Merry Xmas and a great year 2008!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

(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.

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.

(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

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

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

(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