In the Business Simulation course, students, in groups of four to six, will manage a virtual company as an aid to learning, by doing, about the practical aspects of running a company in a dynamic international environment.
Teaching and Learning Methods: This course runs for 14 weeks during the spring semester. During the course, following predefined instructions, each team of students will make up to 12 types of decisions for each of the 9 periods. Decisions will be posted online before a predefined deadline, with the date and time specified. These sets of decisions will be entered into the simulation software by the teachers, and the results will be provided online to each team at the same time. The scores obtained by the teams depend not only on their own decisions but also on the decisions of the other teams. During the 14 face-to-face sessions, the instructors will be available to answer questions and provide assistance as needed. Between sessions, instructors will be available online, and a number of support tools and materials, such as videos and guides, will be accessible on the simulation website. The teaching will therefore combine face-to-face sessions, video tutorials, guidance and support from teachers, in addition to the materials provided online, to enable students to master the technical and practical aspects of the simulation.
- 'Executive Brief' - a short on-paper and on-line overview of the simulation
- 'Executive Guide' - a detailed online guide to the simulation
- 'Gazette' - an online 'newspaper', about the simulated world, available for each decision cycle
- 'Gossip' - a (mainly) paper-based 'newspaper' about current company results and actions, available most decision cycles
- Videos and other online guides and materials on specific subject areas.
There are no formal pre-requisites, though students having studied business and/or economics at other institutions, or have taken the 'Introduction to Management & Business', the 'Personal Development & Team Leadership', or 'Entrepreneurship' courses at Eurecom may find the initial learning to be a little easier.
The business simulation is a sophisticated representation of the real world with many hundreds of variables (currencies, interest rates, economic activity, government policies, etc.) most of which change each quarter. The student team gather information about the simulated 'world' - of four countries - through the simulation online guides, from 'newspapers', by analysis, and through a discussion with other teams. The scenario that we will be using is the world of chips and PC's. In this scenario teams, may: invest in R&D; build or buy production plants; invest in marketing or production improvements; establish sales offices; buy and sell products, services, and intellectual property rights; compete and/or cooperate with other companies; borrow (or lend) money, etc., etc. In short, undertake many of the activities found in real-world businesses. Successful teams will build their own decision tools or may buy them from other companies. The types of deals possible between teams are almost unlimited.
Students in previous courses report being deeply engaged in the learning process, and having a lot of fun while working intently to match the competitive pressure from other companies.
Learning outcomes:
- An understanding of the domains covered by management studies by getting involved in practical decision-making situations.
- An exposure to some basic management techniques, in the different areas of business management (accounting, marketing, operations, strategy…), and how these areas are closely integrated.
- An appreciation for the importance of the economic environment and its impact on company performance (the simulation includes an economic scenario).
- An understanding of decision-making in the context of a team (issues such as team dynamics, leadership, and inter-behaviour, will be experienced in practice).
- An experience of competition (there will be a winner announced in the final class) between teams/companies.Nb hours:
Nb hours: 42,00
Evaluation: Both teams and individual students are evaluated.
Team evaluations include company results: retained earnings (profits), dividends, supplier credit (negative); the company's working conditions at the end of the simulation; the quality of the two business plans prepared by the team; and the quality of the final report to shareholders.
Individual evaluations are based on: team evaluations, on-time attendance and completion of Learning Logs; results of two in-class quizzes; the results of two peer evaluations; and personal performance in the final presentation.
