for BTS
+1-415-776-5350
marina [#] activapr.com


Rommin Adl
Executive Vice President, BTS USA
+1-484-391-2902
Rommin.Adl [#] bts.com


22 January 2009

NOKIA TEAM: What Is Needed for Success in the BTS Business Tournament - the Story of Team Turing&Co.



Success Factors for BTS Business Tournament:

- Motivation - Constant motivation is a must-have and the main key to success. In this case, while crunching numbers week after week it helped greatly to remember that we are on the road to Cannes.

- Crossfunctionality - The tournament demonstrates well the importance of not to sub-optimize but to think holistically, whereas the human nature tends to lure one to overemphasize the importance of his/her own functional area. Hence, a crossfunctional - or crossfunctionally minded - team is an asset.

- Time & Energy - For sure the competition required significant amount of both, but at the same time it was even surprisingly enlightening, rewarding and fun. Especially understanding the starting position and the market overall in the beginning was crucial. The last rounds were already rather routine for us.

- Strategy, Analytics & Intuition - Managing a large multinational company is challenging and we kept wondering "What would Olli-Pekka (Nokia CEO) do". Having a clear direction (strategy), understanding the situation (hard core analytics) and coping with uncertainty (intuition) proved to be a winning recipe.

- Physical Fitness - Like in any professional sport, we believe that also in this tournament excellent physical fitness takes you far. Hence we combined finetuning our analytical skills with running and gym. We plan to continue our training program and to be very fit for the semi-finals and finals - and for the beach in Cannes!

Johanna Lampinen (Development Manager, DSN Design at NOKIA),
Maija Kaukonen (Manager, Lifecycle Management - Analysis at NOKIA),
& Pekka Kokko (Manager, Marketing Investment Management at NOKIA)