BTS Tournaments

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T11:45:00.021+02:00

We at BTS Tournaments trust that you had nice Christmas Season holiday. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best in the New Year 2011!

We begin this year with two exciting sessions - in January and March. Sign up as soon as possible to (tournaments _ at _ bts . com)

Philips Netherlands - BTS Tournament World Champion 2010

2010-12-10T12:08:00.001+02:00


DWLC Team from Philips Netherlands From left to right: Levke Ehlers, Jeroen van Gent, Joris Docter, Arie Lakerveld

A big round of applause to this winning team! DWLC from Philips is the official 2010 BTS Business Tournament World Champion!

"The BTS Tournament has been a thrilling experience that captivated our team over the last couple of months. The challenging assignments and the constant pressures of the deadlines really forced our team to work closely together and raised the bar for each of us. The program has been very satisfying on all levels and we would recommend the BTS Tournament to anyone that whishes to improve teamwork under pressure within their company."

We look forward to meeting you in person at the Awards Ceremony in the coming Spring.

All the best,

BTS Tournaments Team

BTS World Final 2010 - and the Champion is...

2010-11-05T12:13:00.000+02:00

The Final was held on 4 November 2010, with the best teams from the 2010 Tournament competing for highest shareholder value. All the simulated companies presented a very high level of performance. The results of teams in first and second place were less than 1% apart, but there can only be one Champion!

BTS Tournaments Team is proud to announce the Ranking of the BTS World Final 2010:

Philips / THE NETHERLANDS - Team DWLC
Pan American Energy / ARGENTINA - Team Patagonia
JCI Finland / FINLAND - Team Spectre
JCI Portugal / SPAIN/UK/PORTUGAL - Team Megabuck
Abertis / SPAIN - Team GLDIATRS

From hundreds of teams participating in the 2010 BTS Business Tournament, these five teams climbed to the World Final. Congratulations to ALL competing Teams. It is very impressive how they managed to make decisions under time pressure, which only proves their business acumen. As it goes, only the three best teams are invited to the famous luxurious BTS Awards. They will be held in the Spring.

This was another amazing BTS Tournament Year! A big thank you to everyone who contributed.

- BTS Tournaments Team

Pan American Energy proceeds to World Final 2010

2010-10-29T13:05:00.004+03:00

Our team is formed of five people from Pan American Energy’s (PAE) Cerro Dragon asset (located in Patagonia, Argentina):
Ricardo Mazzola, Engineering Manager
Alejandro Raslawski, Region I Operations Manager
Diego Querol, Planning & Economics Senior Leader
Federico Caldora, Business Unit General Manager (Team Leader)
Rafael Villarreal, Region II Operations Manager

After two really challenging rounds, we are very glad to be part of the BTS World Final 2010. But it is not over yet, we still have one step forward to meet our objective… and it seems to be the hardest one.

In the first two rounds we spent a lot of time before taking the first decision to fully understand the business case, market forecasts and company profile (strengths and weaknesses). Based on this deep understanding of the big picture, we defined our long term strategy for each case. Once the first decision was made, our main virtue was a good balance between strategy alignment and flexibility to adapt to changes in the environment in order to capture new opportunities and minimize the impact of market downsizes and reactions from competitors.

PAE is an upstream oil & gas company, so pricing decisions were a new experience for us. We also learned a lot from each other during the tournament because of our different backgrounds (operations, engineering and financial planning), which were put together towards the same objective.

Definitely, the Tournament was an exciting experience and a very interesting way to learn and practice some key business concepts.

BTS Global Semi-Finals 2010 - RESULTS

2010-09-21T14:43:00.001+03:00

The Global BTS Semi-Finals took place over two sessions on 9th and 15th September. It was another competitive fight for highest shareholder value of a simulated company.

There were 28 Teams lined up to compete in the annual Global Semi-Finals! As many as 22 countries were present and the companies represented included: Philips, Nokia, NSN, Accenture, Astra Zeneca, HP, Ericsson, Statoil, etc.

Congratulations to every single one competing Team. It was extremely tough to focus on decision making in the limited time frame given. Only the best Teams get the opportunity to proceed to the BTS World Final 2010 (will be held early November 2010). And to remind you, top three teams in the world are invited for an unforgettable weekend away.

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

Pan American Energy / ARGENTINA - Team Patagonia
Philips / THE NETHERLANDS - Team DWLC
Abertis / SPAIN - Team GLDIATRS
JCI Portugal / SPAIN/UK/PORTUGAL - Team Megabuck
JCI Finland / FINLAND - Team Spectre

We wish them all the best in the World Final 2010!
BTS Tournaments Team

BTS Crowns 2009 Global Tournament Champions

2010-05-05T13:37:00.010+03:00

Teams from Nokia, VIPnet and Syngenta
Take Top Honors

CANNES, France and HELSINKI, Finland; May 05, 2010 – BTS, the world leader in customized business simulations and other discovery learning solutions, announced the winners of the 2009 BTS Global Tournament. The top three winning teams excelled over hundreds of competitors in a number of simulations to run the most successful multinational company, striving for their share of a virtual market and shareholder value. Top winners Nokia Finland, second place winners VIPnet Croatia, and third place winners Syngenta Switzerland were honoured in an Awards Ceremony hosted by the BTS Tournaments BTS Tournaments division of BTS on April 24 2010.

The basic idea in Tournament participation is for people to enhance their business acumen and financial understanding. There were some 600 teams competing globally last year and at the end, there were as many as 12 nationalities represented at the BTS Awards in Cannes on the French Riviera.

"I have to admit, this year's Awards were one of the best ever. The location and arrangements were luxurious, yes, but at the end of the day - it is all about the people. Even with a certain volcano erupting, nothing can stand in the way of great people having a fabulous time. Just goes to show, the top three teams earned their place!", said Petteri Salokangas – responsible for arrangements from the BTS Tournaments team.

Winning Team of the 2009 Global Business Tournament - Nokia, Finland:

Second place was achieved by a Croatian network operator, VIPnet:

Third place winners are from Syngenta in Switzerland:

Once again - a big round of applause to congratulate on their genuine success.

The next BTS Global Tournament commences in September 2010. More information about BTS Tournaments is available on www.btstournaments.com.

About BTS
BTS is the global leader in accelerating strategy alignment and execution, innovating how organizations learn, change and improve. We partner with our clients to build commitment and capability to accelerate strategy execution and improve business results. The unique BTS process offers fast strategic alignment and rapid capability building through:
• Business Simulations and experiential solutions

– the most effective way to help organizations understand, align and execute.

• In-depth customization to what is relevant and actionable on the job.

• A results-focused approach that comprehensively and efficiently secures and measures business impact. BTS adds value to its clients through three practice areas: Strategic Alignment & Business Acumen, Leadership & Management, and Sales Force Transformation.

BTS has more than 300 professionals serving over 400 clients, including 44 of the US Fortune 100 companies and more than 25 of the Global Fortune 100 largest corporations in the world. BTS serves its clients from offices in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Stamford, Bangkok, Beijing, Bilbao, Brussels, Helsinki, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Oslo, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo. For more information please visit www.bts.com.

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year 2010!

2009-12-22T16:02:00.002+02:00

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

Latvia wins SEB business simulation competition

2009-11-30T15:57:00.004+02:00

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/

BTS World Final 2009 - Announcing the Results!

2009-11-06T11:20:00.009+02:00

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:

NOKIA / Finland - Team Uision
VIPNET / Croatia - Team Red Devils
SYNGENTA / Switzerland - Team Aspire
ENDESA / Spain - Team APTC
SEB KORT / Norway - Team PLASTIXXX
NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS / Finland - Team Pohjatyö
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

RESULTS of Global BTS Semi-finals 2009!

2009-09-18T16:18:00.012+03:00

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

Global BTS Semi-finals 2009!

2009-08-28T15:38:00.005+03:00

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

Statoilhydro Business Development off to Semi-Finals

2009-06-30T14:20:00.010+03:00

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

NOKIA TEAM: There can be only one…

2009-06-22T15:30:00.002+03:00

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

2009-06-22T15:15:00.009+03:00

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!

2009-06-22T15:00:00.006+03:00

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!

2009-06-22T14:45:00.007+03:00

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

BTS Crowns 2008 Global Tournament Champions

2009-06-10T15:25:00.007+03:00

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

BTS offers way to be virtual boss

2009-03-13T14:27:00.013+02:00

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

BTS Launches First U.S. Online Business Tournaments

2009-02-10T15:00:00.006+02:00

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

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

2009-01-22T11:46:00.004+02:00

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)

Warm Christmas Season Greetings and All The Best for a Wonderful New Year!

2008-12-19T14:50:00.002+02:00

We at BTS Tournaments are very glad to have shared another successful year with You. Everyone contributed a great deal to make this Tournament Year even more exciting. Once again, congratulations to the Finalists, who have done a tremendous job in their performance, excelling in their business acumen.

We have a thrilling surprise coming up next year, so watch this space!

As our Neighbour from The Arctic Circle - Santa - would say - Ho Ho Ho! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Hyvää Joulua!

And a prosperous New Year 2009. Let's make it a superb one!

See you soon!

Taavi Thiel, BTS Tournaments
Together with the BTS Team

AstraZeneca Japan – We made it through !!

2008-12-19T14:35:00.003+02:00

This was the third opportunity for AstraZeneca Japan to participate in this Business Tournament and we became the first team to advance to semifinals!

What made the difference? Our strengths were –
· Variety of members from Finance, Marketing and Human Resources
· Weekly meetings for reviews and decisions throughout the competition.
· Guys who could enjoy the competition!

