CCRI business students learning a virtual lesson

First offered this fall, CCRI’s International Business Practice Firm gives students hands-on experience at starting and operating a business via a 2,500-member network of virtual businesses at colleges and universities around the world.

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This semester, the students’ virtual business VTOYS created a business plan, mission statement and marketing campaigns for products with the help of its sponsoring company, Hasbro, Inc.

Each student is assigned an identity – complete with name and job description – and has access to a computer to conduct research, create documents and materials and communicate with other virtual businesses.

Just like an actual company, the 14 VTOYS “employees” are organized by function into different departments: purchasing, accounting, human resources, marketing. They are required to buy and sell simulated products and services using fake money.

In doing so, the class must brainstorm marketing strategies and “as long as the products sell, they will stay in business,” said JoAnn Warren, one of two professors who supervise the program.

A challenge, she said, because when issues arise, “we aren’t here to give them the answers, we’re here to help facilitate the process.”

Finance major Bob Cottrell, treasurer of VTOYS, said the experience has been valuable.

“If any of us decided to open a business, we’d have a clue as to where to start,” he said.

Guest speakers address legal, procedural, contractual and other issues. During the fall semester, VTOYS incorporated as a business and developed marketing campaigns. Next semester’s team will actually begin the process of selling.

Deb Day, president of VTOYS, took the class to fulfill a requirement for a certificate in marketing.

“Someday I hope to have my own business,” she said. “Without a background in marketing, you can have the greatest product in the world, but who cares?”

She said the course, which has no textbook, has required the group to pool its talents to solve problems and has provided lessons in teamwork.

“And that’s what needs to happen at any company,” she said. “You need a good, cohesive group.”

CCRI President Thomas D. Sepe said he is proud of the students’ progress and that he hopes the program will provide opportunities for them to complement their classroom experiences with “soft skills” like communication.

“It’s like an internship, but you get to do things you’d never get a chance to do in a real business,” he said. “When there’s a problem or an issue, they have to deal with it.”

And with access to the latest technology, such as real-time video-over-Internet communication, the students are communicating with people from all over the world.

Sepe said, “They have all the elements of a modern business. With technology, you don’t have to be a huge company to be internationalized. Students also get really excited about business – they understand how it works.”

The college will need two additional business partners next semester, as it expands its program to create two new virtual companies. A partner firm acts as a consultant to the professors/facilitators as well as providing product information and catalogs for students and insight into the particular business.

CCRI’s eventual goal is to have five virtual businesses operating from its Warwick location.