Accountant beats 4,000 competitors, takes home £10,000 prize.
Product mix, persistence and a canny approach to making decisions helped Jeremy Fraser win the inaugural Fantasy CEO competition, an eight-week business management simulation competition staged in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland that utilized U.S.-based Management Simulations, Inc's (MSI®) business simulation technology. Fantasy CEO was put forward by Times Online, the online counterpart to leading daily newspaper, The Times, to find out who has what it takes to be CEO of a multimillion-dollar company. Fraser, 33, beat out close to 4,000 professionals and students from both countries over eight rounds of competition to take home the £10,000 prize (approx. $20,000).

"I wasn't that confident at the outset that I had much of a chance of winning," said Fraser, who, as an accountant, spends much of his day analyzing the effects of business decisions. "But I thought that being an accountant would favor my chances; that I would understand margins and how things interact."

During Fantasy CEO, competitors were tasked with managing a $40 million electronics manufacturing company through eight rounds, representing eight simulated years in business, in a super-competitive environment. Individuals controlled all aspects of the business including research and development, production, finance and marketing. Scores were determined using a range of indicators in MSI's Balanced Scorecard – a comprehensive measurement approach that examines each component of the business as well as overall business performance.

"Congratulations to Jeremy Fraser and commiserations to the thousands of other participants in the inaugural Fantasy CEO competition," said Dan Smith, president and founder of Management Simulations, whose Capstone ® and Foundation ® Business Simulation is also used for training by top business schools like Harvard University and Northwestern University as well as blue chip companies including Samsung, General Motors and Microsoft. "Business simulations teach important and complicated business principles. We are confident that participants now have a better understanding of the affects each decision has on the overall business."

MSI, the world's largest supplier of business simulations, teamed with Times Online as well as event sponsors, Organisation Analytics and Orange Telecommunications, to produce this unique business challenge. MSI, which already hosts two global student competitions, plans to partner with other media outlets and corporations to host public competitions in other countries, including the U.S., in the near future.