Our team was from different divisions. Yoshihiko Terada is a Finance guy who works as a financial analyst, Hitoshi Ishigaki is a Marketeer who is in charge of Portfolio Strategic Planning in Oncology, Shinichiro Mori is also a Marketeer who is in charge of one of mega brands in Primary Care and Fumiyasu Sakogawa is an HR guy who coordinates trainings in our Manufacturing division. We have extremely different backgrounds and that diversity worked very well in allowing us to make decisions by influencing each other.

Also, we held weekly meetings, 3 hour meeting before submission and 1 hour meetings for result review. Feedback from the review meeting was well utilized for the next round submission. Every day we learn!

Finally, we have really enjoyed the tournament, as it was exciting and fun although it was tough. Business Tournament participation had been prioritised rather than anything else. This had to be the biggest reason why we could enjoy and concentrate through the simulation for two months! (sorry, bosses!)

We really enjoyed it and are looking forward to competing in the semifinals again in September 2009.

Our motto is – "On va gagner le Grand Prix! La fête à Cannes!!"

Sandvik SSD/SIT to the Semi-finals of BTS Business Tournament

2008-12-19T14:20:00.002+02:00

The first international team in the BTS Business Tournament competition has been born and so far mother Fortuna has been on their side.

This team, GFG, consists of Sandvik employees (SSD/SIT) from both Germany and Sweden. Frank Siebenmorgen is from Germany, Maria Wesslegård and Per Hälsingdal are from Sweden.

The first round of the Tournament which started in September 2008 is already over. Four business years have passed by and Maria, Frank and Per have made it to the semi-final next Autumn!

Something that might seem to be a difficulty is that they live and work in two different countries. They do not see each other in person so often. Instead of physical meetings, they communicate through telephone meetings and video conferences.
- It works very well to communicate by using this technology, Frank says.

Understanding strategy, economics and the drivers for a company are some of the challenges the teams have in the competition. According to the team, other challenges include taking the right decisions and trying to predict how the other teams will act in the different rounds. That is not easy, but they learn more and more as time passes by.

- We have learned how important it is to have a plan and to stick to it. Another thing that is essential is to listen to the Market Analysts, Per says.

They all have different roles in the competition, Per modestly says that his role is to make the other ones happy.

- Frank is the financial expert and he makes all the necessary analyses. Maria is the one questioning things and thinking in new directions.
- We all work perfectly well together, despite the geographic obstacle. And we all enjoy good discussions and we have a lot of fun as a team; and that is the most important thing, Maria says convincingly.

Per Hälsingdal
Current role: Global Transition Manager, SIT
Team role: We all share the roles, but I am the President.
Contribution to the team: To make everyone happy, to be active in discussions, book meetings, send in our result to the tournament arranger and ask silly questions. In other words, to do what is expected of a President!

Frank Siebenmorgen
Current role: Manager SSD & SIT Germany
Team role: We deal with the questions and decisions as a team, but I believe I am the Financial Manager.
Contribution to the team: To be an active part of discussions, do the technical calculation of prices and sales volume estimates.

Maria Wesslegård
Current role: Special Service MES Manager, SSD
Team role: No specific role, a team player.
Contribution to the team: To take an active part of discussions, read all the material concerning the competition and come up with ideas for strategies and operations.

Abertis Championship winners!

2008-12-19T14:11:00.001+02:00

The Lynx Team is a truly multinational team of 5 members. Our lynx spans from Bolivia (Eduardo) to France (Françoise) and Spain (Xavi, Jordi and Adria). We like the challenges and we managed to make lively and positive meetings/conference calls where all members added value from their unique angle.

Eduardo has a friendly way to say business is business and stick to the common sense. Spanish Xavi is always looking at the risks and tries to keep the four legs of the lynx on the ground. On the other hand, Jordi likes to think out of the box and stretch us towards bigger objectives, and Françoise always making us think again about the whole picture and the balanced scorecard! Finally, Adria likes Excel spreadsheets and likes to coordinate the meetings while crunching numbers. This melting pot has been capable of having a clear sight for victory! That is the Lynx.

Team Lynx proceeds to the Global BTS Semi-final in September 2009!

From left to right: Jordi Bosom, Françoise Riou, Adria Canals, Eduardo Canelas and Xavi Serra.

Working instructions: How to go to Cannes-from SKF TEAM

2008-12-15T12:40:00.004+02:00

Pat Benatar was singing "Love is a Battlefield" - which is of course true, by the way - but now we can sing "Business is a Battlefield" with no doubt. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't have made this World Final more thrilling. We can only describe what was going on here in Austria - but let us assume the very same scenarios were happening at the very same time in some specific places in Poland, Spain, Hungary, Latvia and Sweden.

After you successfully managed to beat a number of other teams out of the tournament in qualification round and semi-finals, you will be one out of six finalists - leftover from 300 teams which entered the BTS Global Tournament. In the world final, do as follows:

Tuesday afternoon...
Schedule a nice little meeting in the afternoon, starting at 3pm. Well, at 19:30 you will have to order some Pizza to keep the systems running. The meeting will be a heavy duty test for your coffee machine. At around 22:00 you will be already more clear about what to do. Finally you send in your decisions for the first round...

Wednesday afternoon...
Same as above. This is the time to realize - there is some serious competition. Refine your strategy and put up an action plan. The Pizza service will come in again at 19:00...

Thursday morning...
Starting at 07:00 you will need some fresh ideas to improve your business and somehow beat those ...aarrghh... competitors. Good sales and production alone won't win the competition, pay enough dividends, motivate your employees.
From round to round you will come closer to the edges of your seats. The coffee machine will at this time be in continuous operation. Lunch is of course only sandwiches while you fight your battle...

Thursday afternoon...
Before you send in your decisions for the last round, you will already know that the final scores won't be far from each other - everything is still possible. Then at around 16:11 you will stare at your screen with eyes wide open - the relief... you will have to look at the results more than once to realize - your team has made it. Finishing in third place (optionally: first, second), you will be going to Cannes.

Friday morning...
Exchange nice mails with the other teams, have a look again at the pictures from previous award ceremonies, check if your dinner jacket still suits you, gear up your cigar depot and wait for BTS to book your flights...

Congratulations to the winners Schenker and second Accenture - be sure we will have a drink together in Cannes...
...and greetings to all from the third, team of SKF (Austria) - Erwin Übleis, Simon Blasl, Jörg Schlager and Klaus Zeppezauer

SEB's team Plastixxx in the BTS Semi Final: going the first step!

2008-12-09T15:10:00.001+02:00

SEBs team Plastixxx contains of five enthusiastic members from Norway, who daily work in the credit card business.

- Although telecommunication is a rather different business from ours, I believe we have been able to use some of our experience and business understanding in the BTS Tournament, says Brian Malm, teamleader of Plastixxx. We found the simulation very realistic and exciting, and we had a lot of fun during the four decision making rounds.

- I believe we won our division mainly because we did a thorough job setting up the company strategy, and following it throughout the whole tournament.

- We had a lot of exiting discussions in the decision making, but it really took both time and effort to complete the decision sheets during each of the four rounds. But it paid of, and we are now headed for the semifinal in September 2009.

- Plastixx is a team with great ambitions, and we have strong faith in the forthcoming semifinal in September 2009. We are really looking forward to the next rounds of competition, and we expect nothing less than advancing to the final next year!

Picture: The Plastixxx team is (from the left) Øyvind Christie, Brian Malm, Hilde Fredheim Høgberg, Ole Kristian Duaas and Eivind Løvig.

Tomm-Fredrik Olsen, Head of Marketing, SEB Kort

BTS WORLD FINAL 2008!

2008-12-04T17:09:00.003+02:00

This year's BTS World Final took place on 27 November 2008. It was a very tight race and everyone's mission was to make it to the very top. There were so many emotions, a lot of excitement, anxiety, and of course analysis and focus... From over 400 teams during the year and about 60 teams competing in the semi-finals, only 6 made it to the very top. This was quite an achievement!

We at BTS are very proud to announce the official ranking of the 2008 BTS Business Tournament World Final:

1. Schenker - Team LOGICART (POLAND)

2. Accenture - Team DTN (SPAIN)

3. SKF - Team SKFonic (AUSTRIA)

4. Nordea Bank-Latvia branch - Team NORDTEL (LATVIA)

5. Ericsson-Business Unit Networks - Team KEY (SWEDEN)

6. Nokia - CREATEAM (HUNGARY)

The Top 3 Teams will be flown in for the Exclusive Awards Ceremony in Cannes on the French Riviera in the Spring. There, they will be get a chance to celebrate their success together and receive their big and well-deserved trophies!
Congratulations to all Teams! You made this an experience to remember!!

Taavi Thiel
Senior Vice President at BTS

Ericsson Sweden in BTS Final: the backstage story

2008-09-25T16:40:00.003+03:00

On the photo (from left to right): Monica Jansson (Project Office Manager), Stefan Engström (Strategic Product Manager), Östen Johansson (Senior Project Manager), Mikael Wahlén (Career Model Project Manager) and Team Leader: Anette Jansson (Project Office Manager).

Ericsson is always committed to do good in business. This beautiful competition is no difference! The Team Key has found this competition very challenging and rewarding. We are very committed to go to Cannes, not being satisfied with 2nd or 3rd place. The first two rounds were very tough with fierce competition but we prevailed. We have overcome temporary setbacks, and with a lot of analysis work we managed to find a strategy that proved to be successful. We are in the finals; having beaten over 310 other teams. That is really a confidence booster.

