Business Simulation Games

Simulation games have been successful in training armed forces, airline pilots and rescue teams to respond to high risk circumstances. Running a business can be complex and risky. The best and safest way to learn how to run a business is by actually running a business with simulation games. The high education value of business simulation games has been recognized by many business and economics schools worldwide. They have been using business simulation games to enhance the core curricula, reinforce learning objectives and provide interactive learning environments.

What are Business Simulation Games?

Business leaders need to foresee changes, map out company goals, manage resources and inspire others by example. Business simulation games are tools for building the essential skills for running a business. In most popular games players participate online and compete with many other participants in building and running companies. The resulting learning experience is highly engaging and interactive. For most effective learning outcomes, simulation games in education should be followed by comprehensive instructor-led discussions in face-to-face or virtual classrooms.

Business Simulation Games Benefits

Business simulation games provide a range of benefits in business and economics education, including

Developing business competency
Building real-world experience
Showing effects of organisational change in a risk free environment
Experimenting and testing hypotheses in complex economic systems
Providing hands-on experience
Driving improved business results
Testing a range of business strategies for the best results
Improving learner motivation
Developing learner communication and inter-personal skills
Being cost effective and easy to deploy

Business Simulation Games Learning Objectives

Business simulation games in education are typically used to enhance the core curriculum and illuminate the key concepts. As such, they are used as a supplementary tool in a face-to-face, elearning or blended delivery of business and economics course. The learning objectives that can be reinforced by business simulation games involve

Developing strategic management skills
Organizing business communication
Designing coaching strategies for employees
Developing business processes
Building project management skills
Understanding market competition including micro- and macroeconomic models
Leading change and innovation
Understanding product life cycle, economies of scale and corporate accounting
Motivating and engaging employees

Selecting Business Simulation Games for Education

Here are some basic guidelines for selecting an appropriate business simulation game for teaching a business or economics course

Select a simulation game that is relevant for the required learning objectives
Select a simulation game that has been used by highly regarded universities, companies or professional associations
Select a simulation game that is easy to use and teach
Select a simulation game with good customer support

Business Simulation Games Case Studies

We present case studies of best business simulation games, used at reputable universities for developing business, finance and economic skills.

The Capstone Business Simulation is used at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business for teaching competitive strategy. Capstone is a business simulation game developed to teach strategies, competitive analysis and finance for building a successful company.

The main challenge for the players is to develop a strategy to turn around a poor- performing company, while meeting customer demands for improved and more cost effective products.

Marketplace Live is a family of business simulation games, aimed at specific marketing and business courses. In simulation sessions students create new businesses, select business strategies and tactics, with the aim to maximize the profits. They are able to relate each decision to the company’s financial performance and observe the financial implications of their actions. The simulations help them to gain a perspective on how various business units interconnect and how the overall business operates.

There are a number of built-in assessment tools designed to measure students’ progress and learning during the simulation. The simulation game has been used for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in many business schools worldwide.

For example, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Marketplace simulation has been used as introductory as well as capstone experience for the MBA and EMBA students.

The EIS Simulation is a multimedia learning tool that engages learners in implementing a major change in a corporation. Specifically, participants are challenged to convince a company division’s management team to adopt an important innovation, an Executive Information System (EIS), which provides increased transparency and reporting throughout the corporation.

In the course of the simulation, players use various tactics to persuade the managers to adopt the planned innovation. As soon as they apply a tactic, they obtain feedback regarding the effect of their actions. The simulation goal is to achieve as many adopters as possible, conquering various forms of resistance to change. The simulation game provides training in change management, organizational behaviour, communication, technology management, strategy and teamwork.

The EIS simulation has been used in many universities worldwide, such as Cambridge, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Columbia etc.

The main drawback of business simulation games is a limited offer and making it difficult for teachers to find games relevant to specific learning objectives.

We invite you to share your experience in using business simulation games in education.