2009 GMC China Harbin Seminar, organized by GMC China Organising Committee, was held last month in Harbin, Capital of Heilongjiang Province, in Northeast China.
More than 60 Deans, professors and teachers from 53 universities and business schools from all over China; participated in the seminar. Frank Zhuge, Director of GMC China, introduced the GMC to the audience in the opening ceremony.  During the 2-day seminar, 8 teachers from 6 universities shared their experiences in the competition with all of the participants.  China’s GMC registration began in early September, already there are nearly 500 teams from more than 60 universities, have been registered to compete in GMC China 2009 edition.

The Global Management Challenge 2009 starts on November 2nd.
Meanwhile, during the National Final of the Global Management Challenge 2008, in March 2009, we were proud to announce an award to a team of students, which were sponsored by Martin Bank.
The award was given for their remarkable performance during the competition. Although they were not one of the 8 teams to qualify for the Greece Final, they were very close to participating in the final. The extraordinary fact about them was that these 5 students had never met during the competition in order to make their decisions. The only means of communication they had was through Skype, MSN, Facebook and sms...  The reason was that these 5 persons were spread around five different locations in Greece and Great Britain.  So, although they had many technical problems in communicating and taking decisions, they never gave up and actually managed to win the 2nd place in their group, during the second round of the competition.  We strongly believe that such efforts must always be rewarded.
What intrigued us to award them? It was their testimonial of course: “The experience for 5 friends to take part in a major event that is not just a strategic game, while being geographically spread over Chios, Korinthos, London, Edinburgh and Athens, and communicating only through the internet: it is more than amazing!!!

Poland was the first country in middle-eastern Europe which joined Global Management Challenge network. Fast development and outstanding results of Polish teams simply surpassed organizers’ expectations. This year BIGRAM Personnel Consulting Company (the organizer in Poland) is pleased to celebrate the jubilee as the domestic edition is taking place already for the tenth time. There was a record breaking number of 534 teams (almost 2500 persons!) participating the contest. 144 teams have been qualified to the second stage and this month they started the fight for the promotion to national finals. The best team will obviously represent Poland at the International Final in Russia. It is worth mentioning that Polish teams usually do very well (mastership in 2004, vice-mastership in 2005, 2006 and 2008, forth position in 2007).
The general sponsors of the jubilee Polish edition are: Millennium Bank, Deloitte, METRO Group and Telekomunikacja Polska. The honorary patrons of the contest are Warsaw Stock Exchange and National Bank of Poland. One of the partners is Kozminski University. The winners of Polish edition will receive an invitation to free postgraduate studies at this prestigious academy, tickets to Lisbon from TAP Portugal and other valuable prices.
Because of jubilee, the organizers have invited all managerial teams participating this edition to a special event “Play GMC – Win MBA”. Participants will have a chance to meet each other, listen to a lecture “Psychology of investment” given by Professor Piotr Zielonka. Moreover, volunteers may fulfill the standard GMAT test. The participant with the highest result will be invited to free MBA studies at Kozminski University. The national final will take place in the end of November in Warsaw.

Participating in the Challenge opens new horizons to banking staff, showing them how complex it is to manage a company. They consider their primary aim of participation in the Global Management Challenge as a learning process, during which they can explore the significance of each decision made.  This process helps to provide an opportunity to increase understanding of the day to day difficulties faced by entrepreneurs and some of the lessons underlined in the analytical process.
Francisco Thomaz; leader of the Montepio Geral Team, participants in the second round of the Global Management Challenge 2009: stated: “This participation increased our understanding of the challenges that our clients, companies and entrepreneurs confront.”  In his perspective and from the analyses of the results of his team, he considers that the competition demonstrates “a rigorous planning tool for the adoption of a well defines tactical and strategic plan to help the decision process. However, Mario Silva; the team leader of the Credito Agricola Team, which failed to reach the second round of the Global Management Challenge 2009, explained that “the learning process, generated by the simulation, enhanced their understanding of the industrial and commercial aspects, the pattern felt by companies investment and cash flow requirements”. He also emphasised the impact of financial decisions.
Carla Gouveia, Director of Human Resources, Banco Popular, stated: “From the feedback I received from the teams sponsored by the bank, one of the most frequently commented statements was the importance of how a small detail can change results in a significant manner.  It is important for Banco Popular to involve their executives in the Global Management Challenge.  It contributes to develop an internal culture of challenge, sharing of ideas and strategic development.  Sharing the same goals allowed the development of strategies and new dynamics within the teams.
Eight teams from the Banking sector will compete in the second round of the Global Management Challenge 2009.

In Brussels, on the 8th June 2009, Pedro received personally the CEL Diploma, one of two awarded this year, and the 10th accreditation since the program was introduced.

Around 200 guests, deans and program directors of various schools were present at the auditorium where the awards took place. Around 20 more other accreditations of different kind were awarded to different business schools for their programs.”

The results of survey were available to all the participants.