The team consists of people from the Ericsson R&D and Product Management organisations. The team spirit is excellent with a lot of laughs and creative discussions. The basic round was extremely tough with our final colleagues SKFonic as one competitor. We meet again in the Final!!!! We are very happy to compete against such noble and respected companies as Nokia, Schenker, Nordea, SKF and Accenture. We will certainly do our best to earn the top position. The tournament as such is very rewarding in terms of knowledge and team management, thus we have learned a lot. It was very exciting in the semi final round to wait for each round result, the nails got short and the heartbeat was picking up as the clock was ticking. This type of market simulation is not only good for personal development but also a perfect break in the daily work routines. Well done BTS!

A final remark to our Final competitors:
The force might be with you and the wind might be blowing from behind. But, Ericsson with Team Key will fight to the bitter end with the goal to win the prestigious trophy and the total universal glory of being on top in BTS 2008.

May the best team win!

Best Regards
Team Key

Anette Jansson, Manager Project Office RBS Node, Business Unit Networks, Ericsson Sweden

Nokia Hungary in BTS Final: Looks like we made it

2008-09-23T19:25:00.001+03:00

"... the smell of the leather always excited my imagination
And I picture myself in this different situation
I'm a company director … lalalalaaaa"

We felt somewhat similar to what Sting sings in this brilliant song. Sitting behind closed doors, calculating, coffee after coffee, increasing pressure and feeling really important. For 24 hours during the semi-final we forgot about our everyday problems and most important decisions in our life seemed to be investing in the logistic and human resource processes of our Asian Magnetic Resonance Imaging business, or allocating money to R&D and so having a long-term effect on our lives. :-)

Besides finding the numbers for each cell in Excel, we continuously kept guessing who the other teams in the "BTS Universe" are, and what kind of thoughts they might have. Overall, this was really great fun. The 30 minutes between two rounds [waiting for results] seemed to be endless as we got closer to the last round. After receiving the reports simultaneously every member of our team jumped from His/Her seat and rushed to the "Createam Headquarters" with the new report in the hand, already having some comments about our expectations vs. actuals. Overall, the hardest part was anticipating what the reactions of other teams are going to be for the situations we were put in, and so basing our decisions on something without hard evidence. However, we seem to have had the right crystal ball, as we came first in the semi final. :-)

We are looking forward to the Final and really recommend to everyone who has a chance to go and find out what BTS Tournament is about!

May the force be with us in November!

- Createam

Greig Williams, Managing Director, Nokia South East Europe

Accenture Spain in the BTS Final: DTN's mission is TO WIN!

2008-09-23T19:19:00.002+03:00

Some moths ago… In 2008, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court called BTS for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Accenture Madrid office. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as consultants of fortune (winning round after round). If you have a (business) problem, no one else can help (increasing your profits), and you can find them, maybe you can hire... The DTN-Team.

Their leader is Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (Starring David Radío Gallego and co-starring Antonio Rodriguez-Vilariño Poza who is the specialist for the dangerous scenes), whose plans tend to be unorthodox but effective. Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Diego Ramirez Adrados) is a smooth-talking con-man who serves as the team's appropriator of vehicles and other useful items. The team's pilot is Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, (Sergio García Castilla), who has been declared insane and resides in a mental institution. Finally, there is the team's strong man and mechanic, Sgt. Bosco B.A. ("Bad Attitude") Baracus (Francisco Fernandez Parra).

Apart from the brave men mentioned above the team was led by two guest stars: Artemio Luna and Alfonso Peña who will be coming with our friends in the craziest adventures to achieve one target in their next mission… WIN THE BUSINESS TOURNAMENT!!!

Maria José Sobrinos, Human Resources Director, Accenture Spain

BTS and Northeastern University success story in “Business Education"

2008-09-23T10:43:00.001+03:00

Capstone Simulation At Northeastern

The Northeastern University College of Business Administration in Boston, Massachusetts, has chosen a new Web-based simulation for its undergraduate capstone course. Designed by BTS Interactive, a Web-based business tournament design company, the simulation is run in the last three weeks of the semester-long course "Strategy in Action". More than 200 seniors take part in the simulation. Students are divided into five-person teams, each managing a global mobile cell phone manufacturing company and network service. Their goal is to win the competition by conceiving and implementing the best working strategies, winning market share, and maximizing long-term shareholder value. The simulation is held in four rounds, each equaling one year of business operation. For each round, teams submit dozens of online spreadsheets that outline their financial and operational decisions regarding product line, manufacturing options, pricing and marketing strategies, competitor analysis and benchmarking, and investment in new services such as music or games. Those "year-end" results are analyzed and returned to them within 36 hours. The experience demonstrates the cross-functional links inherent in business enterprises, says Bert Spector, professor of international business and strategy. "The emphasis is not on the technology," he adds. "The emphasis is on the process of information sharing and decision making that occurred within the groups."

BizEd September/October 2008 (pp. 67-68)

The LOGICART team (representing DB Schenker in Poland) qualified to the BTS World Final !!!

2008-09-18T11:45:00.002+03:00

The LOGICART team consists of 5 people: Piotrek Bąbel (Sales Branch Manager), Mariusz Kozłowski (Project Development Manager), Darek Subda (Controlling Manager / Team leader), Rafał Tarasewicz (Project Manager) and Arek Wojtas (Key Account Manager).

The day of BTS Semi finals was really exciting. After the first round we were on the fifth position and we knew that it would be extremely difficult to win this tournament. Obviously we like such challenges! Then, it was only better: second place after 2 round and finally we were the first after next rounds. I think time pressure really helped us and forced us to focus only on the most important factors impacting our results, but it wasn’t easy as our competitors also did perform really well.

After all, we are definitely satisfied and look forward to the Final.

Agnieszka Józwik, HR, Schenker Poland

SKF Austria goes BTS World Finals 2008!

2008-09-12T14:39:00.003+03:00

Coming from Steyr, a small town in the middle of Austria, SKF rolling bearings as well as SKF BTS Tournaments participants conquer the world.The motivated finalists are team leader Erwin Uebleis (controlling), Simon Blasl (business development), Joerg Schlager (supply chain) and Klaus Zeppezauer (human resources) - in the picture from left to right. Veronika Pfeffer, participating in the first round, stepped out due to her pregnancy. Veronika, in this way we wish you all the best for your personal challenges ahead!

Over the last five years, SKF - a Swedish company and world leader in rolling bearings and relevant products - has sent over 30 teams from 17 nations to participate in the BTS World Tournament. "Out of those, three teams have made it to the semi-finals, and we are the first team to enter the World Finals", says team leader Erwin Uebleis without hiding his pride.

Being among the top six of over 320 participating teams of this year´s Global Tournament is certainly something special. "The first three will make it to the BTS awards ceremony in Cannes. However, we won't compete for the third place - we will go for victory", says business developer Simon Blasl, knowing his optimism was always reasonable so far.

Not everyone was so happy from the very beginning - besides the BTS Tournament, there was a lot of "real" work to be done. However, what SKF does - we do properly, and with the success in the first round, the fire got started. "Now we see the BTS Tournament as an excellent way of learning in a challenging, competitive environment and working as a team close to the reality of company management - including the time pressure" says Six Sigma Black Belt Joerg Schlager.

"The competition became more and more realistic. In the semi-final, personnel was increasingly important, as it is in reality. In the final round, we will probably have to think about proper training of our virtual employees - for example by BTS", says Klaus Zeppezauer, representing the HR part.

The Team of SKF Austria looks forward to the upcoming challenge of the World Finals - take the chance now or never, following the SKF vision "To equip the world with SKF knowledge".

Elisabeth Krennhuber, Personnel and Organizational Development, SKF Österreich AG

Global BTS Semi-Finals 2008!

2008-09-12T14:19:00.004+03:00

In September 2008, the Global Semi-Finals of BTS Global Open Tournament were held. Representing 17 countries, 38 best teams from the entire tournament year were competing against each other. The time for decision-making was short, adding more spice to the tournament excitement.

We are proud to announce that 6 of the semi-finalist teams qualified and are on their way to the BTS World Final. It will take place this November. The best three teams will be invited to our prestigious BTS Awards Ceremony, held in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Please welcome the following teams to the BTS World Final:

Nordea Bank Finland - Latvia branch: Team NORDTEL
Schenker - Poland: Team LOGICART
SKF - Austria: Team SKFonic
Accenture - Spain: Team DTN
Ericsson Business Unit Networks - Sweden: Team KEY
Nokia – Hungary: Team CREATEAM

Congratulations to all the teams who were participating in the BTS Business Tournament!

And all the best to the Finalists! May the best team win!!

Taavi Thiel
Senior VP, BTS

SNPower Invest win the BTS Global Energy Tournament

2008-07-03T11:53:00.001+03:00

Teams from the Energy sector competed against one another in one of the most challenging Global Business Energy Tournaments to date!

SNPower won the Tournament with Vattenfall taking second place and Norsk Hydro in third. Jan-Erik Felle of SNPower's team “yPhone” said, “SN Power Invest participated with a team bringing in representatives from different functional areas to mirror the way we would work with many of our daily corporate tasks. The competition gave individual team members a good insight into how a company functions as a whole, and proved to be a good way to develop the key business skills of market analysis, strategy formulation, pricing, production planning and financial analysis. The competition proved to be a very good way to mimic the market dynamics, where tough competitive strategies have a direct effect on the market and ultimately on the fate of a company and its profitability. The Business Tournament proved to be a good learning experience as well as a tool for letting colleagues from various areas of our company get to know and learn from each other in an informal and fun way. A very good experience on the whole”

SNPower are now entered into the BTS semi-finals, where they will compete against other international division winners, upon success, they will be off to the BTS Finals from which the top three teams will be invited to Cannes, French Riviera for the BTS Award Ceremony.

