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The growth and usage of business games in management training programmes and university business courses are examined. It is concluded that usage is quite high in both, and those unfamiliar with this instructional method are encouraged to find out what simulation gaming is about.

Many graduates, especially those in the more practical disciplines such as engineering and social science, often take up employment in a manufacturing or service enterprise, doing work of a managerial/administrative nature. Even recent graduates will often find themselves managing a sub‐system of an organisation such as materials purchasing, finished stocks, or quality control. This is particularly true in the smaller companies of the developing countries, where the graduate is usually one of a few professional employees reporting directly to the owners.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and gain insights into the use of computer simulations and games in business schools in Thailand. In addition, it aims to compare the findings in Thailand with the study carried out in the UK.

A total of 700 questionnaires were sent to the 35 universities in Thailand that offer MBA degrees. This survey achieved a response rate of 23 percent.

The usage of simulation games in business schools in Thailand is still at an early stage of development. The primary reason to use such tools in both Thailand and the UK is that they help to increase students' interaction and teamwork. Meanwhile, lack of information on simulation games is major obstacle of using simulation games in their classroom teaching. However, the demand for computer simulations and games in the classroom is likely to increase in the future.

The study provides good platform for further in‐depth study on this topic in Thailand. As for practical implication, it suggests a need for more collaboration between industry and academia so that simulation games will be developed to fit with the teaching courses.

This study highlights the key factors underpinning the usage of these new tools in classroom teaching in the Thai context.

Summarizes what business and management games are, their history, the different types of games that are available and what their uses are. Through interviews and a questionnaire survey the users of games are studied to ascertain who they are, why they use or are involved with games and what they think of them.

Business games are often more costly and require more effort to implement than traditional programmes. However they are rapidly gaining favour as management development tools. Games incorporate a case history of the relevant industry and organisation; a set of realistic rules guiding business decisions; a computerised mathematical model which simulates a dynamic market. They offer possibilities for experiential learning in strategic planning and policy making, functional integration, financial analysis and control, team planning, “what if” analysis and interpersonal behavioural training. Games allow managers to experience failure without personal or organisational consequences. Methods of administering a game are explained and the learning process discussed. Case histories of game use in the Southwest Mat Processing Corporation Headquarters, the Southern Chemical Company and educational establishments in Honolulu are described. Emerging trends are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential benefits of a business game on customers’ business in enhancing servitization. The concept is proposed to be helpful in the phases of defining the servitization initiative and gaining shared understanding about it at a manufacturer.

The paper is based on a longitudinal case study at a manufacturer (2003‐2008), with a focus on the business game concept on customers’ business. The researchers and approximately 140 company representatives contributed to both early and later phases of the development of the concept.

The business game concept appeared to serve the purpose of generating and sharing ideas about the customers’ business and the desired role of the OEM in it, as a potential outcome of servitization. The concept synthesizes the previously fragmented customer awareness across the business units and provides useful information for various stakeholders. The presence of personnel across the different business units and from a key customer company in the game events enabled new types of discussion related to the servitization initiative.

The concept presented in this paper represents a potential tool for enhancing a servitization initiative. Due to the limitations of the case, the findings are tentative and primarily transferrable to contexts where a manufacturer provides machinery for industrial production. Moreover, the ability of the concept to capture real‐life customer values is critical for success and thus should be carefully examined.

The case study enables an in‐depth view of the phenomena under examination. Moreover, due to the researchers’ interventions in developing and using the concept, they observed actual processes of overcoming the challenges of servitization.

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the interrelations between success in the Business Games course and other MSc courses, and the parameters that influence success in managing firms in business games.

The research sample was comprised of graduate students from the Management of Technology faculty at Holon Institute of Technology. They study courses in the program, including the Business Games course. Special business game software, named Decision Makers, was used for the analyses. Statistical analyses of the interrelations among different program courses cover the main purpose. After defining five success criteria, statistical analyses of success and failure are presented.

In this course, success was generally uncorrelated with other courses. The reason for this was probably due to its project‐based learning (PBL) environment. The study shows that students tend to reduce their efforts across time and improve their performance, due to the “learning curve”. Analysis of the results shows that when teams overused the simulation runs, they do not analyze their situation, but rather prefer the “trial and error” method.

The present study provides results about the importance of training managers through using the business game simulator.

Using PBL is very exiting for those students who have difficulties in classroom studies. By using PBL, these students rapidly improve their management skills.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the peculiarity of computer game organizations and their human resources. It presents a stage model including four phases covering the growth from demo group to full business. This study extends the research on how computer game organizations are formed and what it takes them to grow to financially self-sufficient. The study also broadens the understanding of the beginning phase of an organization.

The paper utilizes the grounded theory research method with 34 interview sessions among 11 computer game organizations. The interviewed persons include chief executive officers, designers and developers.

This paper presents empirical findings on what a computer game organization go through when they evolve from demo group phase, which is not discussed in existing literature, to full business. The authors observed that the core team is formed over a game designer and one or more developers. The team fortifies as the organization moves onwards to next phases. At the same time its reliance on partners and outsourcing changes to need based.

As this is a qualitative study the observations are directly applicable only in the context of observed organizations. In the other context they are merely suggestions.

The study presents concrete growth model that can be utilized when building a computer game organization.

This paper illustrates the specialty of computer game organizations and their growth process. It also presents discussion of the beginning phase of organizations.

This paper aims to address the necessity of allowing non-formal and informal processes to unfold when using business games for leadership development. While games and simulations have long been used in management training and leadership development, emphasis has been placed on the formal parts of the process and especially on the gaming experience.

This paper is based on a qualitative study of a French management game on change management, in which the game-based learning process is examined in light of adult learning.

This paper concludes that less formal dialogues that stem from formal activities make important contributions to the learning process. Consequently, the use of business games in leadership development should be didactically designed to facilitate such dialogues. While playing the game takes center stage, activities such as theory presentations, reflective processes, and less formal discussions must be allowed a place in an otherwise crammed learning process and to take up that space at the cost of playing the game.

As the study is based on a qualitative assessment, the impact of the different parts of the process is not assessed.

This paper suggests that the use of business games in leadership development should focus more on the processes and activities surrounding the game rather than narrowly focusing on the game.

This paper suggests a novel approach to using business games that is not aligned with the current practice of emphasizing the game as the focal point of the process.

VIBu – Virtual Teams in International Business – is the name of a training concept, which is aimed at familiarizing participants with collaborating in a virtual environment. Based on the online business simulation RealGame™, participants are assigned to multicultural virtual teams that represent different companies. These companies are either competing with or depending on each other in typical business processes of an internationally operating manufacturing company. Interaction and negotiation are required throughout the whole simulation. All communication takes place via information and communication technology, mainly Skype and Skype chat. The main challenge in the environment is that participants are located in different countries and time zones all over the world. The book chapter first outlines some of the challenges of global teamwork that organizations face. We argue that students need to learn how to navigate in global teams before they leave university as they are bound to become involved in organizational global teamwork sooner rather than later. We draw on frameworks for experiential learning (e.g., Kolb's learning model, Kolb, 1984) and the constructivist learning paradigm (Lainema, 2009) to outline the learning experiences that students need to gather in order to become effective global team members. In addition, we highlight the potential for learner engagement that this approach offers. The chapter concludes by highlighting the key learning and teaching outcomes from incorporating this cutting-edge simulation technology. Furthermore, we direct the reader's attention to ways in which the simulation can be used for research purposes, international inter-university collaborations, and multidisciplinary research on teaching practices and engaged learning.