Contestants are asked to formulate responses and solutions to the challenges and e-mail them to the game's organiser.

The competition was launched in 1971. The sponsors of the event are Cathay Pacific Airways, South China Morning Post and Sun Microsystems of California.

In the final round of this year's competition, six teams each formed a 'television company', selling its products locally and abroad.

They had to formulate marketing strategies to maximise the company's profits while tackling various challenges, such as how and when to write off stocks of obsolete products to minimise losses.

The winning team formed a company called I-jaw. 'We did not expect to win because we had lost money in several rounds,' said Jason Lee Kwok-on, who was the team leader. 'The win really came as a surprise.

'We co-operated very well as a team throughout the competition. Teamwork is crucial. All members were enthusiastic and prepared for this final round by working on our strategies together and aligning the team's overall direction after work,' Mr Lee said.

Although he was team leader, Mr Lee said all members contributed equally in the decision-making and formulation of strategies, and they drew on each other's strengths and specialised professional knowledge. 'We were all conscious of changing market conditions and took the initiative in alerting each other,' he said.

The winning team took home a cash prize of HK$28,000 and four round-trip air tickets to Kuala Lumpur, sponsored by Cathay Pacific, and the SCMP Perpetual Trophy. They will take part in the Regional Management Game which will be held in Hong Kong in November.

The members of the team are from different departments of Hactl and were selected by their supervisors to enter the game. This was the first time that they had taken part in the competition.

The first runner-up was 3-Tenths Luck which was formed by four friends. They won a cash prize of HK$14,000. The second runner-up was Friends 4, which was also formed by four employees of Hactl, and it won an HK$8,000 cash prize.

A member of I-jaw, Wanki Wan Kai-chi, said the team attached importance to reaching consensus for major business decisions in the game.

'Arguments were inevitable ... but we always weighed all suggested solutions to achieve balance. We relied on the willingness of individual members to make concessions. We believe this is important in the real business world.

'We adopted an open-minded attitude to ideas and were willing to take criticism from each other. This helped us make the right decisions efficiently.' The only female team member, Ice Lo Sau-han, agreed. 'During the game we demonstrated a high level of flexibility and were willing to make drastic adjustments in our strategies when the situation required ... this may [have been] our winning strategy.'

In a dynamic business environment, a high level of adaptability to market conditions was a crucial survival skill, Mr Wan said.

'For instance, we suffered losses in one round and we decided to adopt cost-control measures to remedy the situation immediately.'

Team member Andrew Wong Ting-hon said as the game did not have a fixed format, and all the participating teams were required to make strategic decisions in response to the actions of their competitors.

'We were willing to take risks and follow market conditions closely to adjust our pricing strategies speedily and accurately.'

Mr Lee said the toughest part of the game was the second round in which the team had to conduct an overhaul of its strategy because of huge losses.

'This was the complete reverse of the first round in which we made substantial profit and were able to be extravagant with expenditure.' Despite the setbacks, the team persevered and remained optimistic, he added.

Mr Wan said because the team implemented cost-cutting measures, it could not afford to buy the business data of its competitors with mock money.

'Without the data, we had to rely on guesswork when we contemplated our next move ... the uncertainty made the game more challenging.'

Because of the time constraint, Mr Lee said future contestants should be prepared to make many compromises and be willing to see eye-to-eye on issues and challenges arising during the game.

Participation in the game helped enhance friendship among team members. Despite the additional workload, they said they thoroughly enjoyed the event and would consider entering the competition next year. 'We will definitely recommend the game to others,' Mr Lee said.

The team members said they were looking forward to November's Regional Management Game. 'We expect to enjoy it like we did this one,' Mr Lee said.