Members of the yPhone Team are Hilde Gillebo, Kathinka Rudlang, Inge Løvåsen, Markus Wilkens and Jan-Erik Felle.

BTS would like to congratulate SNPower on their achievements and we wish them well in the semi-finals, well done!

For further information regarding the Global Energy Business Tournament or team registration:
Contact - James Baker-Duly
james.bakerduly(#)bts.com, +46 735 10 9397

Vattenfall Poland was ambitious from the very start!

2008-06-26T16:45:00.001+03:00

SPoT Team representing Vattenfall Distribution Poland will compete in September's BTS World Semi-Finals. On the photo: Przemek Karaś, Olek Knesz, Karolina Mucha-Kuś (team leader), Asia Burcon, Andrzej Szyp and Przemek Waszczyk.

The competition gave us an opportunity to feel like Top-Managers for a while! During the Tournament, we got an overall picture of making business, and it also showed us clearly how different parts of the company interact.

We learnt to develop trust in each others’ opinions, listen and communicate in an effective way.

What made the tournament the most exciting was the competition aspect. It was an extra source of motivation and it influenced our performance in a dynamic environment.

All in all, we experienced the BTS training as both exciting and rewarding. We also had a lot of fun!

Katarzyna Markowicz, HR, Vattenfall Distribution & Sales, Poland

John Holland ready to take on the world!

2008-06-24T10:04:00.001+03:00

Our team from John Holland (Australia's leading contracting, engineering and services provider) came from a diverse set of backgrounds. This diversity in skills and management style added to colourful, but fruitful, discussions on our BTS Tournament strategies. We found the development of our sales and marketing strategies behind a consumer product challenging at first due to our contracting backgrounds, but it didn't take us long to develop our style.

With the true spirit of the ANZACs, after trailing for the first two rounds, we didn't give up, but decided to stand behind our strategy and our consistency finally paid dividends in rounds 3 and 4.

John Holland, although predominantly operating only in Australia, is now ready to take on the world in the BTS Semi-Finals!

John Holland team: Greg Taylor, Jeff Price, Glenn Palin, Paul Gallo and Robert Rabie.

In Sandvik Systems Development we know how to run a business!

2008-06-18T11:30:00.001+03:00

We're doing IT! Team Sandvik SSD/SIT is a recently established Company with focus on growth and profitability within the business. Strange, isn't it?

Sandvik SSD/SIT is a fusion of skilled workers and managers from different companies and that is one of our key factors, says Jerker Lantz, the president of Sandvik SSD/SIT. Another one is our aggressiveness, stamina and agility. Quick decisions and risk management is our guiding star, he continues. Jerker is the Chairman of the Board and beside him he is accompanied by Anders Öhlund and Daniel Eriksson.

“Sandvik SSD/SIT” was the name we gave to our company in the BTS Business Tournament, where we were faced with a challenge of running a global company with thousands of employees.

In reality, we all work for Sandvik; Jerker is working as a release manager and project leader for Sandvik Systems Development. Sandvik Systems Development is one of two data companies within Sandvik AB with main focus on developing data services for the Sandvik business. Daniel Eriksson is working as license manager for Sandvik Information Technology. His role is taking care of all different kind of licenses and to coordinate all activities around licensing within Sandvik. Sandvik Information Technology has the responsibility for all data production within Sandvik. Anders Öhlund is responsible for data integration within Sandvik. He is also working for Sandvik Information Technology, where he runs a team with responsibility for all integration services within Sandvik AB.

IT is Business and Business is IT. Sandvik SSD/SIT are running IT and therefore, of course, we can run the business...

Nokia proceeds to BTS semifinals!

2008-06-11T16:06:00.005+03:00

”The simulation produced a strong team building effect, which is not so common in traditional training events. The competition is definitely a positive aspect and drives people to think through all the new learning and strives them to understand the decisions they are making. I believe that the learning value can be easier applied this way in the future. Our team will be able to perform better in areas such as pricing of products, solutions and services and understanding product / brand value on demand creation. ´

The simulation and the competition were well organized and we are eagerly looking forward to the BTS Semifinals.”

Hannu Eronen, Director, Services and Software, Nokia

Metsä-Botnia enters to BTS Semifinals!

2008-06-11T15:54:00.001+03:00

Los Molineros: Kim Lindström, Timo Malmi and Soili Numme.

Our team name LMFB comes from the Spanish words Los Molineros de Fray Bentos. We chose this name because Timo and Kim were helping in a pulp mill start-up in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. Molineros are men who build and fix wind mills that are used for pumping water for cattle. These pumps are crucial in the parts of the countryside that have no electricity, since there are over 12 million thirsty cows.

We were not able to meet as a team during the first two rounds, and after those rounds our team rank was 4. For the last two rounds we met and put much more effort into the decisions. We were mostly unanimous in our strategy and decisions; only some fixed expenses caused some disagreement. Timo wanted to spend more than Soili, but Soili understood better the impact of the growing market. A quickly growing business area does not necessarily need all that much marketing investments. We managed the risks by minimizing hazardous investments but also tried to seize the opportunity to generate profit for the company or difficulties for our competitors.

Molineros are ready to take the challenge in semi-finals with a relaxed Uruguayn attitude: Now or Mañana!!

BTS Awards 2008, Cannes, French Riviera, 3-6th of April

2008-04-21T10:30:00.001+03:00

The Top 3 teams of the world’s biggest business tournament were again rewarded in Cannes on the French Riviera. The venue was again very chic and prestige with plenty of success stories around the business tournament together with some good wine and delicious food.

“This year we had the great pleasure of having 9 nationalities present in the Awards, which is the new record. All teams presented their own cultures in an informal way during the Award ceremony with super enthusiasm and on top of the business talent we could also see some great “show star potential”. I would like to thank all the business tournament stars and our host and hostess Mr. Stefan and Sirpa Widomski”.

Below you can still see the final rank of the top 3 teams in the world:

1. Pöyry Consulting, Finland

2. Tecpterol, Argentina

3. SEB, Lithuania

Many thanks to all the participants for this year’s tournament!

Taavi Thiel
SVP

BTS Tournaments

Losing is not an option - UPM Kymmene

2008-04-18T14:25:00.001+03:00

OptiComm team from left to right: Denis Voyat, Juha Ukkola, Niels Schepers, Kevin Smith.

OptiComm team from UPM Raflatac set off to the business tournament with the above motto and came out as the winner of its division. The team is now preparing for the semi-finals that will take place in September. The members of the winning team come from different functions and countries in Europe. They posses s a range of business experience in marketing, business development, management accounting, supply chain and process development.

"We are all used to working in international teams, but have never worked together in this set-up before. Today's on-line group work facilities enabled us to work together seamlessly despite the distance. It also gave our team the flexibility to schedule our meetings around daily business agendas. I think we may even have proceeded more slowly had we had face-to-face meetings, as they typically include more argumentation," Juha Ukkola explains.

"We felt most excited during the entire tournament, which helped the team to weld well together. The competition in our division was very tough and we had to increase the level of precision every round to stay ahead of the others. The simulated environment created a high level of motivation for learning in a most subtle way," Ukkola says.

"We do not make similar business decisions in our own work, but we quickly got the hang of making such decisions. It was learning by doing," Niels Schepers explains.

"I was able to use statistics to propose company direction that I don't really have exposure to in my daily life. Essentially the training forced me to have a helicopter view so to speak rather than focusing on the detail," Kevin Smith says.

"The element of competition added an extra dimension to the business simulation. After each round we found the tournament more exciting...especially when the intermediate results proved we were on the right track. We achieved the victory through a good team work and our learning," says Denis Voyat.

"The tournament is an innovative learning solution introduced by UPM as part of the Learning to Lead framework. It's a great opportunity for the team to learn about business dynamics, and practise decision making in a safe environment, " explains Paul Norrington, HRD manager at UPM Raflatac, who advised the team to participate the business tournament as a training for a large commercial project they were to deliver.

SKF Austria proceeded to BTS Semi-Finals!

Finishing in first place, ahead of our eight competitors, it is the first time SKF Austria reaches the semifinals of the BTS Tournament! Our team consists of persons out of different departments (Sales, Controlling, Human resources, Quality and Supply chain), the different experiences supported our decision-making-process. After a period of 10 exciting weeks, where the simulation illustrated us the economy processes in a realistic way, we learned how top management has to balance the different requirements from customers, employees and shareholders. The training is an excellent team building exercise and we are looking forward to the September semifinals.

BTS Business Tournament 2008 - Autumn semifinalists

2008-02-19T12:42:00.002+02:00

On the picture from left to right Laurent Müller, Vesa Vilkas, Jani Virtanen, Erik Tigerstedt from GE Healthcare Finland.

September, October and November business tournaments are finished and we are proud to announce the new semifinalists that have qualified their way to the BTS Global Semifinals 2008, taking place in September. Congratulations to the semifinalists and also to all the teams who were participating in the BTS Business Tournament.

