CEO in Training
CEO in Training creates a gamified simulation offering participants the opportunity to manage a company operating in the competitive frozen sliced apple industry with responsibility for every aspect of the business.
Program Overview
“CEO in Training” creates a gamified simulation offering participants the opportunity to manage a company in the competitive frozen sliced apple industry with responsibility for every aspect of the business. Their task is to lead one of six apple processing companies, located across the country, through a single processing season, from September harvest, through the production season, to the end of the contract period. The frozen sliced apple industry is a mature, seasonal and highly competitive industry. Participants must quickly learn the industry and its metrics, design a processing facility, fund it through a combination of debt and equity, bid against each other to purchase raw apples from markets around the country, determine their finished product cost, develop a staffing plan, set compensation levels, schedule production, manage inventory, and bid against other players for customer contracts. Suppliers (apple growers) sell their crops to the highest bidders and customers (large food companies like Conagra, Mrs. Smiths, Nestles and Sara Lee) do not buy from every supplier, causing management pricing decisions to be of paramount importance. As the program progresses, random variables affecting regional crop size, apple yield and customer demand will force additional analysis and decision making to optimize company results. Once raw apple and customer contracts are committed, each team will negotiate with their competitors to utilize excess production capacity and sell off excess apples and/or excess customer contract obligations. At the end of the program, the team with the highest calculated ROE will be deemed the winner.
During each session, participants will also receive instruction and assignments related to developing a fully integrated financial model including a projected income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and their related revenue, cost and balance sheet drivers. An accounting primer and instruction on ratio analysis will provide each participant with the ability to read and understand financial statements and the stories they tell.
As the program progresses, participants will also receive instruction on a wide range of general business topics related to each phase of the simulation. Topics include macro economics, costing methods, interest rate construction, risk analysis, the time value of money, net present value Internal Rate of Return calculations, the business cycle and a general overview of bankruptcy. Some topics may be review for the participants, for others, this may be their first exposure due to their diverse educational backgrounds and work experience.
At the end of the program, each participant will have received a broad exposure to a wide range of practical business topics, become proficient in developing a fully integrated financial model, and managed all aspects of a company through a complete contracting season in the frozen sliced apple industry. Based on their ability to problem solve and think strategically, each participant will have full responsibility for their organization’s profitability or ruin. CEO in Training is designed to provide each participant a real-life opportunity to step into the role of CEO with the potential for the success or failure that comes with it.