- LLC Stora Enso Packaging (Russia)
- GE Healthcare (Finland)
- NOKIA CMO (Russia)
- Metsäliitto Osuuskunta, Puutuoteteollisuus (Finland)
- Perstorp AB (Sweden)
- Kaupthing (Finland)
- SEB (Finland)
- Skanska Project Support (Sweden)
- Svenska Handelsbanken Centrala Ekonomiavdelning (Sweden)
- Schenker Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
- Forsmark Kraftgrupp Ab (Sweden)
- SMP CZ (Czech Republic)
- KPMG (Sweden)
- Accenture (Spain)

BTS Tournament is the world leader in web based business tournaments and organizes the biggest and most exciting business tournament in the world where leading international companies are fiercely competing for market shares and profits while developing managers and key people to lead their business in a profitable and more effective way. Just like pilots in flight simulators, only in business. Why should pilots have all the fun!

Northeastern University, Boston, Chooses BTS Tournaments for Team Competition Integrating Business Disciplines

2008-02-13T12:41:00.001+02:00

Boston, Feb. 12, 2008 – Northeastern University has long been regarded as one of the nation’s top business schools for cooperative education, graduating students with an in-depth understanding of the linkage between their learning and the real world. Now the business school at Northeastern has taken the commitment one step further, by requiring undergraduates to compete in a business simulation designed by BTS Interactive, a BTS company and the world leader in web based business simulation tournaments. The program, included in the college’s “Strategy in Action” course, requires students to work collaboratively in teams while integrating several disciplines learned during their studies. Coming at the end of their degree program, the experience powerfully demonstrates, to business undergraduates of all concentrations, the cross-functional linkages inherent in business enterprises.

Hiring trends at Fortune 1000 companies have shifted away from “content knowledge” to “systems knowledge” and an understanding of businesses decision-making across functions. Typical business education is taught in “silos” such as Accounting, Marketing and Management courses. Northeastern is on the forefront of modern business education emphasizing the interdependencies across functions within dynamic business environments. The BTS simulation tournament, in tandem with faculty lectures and support, helps counter “silo” curriculums in businesses education and expand overall business knowledge from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Northeastern runs the BTS Tournament simulation in the last three weeks of the semester. “We wanted a challenging capstone experience for a capstone course,” said Bert Spector, professor of International Business and Strategy, Northeastern University. The course included 200 participants in Fall 2007 and will have 250 in Spring 2008. The simulation itself involved teams of 5 students working together to run a business against other student teams. At the end of each ”round” of simulation, teams submit their decisions on dozens of financial and resource inputs online; simulation results are sent to the students within 24 hours.

“In the past, we’ve done simulations because it requires the students to integrate their knowledge across disciplines and also shows the impact executives have on other functional areas in a way that typical course work can’t.” said Spector. “BTS delivers business simulations for the most successful international companies, so we’re giving our students a rigorous experience.”

Northeastern selected BTS early this year because they were impressed with the simulations done for BTS’ private sector clients. In addition, they wanted a company that would provide high customer service during the process.

“We felt like we were getting a team by choosing BTS, not just a program,” said Spector. “The fact that the simulation was used in industry and not just in schools was critical to our decision.”

“Together with BTS USA we were able to create a win-win solution for Northeastern that will be a break through application also for other leading universities internationally and strengthen our position significantly in the university simulation tournaments,” says Taavi Thiel, Senior VP, Head of BTS Tournaments.

Taavi Thiel
Senior VP
BTS Tournaments
taavi.thiel[#]bts.com

Kaupthing Champion in BTS Business Management!

2008-01-30T10:03:00.001+02:00

(From left to right, a very satisfied managing director of Kaupthing Sweden, Mr. Robert Charpentier and the winning KBS team: Stefan Westergren, Christoffer Wildeke and Catrin Jansson)

In November 2007, Kaupthing Bank sealed its very first BTS In-House business tournament. Teams from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden competed about the glamorous victory of being the first Kaupthing team to ever win a BTS Tournament, and it was team KBS from Sweden who ultimately created most value with its virtual company.

The tournament was very exciting, and for long – team FIH from Denmark seemed to outperform its peers by e.g. having great utilization rates. However, the overall strategy proved wrong, and instead, in the very last round, team KBS managed to snatch the first place just before the runner-up team Finland.

Lots of "aha:s", and lots of fun, characterized KBS's evening work throughout the virtual fiscal years. And even though the competitors seemed to outperform the KBS company, the winning team was convinced that the tactics chosen were the right ones in the long run. Having advanced to the Semi-finals, the team, consisting of employees from the bank's research department, credit department and banking department, is proud of the members' stubbornness and confidence. Team leader Christoffer Wildeke says: "We did our homework well and were well prepared for possible market changes already after the first round. Additional understandings about the value drivers as the tournament proceeded made us just more confident about our initially chosen strategy. But it was meanwhile very exciting - and educational - from day one to the final closing of the books"

Petteri Salokangas

BTS Tournaments

petteri.salokangas(#)bts.com

BTS Business Tournament - Stora Enso Division

2008-01-23T13:14:00.001+02:00

After finishing first in the September 2007 Stora Enso Division, “BBTeam” from Stora Enso Packaging Russia are now through to the BTS semifinals for next year, after tough competition from their colleagues. The “BBTeam” lead by Tamara Tsurukina just made the first place before runners up “Arteam”, also from Stora Enso Packaging Russia. Team “Picea” from Stora Enso Finland finished at 3d place, Stora Enso Packaging “Oguretz” team ended up 4th, Stora Enso “Forest” team grabbed the 5th place and Stora Enso “Telegen” team came at 6th place.

The semifinal is run in September 2008 where the “BBTeam” will face the division winners from all around the world to compete for a place in the finals. The top 3 teams in the final will be invited to BTS Awards in Cannes, at the French Riviera for the prize ceremony.

Team leader Tamara Tsurukina had this to say about their tournament experience:“We were happy that we had an opportunity to take part in this training. It was very interesting to imagine ourselves as top managers of the big international company and to understand which responsibility stands in front of them and which decisions they shall make. It was a beautiful training for the company management skills development and for the understanding of the real economic processes which the model of the market simulates very realistically. Furthermore, we were caught by the competitive spirit and gambling that kept in exertion from the beginning to the end of the tournament. It was difficult to suppose that columns of boring figures can arouse so many emotions! And of course, after the victory on this tournament our pleasure was increased many times. Thanks a lot to the coaches and to our rivals.”

About the Championship in Business Management

The task is to gather a team of 3-5 participants, the team will then have the opportunity to run a simulated multinational company in competition with other teams for market shares, profits and revenue. Besides the fun and motivational competition, the purpose of the tournament is for individuals to further develop their skills in business strategies, management board dynamics, financial analysis and team work.

Patrik Thorman,

BTS Tournaments
mobile +46 70 783 73 89
phone +46 (0)8 20 39 35
patrik.thorman@bts.com

SEB Finland, 2007 winner of SEB Championships!

2008-01-23T12:25:00.002+02:00

After defeating the other participating SEB teams, Team HKI of SEB Finland won the annual 2007 SEB Championships in Business Management, hosted by BTS Tournaments . In second place was SEB Norway, third, SEB Lithuania and fourth SEB Germany. The Finns have now secured a place in the BTS semi-finals that will take place during the course of 2008. Here the team will face international division winners from 2007. If they successfully win the semi-final division, they will proceed to our World Finals, where the top three winning teams will be selected to go to Cannes, French Riviera for our BTS awards ceremony. The winners from last years SEB Championship, SEB Lithuania, went all the way to the BTS World Finals and finished 3rd. For that, they will be awarded in the BTS Award Ceremony in Cannes that takes place in the beginning of April 2008. Will the Finnish team follow in their footsteps to the French Riviera this year? Remains to be seen, may the best team win!.

Team HKI´s team member Tomi Tuominen said, "BTS Championship brought people from different functions and backgrounds to work together on a joint mission - with full enthusiasm. Although decisions in the competition did not have real-life consequences, the gaming experience, teamwork, tactics, analysis and the thrill were all very real. We wish to thank BTS for creating an intriguing and realistic simulation that gave participants the opportunity to put in their full focus and enjoy the tournament. For us, this competition proved that people, who do not work together or know each other previously, can form a unified team and concentrate on the task at hand - no matter if it is a multibillion company. Participants perfected their skills in teamwork, focus, analysis and understanding of complex decision structures - all vital to success anywhere, anytime."

About the SEB Championships in Business Management

The SEB Championships have been running for four successful consecutive years. The task is to gather a team of 3-5 participants. The team will then have the opportunity to run a simulated multinational company in competition with their SEB colleagues for market shares, profits and revenue. Besides the fun and motivational SEB competition, the purpose of the Championships are for individuals to further develop skills in business strategies, management board dynamics, financial analysis and team work. The SEB Championships take place every September.

James Baker-Duly

BTS Tournaments
+46735109397
James.bakerduly(#)bts.com

Skanska Project Support, Winner of September's BTS Construction Tournament

2008-01-23T11:38:00.003+02:00

After finishing first in this autumn’s BTS Construction Tournament, Skanska Project Support Sweden are now through to the semifinals for next year. The semifinal is run in September 2008 where the Skanska team will face the division winners from all around the world to compete for a place in the finals. The top 3 teams in the final will be invited to BTS Awards in Cannes, at the French Riviera for the prize ceremony.

Team leader for Skanska Project Support, Lars Karlson, CFO, had the following to say about their experience of the tournament. "We greatly enjoyed participating in this competition. It was challenging to analyze matters and issues none of us normally do in our daily work. It was also exiting to grasp an overall view, to make decisions based on our findings, and see how the results came out. A great benefit with this exercise is to gather people from different professions and to combine their knowledge and experience. For us it worked out well. We had fun and learned a lot which will be useful both in present and future assignments. We definitely recommend the BTS Business Tournament to other units in Skanska"

About the Construction Tournament in Business Management

The Construction tournament has been running for many years now with great success. The task is to gather a team of 3-5 participants, the team will then have the opportunity to run a simulated multinational company in competition with other teams from the construction industry for market shares, profits and revenue. Besides the fun and motivational competition, the purpose of the tournament is for individuals to further develop skills in business strategies, management board dynamics, financial analysis and team work.

Patrik Thorman,
BTS Tournaments
mobile +46 70 783 73 89
phone +46 (0)8 20 39 35
patrik.thorman(#)bts.com

VIPnet qualifies to the BTS World Semi-Final, again!

2008-01-18T11:30:00.002+02:00

Sitting from left to right: Jadranka Ranogajec, Iva Vodopija (team leader), Ratko Marolin, Silvana Madunić and in front: Aleksandra Gostimir

For a second year in a row, VIPnet enrolled two outperforming teams (Aragorn and Nika) to the BTS Global Business Tournament organised by BTS Interactive. They formed management teams of given virtual global companies and competed against seven other teams representing different real-life firms. The goal was to make strategic decisions to create the highest shareholder value. Aragorn stormed to the winning position of the division and Nika followed in excellent second place. Consequently, Aragorn proceeds to the World Semi-Final, which will be held in September 2008. It is worthwhile mentioning that VIPnet was also represented in the Semi-Final of 2007.

Experience – We had a chance to see all the aspects of the market, and we realised how important the group work is - you listen to the others, give your ideas, analyse results, sometimes bringing wrong ideas but overall it gives a good global picture of business. Most of all it was very dynamic and interesting, and in the end victorious.

Benefits – First of all, building the team spirit. Every one of us gave their best; someone was good at analysis, others in forecasting, someone would see the key detail and others the big picture. Second thing we got to practice was strategic thinking and finding out the key inputs for our „action plan“. And thirdly, perhaps the most interesting for Aragorn team, we had the opportunity to make decisions from top management perspective. As we mostly handle operative tasks in our work place, this was something new and very interesting.

Next steps – The competition goes on next fall. Our team will participate in semi-finals and hope for the best. Until then life and business goes on. Some of the skills we practiced or maybe just discovered in ourselves, we will continue to use and benefit from.

Merry Xmas and a great year 2008!

2007-12-18T11:55:00.001+02:00

From Santa´s land and on behalf of the BTS team thank you for your support and co-operation. We wish you Merry Christmas and Successful Year 2008!

BTS Tournaments

BTS Business Tournament - Results 2007

2007-12-18T10:25:00.001+02:00

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all BTS Tournament fans for a great year. It has been a pleasure to work with you all. We are especially grateful for all the wonderful feedback you have given us through out the whole year. This will keep us going strong also in the years ahead.

We are pleased to announce the BTS Tournament Ranking 2008:

1.- Pöyry Group (Finland)

2.- Tecpetrol (Argentina)

3.- SEB (Lithuania)

4.- Ericsson (Croatia)

5.- Mix team (Czech Republic) - CSOB, Burinka, Prumstav and Kite*

6.- Rolls-Royce (UK)

* The mix team has participants from four different companies: CSOB, Burinka, Prumstav and Kite

We would also like to invite the top 3 teams from the 2007 tournaments to Cannes to the BTS Awards, next spring.

1. Pöyry Group - Finland

2. Tecpetrol - Argentina

3. SEB Group – Lithuania

Merry Xmas, many thanks and congrats!

The BTS Cannes crew!

BTS Tournaments
http://www.btstournaments.com

Perstorp In-House, successfully arranged by BTS Tournaments

2007-11-30T11:02:00.002+02:00

Five Perstorp teams from all around the globe, participated in the BTS Client Tournament. The objective with the tournament was to give young potentials; the majority of them engineers, the opportunity to learn about the business aspect of a company and why certain decisions are made at top level management. Included in the tournament, the teams gained an insight into financial planning, business strategies and teambuilding.

Team leader Kim Lindborg of the winning team “Oxo” said, “I think that the Business Simulation is not only a great opportunity to freshen up those financial skills, but a joyful learning experience all along. There is the team dynamics aspect, the management of time and resources, the communication challenges and also a great way to get to know new co-workers. To me, some learning experiences have had more impact than others. I think it is important that each individual takes responsibility for their own learning from the Business Tournament. Sometimes the learning opportunities come up where you least expect them – it’s about learning what to do but also what not to do in the situations that we face. Thank you to all that have been involved in this. Now, me and my team are looking forward to facing the challenges from other companies in the next round.”

BTS will like to congratulate all the teams for their input into the tournament and wish team “Oxo” all the best of business competing in the semi-finals!

For further enquiries about the tournament contact:
James Baker-Duly, BTS, james.bakerduly[#]bts.com
Maria Hägglund, Perstorp

BTS Tournament Finals 2007

2007-10-12T12:25:00.002+03:00

The BTS Semifinals were arranged successfully and we are proud to announce the 6 best teams of the BTS Business Tournament 2007! The six division winners of the business simulation will be participating in the BTS Finals that will take place on 28th of November 2007. The finalists represent six different countries. Here are the best performing teams:

- Ericsson (Croatia)
- Tecpetrol (Argentina)
- Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting (Finland)
- SEB (Lithuania)
- Rolls Royce (UK)
- Mix team (Czech Republic) - CSOB, Burinka, Prumstav and Kite*

On the picture from left to right Kimo Mikkonen, Petri Jokinen, Tuomas Salo, Juha-Erkki Nieminen from Pöyry (Finland)

The three best teams in the World will be invited to the BTS Awards in Cannes, on the French Riviera.

BTS Tournament is the world leader in web based business tournaments and organizes the biggest and most exciting business tournament in the world where leading international companies are fiercely competing for market shares and profits while developing managers and key people to lead their business in a profitable and more effective way. Just like pilots in flight simulators, only in business. Why should pilots have all the fun!

Good luck in the in the BTS World Finals!

* The mix team has participants from four different companies: CSOB, Burinka, Prumstav and Kite

Taavi Thiel
Senior VP
BTS TOURNAMENTS

taavi.thiel [#] bts.com

Business Tournament successfully arranged for KPMG Sweden

2007-10-12T10:43:00.001+03:00

The KPMG In-House business tournament was successfully arranged by BTS Interactive. Four teams from KPMG Sweden competed against each other in a business simulation over four days. In the business competition, each team assumed a management role of a global company.

After a fierce competition for profits and market shares, “The Diamond Dogs” beat the competition and secured a place in the BTS Semifinals that will be celebrated in September 2008.

Charlotte Gustavsson, the diamond dogs’ team leader said: “It was a positive experience and we got to know each other better while working on the case. The questions related to operating the company is to a certain extent linked to our own way of working so it was fun discussing these matters with colleagues in a more relaxed manner. It was also interesting to watch how competitive it got between the teams - it was great fun!”

Top row from left to right - Jonas Elofsson, Katarina Bergström, Thomas Rynell
Front row from left to right - Charlotte Gustavsson, Anna Boberg

James Baker-Duly

james.bakerduly [#] bts.com

BTS Tournaments

SEB Lithuania to the BTS World Finals!

2007-09-11T10:03:00.003+03:00

SEB Vilniaus Bankas Lithuania has secured a place in the BTS Business Tournament World Finals, hosted by BTS Interactive. After defeating their SEB colleagues at the SEB Championships in Business Management held every year in September, the Lithuanians advanced to the BTS Semi-finals where they won all the competitors. The SEB team will now enter the BTS World Finals competing against the other semi-final division winners. If the SEB team succeeds a world top 3 position, they will be heading off to the BTS Award ceremony held in Cannes, French Riviera!

Team leader Virginijus Doveika, Head of International companies said, “This tournament is a great teambuilding opportunity as well as a chance to practice your managerial decisions in a competitive environment. In terms of competition; the bigger number of competitors you have (in one division), the more fun you get. The diverse background of competitors is the key thing to a great competitive environment, that's why it gets more and more tougher, as well as more and more fun, with every stage. Although in its infancy and less regular; I find business simulations way more practical than other training methods. I recommend the BTS Tournament, as we have another team from SEB Vilniaus Bankas starting this year. Now we are waiting for the finals, to get the most out of the tournament.“

BTS Tournaments wishes; Virginijus Doveika, Vilius Juzikis, Vytautas Ašaka, Julius Duksta and Vita Markeviciute all the best at the BTS World Finals in November, you can do it!

For further information contact:

James Baker-Duly, +46 735 109397
james.bakerduly [#] bts.com
http://www.btstournaments.com/

BTS Business Tournament - The Semifinalists from the April and May round

2007-08-29T20:07:00.002+03:00

April and May tournaments are finished and we are proud to announce 11 new semifinalists that have qualified their way to the BTS Global Semifinals, taking place in September. Congratulations to the semifinalists and also to all the teams who were participating in the BTS Business Tournament.

- ABB (China) - Team Hot Pot. Members :Lisa Zeng, Simon Zhu, Susie Yang, June Zhang and Charles Wang.

- CAPSA (Spain) - Team Vía Lactea. Members: Griselda Arias, Celia González, Charo Suárez, Abelardo González and Alfredo Ron.

- Ingeniería de Software Avanzado (Spain) - Team Hal. Members: Maria Cavestany, Luis Albea, Gloria Rodríguez, Israel Rubio and David Pradies.

- Swerock (Sweden), Team Pemalani. Members: Per Swensson, Martin Lindström, Lars-Olof Persson and Nicklas Stenqvist.

- Syngenta (Switzerland). Members Simon Grundy, Kriszta Olah, Franziska Badertscher, Rodica Evtuhovici and Andreas Steinle.

- Sandvik (Finland and South Africa) - Team Serv4U. Members: Timo Sokkeili, Hennie Potgieter, Danie Burger and James Ooshuizen.

- Stora Enso Publication Paper (Germany) - Team Hedwig. Members: Simone Fiedler, Sabine Dunne, Franziska Schütt and Andreas Irmscher.

- Red.es (Spain) - Team Ñoquia. Members: Elena González, Ines Hernándo, Alberto de Vicente, Noemí Lera and Raúl Ballesta.

- Puumerkki (Finland) - Team Puumerkki. Members: Ilari Varhimo, Petrus Berg, Jari Lehto and Niklas Sundström.

- Nokia (Finland): Team Prodigy. Members: Tuomo Puha, Mikko Rieger, Catalin Gheorgiu, Mikko Nurmi and Tommi Vilkamo.

- Anima Praha (Czech Republic): Team Mix. Members: Vojtech Janouksek, Jiri Plisek, Pham Huu Uyen and Martin Kupka.

Taavi Thiel
taavi.thiel [#] bts.com
http://www.btstournaments.com/

BTS Customer Tournament for Syngenta

2007-07-04T11:13:00.004+03:00

Five teams of Syngenta coming from different countries (Brasil, Singapore and Swizterland) were participating successfully in the BTS In-house Business Tournament.

Andreas Steinle, member of the winning team in the business tournament said: "What an exciting time! For 4 weeks our daily work life has been additionally animated by a challenging and thrilling business tournament. Analysing the market, seeking opportunities and making your own decisions - in short: running our own business was worthwhile doing a few extra hours. The competition illustrated in a very entertaining way, the complexity of a company and how difficult decision making can be. But there is not only the learning effect, which makes this tournament a special event. Competing against 4 other teams of the same company, the tournament became very quickly one of our main topics during coffee and lunch breaks and therefore also delivered a nice social component.

The final result of the first round tournament was very close. Luckily we managed to finish first, and, as we had to defend the leading position right from the beginning, it turned out to be quite a tough race. How we did that, we are not going to tell yet, of course. There is still a Semi-Final to tackle and we are very much looking forward having another go."

Team CellStar from Syngenta Switzerland: Simon Grundy, Kriszta Olah, Franziska Badertscher, Rodica Evtuhovici, Andreas Steinle.

For more information:

Petteri Salokangas

BTS Tournaments

petteri.salokangas [#] bts.com

KPMG Sweden will be participating in a Custom Business Training Tournament in September 2007

2007-06-19T17:46:00.001+03:00

Four teams from KPMG Sweden will compete against each other in a Business Simulation over four days. The goal with this In-House Tournament will be for the participating individuals to improve on business acumen or “Get the Big Picture of Business” resulting in an improved understanding of their customers. Another base ingredient is that the participants will use this training as a team-building exercise whereby team members can exchange business ideas, thoughts and daily work procedures as a unit.

Let the Competition Begin!

James Baker-Duly

BTS Tournaments

james.bakerduly [#] bts.com

BTS Business Tournament – The Semifinalists from the March Business Tournament

2007-06-11T14:16:00.001+03:00

(On the picture, GRANIOU team from Spark Ibérica Spain (Vinci Energies), from left: Raúl Olid, Carlos Fresnillo, Marc Kienzler, Edgar Meseguer and Luis Enrique Truc)

Once again the competition was tough but rewarding! We have 8 new teams proceeding to the semifinals of the BTS Business Tournament:

- Atlas Copco Compressors, Canada, team 40PLUS
- Turku Energia Oy, Finland, team MAKERS
- Spark Iberica SA, Spain, team GRANIOU
- SKF Industrie S.p.a., Italy, team T9ITALY
- SCA Hygiene Products spol. s.r.o., Slovakia ,team FEMPRO
- Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab, Finland, team BOTNIA4
- SCA Hygiene Products, Czech Republic, team BIMBIS
- KONE Liften en Roltrappen BV, Netherlands, team SNEBB

On the picture 40PLUS from Atlas Copco (Canada): Front Row - Serge Labrecque (Area Customer Care Manager - Eastern Region), Leo Di Bello (Sales Manager - Eastern Region); Back Row - Al Moubayed (Custom Solutions Manager), Michael Pezzuto (Credit Manager), Michel Favreau ( Customer Service/ Supply Manager)

(On the picture Maria Pennanen, Sales Director and Marko Ruottinen, Technical customer service from Oy Metsä-Botnia AB)

There were four teams coming from the in-house tournaments: Atlas Copco, SCA Hygiene Priducts, Metsä-Botnia and KONE Liften en Roltrappen BV.

(On the picture Jyrki Merisalo, Business Development Vice President from Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab)

The BTS In House Tournament is arranged as a closed session for the client company, which takes client’s managers to an exciting ride in the global business world at the top. The internal competition and networking will lead to knowledge sharing among the teams and benchmarking from other great talents within the organization. In addition to this, the winners of the tournament will proceed to the Global BTS Semifinals, where the world leading companies are competing for entering the BTS World Final. As a reward, the three best teams in the world will be invited to the BTS Awards, a luxurious prize giving ceremony in Cannes, on the French Riviera.

(On the picture SCA Hygiene from Slovakia)

Juraj Oravec from SCA Hygiene Slovakia said: "It was very positive experience for us to join this business tournament. Through it we learnt how important is to focus on each area which has impact to shareholder value of the company. It was also a good team building activity for us. Our vision was: "It is not needed to be perfect, but to be the best"

BTS Business Tournament is the biggest web based business tournament in the world. The tournament structure includes preliminary heats, semifinals and the BTS World Final. The three best teams of the year will be invited to the BTS Awards, organized in Cannes, on the French Riviera. BTS Business Tournament builds strategic excellence, management board dynamics, ability for financial analysis and fact based decision making and precise follow up.

(On the picture, SNEBB team from Kone Netherlands: Back Row - Paul van der Kwartel, Rudi van Seters, Tijmen Leusink; Front Row - Ruud Feenstra and Bas Degeling)

Some testimonials from the Kone In-House Tournament:

“It was an exciting tournament with several advantages, like getting to know the other team members coming from different functions in the company. During the training you can see the influence from the aspects (e.g. marketing, process improvements) that contribute to the benefits of a company and you learn to manage them in a sensible way. The competition was strong; this forced us to participate in the tournament in the best possible way which made the tournament even more exciting!! We think it is a great training simulation to learn from and above all enjoy it!” Ruud van Seters, Commercieel specialist, KONE bv Liften en Roltrappen

“My team found the whole experience both interesting and enjoyable. The competition aspect of the tournament adds an extra layer of focus to the learning experience. Background material and "rulebook" is valid and thorough.. It was a good opportunity to work closer together with colleagues that otherwise does not work together regularly. I speak for the whole team when stating that this was the most fun, comprehensive and, not least, instructive business tournament any of us has participated in.” Erik Johnson, Installation Manager, KONE Scandinavia

“The development of team’s financial and decision making skills are made by building participant’s own understanding of material rather than the memorization of facts. This is very effective method to learn how different functions work together in the organization. It also demonstrates how the top management needs to balance between different expectations of the customers, employees and shareholders. Business tournament was an excellent team building exercise. It will help you to get to know everyone in your team and work out a decision making process to reach the objective more efficiently. Overall, I can truly recommend this tournament to build better teams.”,

Tuukka Komssi, Senior Specialist, KONE Corp.

(Team MAKERS from Turku Energia on the picture from left Markku Vesala, Anki Kiviniemi, Mika Karbin, Jani Rantanen and Jukka Hummelin)

(Team Bimbis from SCA Czech Republic, from left Petr Sztkowski, Jitka Strnadova, Jozef Bojkovsky, Helena Dvorakova, Marcel Fajtova and Igor Holzknecht)

BTS Interactive and Aditya Consulting announce strategic partnership

2007-06-08T10:14:00.001+03:00

World's top online business simulation tournament organizer BTS Interactive , Finland, has made its new partnership with Aditya consulting in India. The partnership will be a milestone for both of the companies as the companies share the common values in Business developing.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the corporate culture follows a spirited trend towards the domestic and the international market. BTS Tournament is a key product, which will play a major role to spur the Indian market, thus is believed by the both companies.

BTS Interactive, which has leading international companies as its clients in 66 countries, is looking forward to work with Aditya consulting and discover the Indian market. Head of BTS Tournaments, Mr. Taavi Thiel hopes, the partnership between Aditya and BTS Tournaments will bring the glory of the world leading business simulation tournament in the Indian market. Mr. Thiel added: 'We are happy to have a Aditya consulting on board as our partner in India.'

Mr. Mathew Antony, Managing director of Aditya consulting India, is also looking forward for a great cooperation with BTS Interactive in the coming years. He thinks Indian market is fascinating and ready to make the best of such a world class product as Business simulation.

For more information:

Taavi Thiel

taavi.thiel [#] bts.com

BTS Tournaments

Mathew Anthony

mathew [#] adityaconsulting.com

Adytia Consulting

BTS Business Tournament Awards - Cannes 2007

2007-05-15T10:41:00.001+03:00

The luxurious BTS Awards were once again successfully arranged in Cannes, on the French Riviera, in March 2007. The top 3 teams in the world celebrated their victories together with the BTS Tournament Cannes crew. Teams from Nokia, Philips and Stora Enso were taken to exclusive dinners, to a private wine yard, a private residence on the hills of Cannes and cruises on the shore of Cannes and St. Tropez. The rumor has it that also the original Rat Pack paid them a visit and performed the old classic “come and fly with me” in tuxedos.

(On the picture the top 3 teams in the Global BTS Business Tournament in Cannes France: Nokia Finland, Philips Ibérica and Stora Enso Finland)

(On the picture the winning team from Nokia. From left to right Itsvan Kello, Stefan Widomski (board member of BTS Interactive), Anna Ryden, Pekka Säynätjoki, Jan Luukkonen (from BTS Interactive) and Stefan Nymander)

(On the picture the 2nd best team from Philips. From left to right José Ramón Córcoles, Ana Solano, Susana Sebrango, Juan Carlos Aguilera and Fernando Borau)

(On the picture the 3rd best team in the Global BTS Business Tournament from Stora Enso. On the picture from left to right Toni Tahvanainen, Sanna Sorsa, Krista Forsström, Anu Silvennoinen and Harri Taipale)

BTS Business Tournament - New semifinalists from the January tournament

2007-04-16T21:44:00.003+03:00

(On the picture from left to right Markus Alitalo, Akira Kameda, Tomi Kuparinen, Akira Nakano and Takeshi Oyama from Nokia Japan)

- Atlas Copco Spain, Team OLÉ
- Skanska Foundation Projects Sweden, Team Grund AB
- Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Oy Finland, Team RockRock
- Fortum Power and Heat Oy Finland, Team Chaleur
- OJSC VimpelCom Russia, Team Advanced
- Nokia Corp Japan, Team 5samurai

BTS Business Tournament is the biggest web based business tournament in the world. The tournament structure includes preliminary heats, semifinals and the BTS World Final. The three best teams of the year will be invited to the BTS Awards, organized in Cannes, on the French Riviera.

BTS Business Tournament builds strategic excellence, management board dynamics, ability for financial analysis and fact based decision making and precise follow up.

(On the picture from left to right Carlos Moreno, Eva Hernández, Emilio Diez, Marina Romero and Roberto Pascual from Atlas Copco Spain)

The participants will be acting as the management board of a global company with the task of running the business successfully for 5 fiscal years. The winning criterion is total company shareholder value.

96% of all participants would like to participate again and recommend participation to other colleagues.

(On the picture from left to right Matti Savolainen, Oskari Lehto, Petteri Kuusela, Sakari Imeläinen and Fred Nykänen from Fortum Power and Heat Oy)

(On the picture from left to right Kimo Mikkonen, Petri Jokinen, Tuomas Salo, Juha-Erkki Nieminen from Pöyry.

Suvi Anttila, CEO and President of Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Ltd. said: "We found the BTS Business Tournament very enjoyable and useful. It is great for team building and improves internal networking while at the same time challenging strategic thinking and analytical skills. We feel that the tournament nicely combines a big picture approach with sufficient room to maneuver and implement oneʹs strategies and tactics. The program is also very well organized and due to the conceptʹs flexibility, teams with tight schedules can also find the time to participate."

On the picture Mats Tidlund and Anneth Aglo from Skanska Foundation Projects. Missing are Joakim Berg, Frida Lindmark and Christelle Södergren. Mats Tidlund said: "The participation in the BTS Business Tournament has been an encouraging and enjoyable experience for everyone in our team. On a fundamental level, it has increased our ability to see the overall picture of business and how different business functions and the interrelations of these influence the performance of a company in a dynamic environment. The most important benefits for us were the development of our analytical and strategic skills and the improvement of the group decision-making process by taking advantage of the different knowledge and experience in the group. The competition atmosphere gave an exciting touch to the training and we will gladly recommend the BTS Business Tournament to other business units in Skanska."

Taavi Thiel
BTS Tournaments

taavi.thiel [#] bts.com

Merry Xmas and a great year 2007

2006-12-22T11:21:00.001+02:00

On behalf of the BTS Tournament Team thank you for your support and co-operation. We wish you Merry Christmas and Successful Year 2007!!

On the picture from the left Petteri Salokangas, Juan Llaneza, Jan Luukkonen and Taavi Thiel.

2006-12-22T10:44:00.001+02:00

This Excellent biography of Mr. Stefan Widomski tells his story of becoming the legendary Export Director of Nokia and the BGF Chairman. The book also includes the story of how BGF was founded and how the "flying embassador of Nokia" became my personal mentor. Currently the Book is available only in Finnish, unfortunately.

In the picture from the left Mihail Gorbatshov and Stefan Widomski.

BTS Business Tournament 2007

2006-12-14T12:41:00.001+02:00

After knowing the champion and the results of last year tournament. The BTS business tournament is starting again.

We are running our business simulation together with most of the world leading companies (in the link you can see some of our references). These teams have been part of the world’s largest web based business tournament, with more than 500 teams participating from 65 countries. BTS Tournaments focus on providing premium-quality business simulation training in the spirit of the company motto “Get the big picture!”

The idea in brief is to gather up team/teams (3-5 persons) from your organization's key people to participate in the event. The focus with this tournament is to develop your organizations overall business skills, team work skills, team spirit, decision-making skills as well as profit orientation. The team itself will be motivated by the fierce competition.

The task is to run a company on a world market in competition with other teams. The typical team is 3-5 Managers or future Managers who need training in understanding the big picture, how everything in a company is financially connected and eventually leads to the profit and loss statement. The team will also see how effective processes affect quality and profitability. It is also great teamwork training!

Learning objective

The objective is to improve participants’ business understanding and related skills

Skill improvement areas

- Big picture: “See how different aspects of business relate to each other!”
- Strategy: “Understand your business and position yourself effectively!”
- Analysis: “Know the numbers and analyze the market and competitors!”
- Decision-making: “Make decisions that move you towards the right direction!”
- Teamwork: “Get the full benefit of the different points of view in your team!”
- Processes: “Improve your processes for increased profitability!”

Starting options:

January, March, April, May, September, October and November.

Interested?

Please contact me and I would be more than happy to provide you with more information.

Taavi Thiel
BTS Tournaments

Taavi.Thiel [#] bts.com

BTS Business Tournament - Results 2006

2006-12-14T12:34:00.003+02:00

(On the picture the World Champion team "NetAReal" from Nokia: from upper left-hand corner Pekka Säynätjoki, Anna Ryden, Stefan Nymander and Istvan Kello)

RANKING:

1) Nokia (Finland), Team Leader Pekka Säynätjoki
2) Philips (Spain), Team Leader Juan Carlos Aguilera
3) StoraEnso (Finland), Team Leader Anu Silvennoinen
4) Ericsson (Germany), Team Leader Markus Feld
5) Vattenfall Europe (Germany), Team Leader Wolfgang Hechler
6) Sun Microsystems (Spain), Team Leader Cristina Aparicio

Novemver 28, 2006 -- Nokia Networks from Finland has won the BTS Tournament 2006 beating over 500 competing teams in the process. This is the third time that a team from Nokia has won the tournament with participants from sixty five countries.

The BTS World Final was fierce as usual, as the teams ending up as finalists tend to be extremely talented, disciplined and competitive. The World Final was carried out via internet, just as the preliminary heats and the semifinals.

The second best team was from Philips Spain. The Philips team was smart , leading the competition until the last round before the Nokia team took the lead and the victory. The third best team from StoraEnso Finland was showing steady performance during the whole final, securing their place in the BTS Awards, a luxurious reward trip for the top three teams in the tournament. The BTS Awards ceremony is held next March-April on the French Riviera.

(On the picture the second best team "Spainet" from Philips: from upper left hand corner Juan Carlos Aguilera, Fernando Boraou, José Ramón Córcoles, Ana Solano and Susana Sebrango )

BTS BUSINESS TOURNAMENT

- The biggest web based business tournament in the world.
- Tournament structure: winners of the Preliminary Heats proceed to the Semifinals, and the winners of the Semifinals further to the World Final.
- The program builds strategic excellence, management board dynamics, ability for financial analysis and fact based decision making and precise follow up.
- The business simulation is done in a team of 3 to 5 participants who all will be acting in a management board of a global company with the task of running the business successfully for 5 fiscal year.
- The winning criteria is total company shareholder value.
- Hundreds of companies and organizations participated in the preliminary heats in the 2006 tournament representing more than 65 countries.
- The preliminary heats are organized depending on customer circumstances and wishes, either as an open tournament or as an in-house tournament.
- The three best teams of the year will be invited to the BTS Awards, organized in Cannes, on the French Riviera.
- The tournaments are available in English, Spanish and Finnish

On the picture Stora Enso's winning team "Chu Ban Zhi" on their way to Cannes to the BTS Awards in the spring. In the picture from the left: Anu Silvennoinen, Harri Taipale, Sanna Sorsa and Krista Forsström. Toni Tahvanainen is not in the picture.

BTS Tournaments

- Founded in January 2003
- World leader in web based business tournaments
- Over 30000 participants from more than 65 countries
- Local representation in 10 countries
- Chairman of the board Mr. Henrik Ekelund (President and CEO of BTS Group), other members of the board Mr. Taavi Thiel (SVP, BTS) and Mr. Stefan Widomski (SVP Nokia international trade affairs until 2006, now retired)
- http://www.btstournaments.com/

More information regarding the tournament:

Taavi Thiel
BTS Tournaments

Taavi.Thiel [#] bts.com