Search results

The paper aims to contribute to the wider adoption of simulation games in marketing teaching. The purposes of the research reported here are to understand marketing students' perceptions of the learning achieved from the use of simulation games, and marketing lecturers' perceptions of the barriers to increased use of simulation games.

A structured questionnaire was administered to 137 final‐year marketing undergraduates studying at two British universities and eight semi‐structured interviews were conducted with marketing lecturers currently using simulation games in their marketing teaching.

Students perceive the simulation game to be a highly effective learning method, delivering valuable knowledge and skills. In addition, students find the game to be an enjoyable learning approach. Lecturers are enthusiastic about this learning method, but note some barriers to adoption; particularly cost, the steep learning curve, and the difficulty of finding unbiased advice about suitable games to deliver desired learning outcomes.

Limitations are that the empirical base for the quantitative study was only two universities in the UK, and the questionnaire concerned only student perceptions of their learning, not an objective assessment of actual learning. It is recommended that the study be extended to a wider sample of universities, and that the approach be widened to include an assessment of the measurable learning outcomes achieved rather than just student perceptions.

The degree of student enthusiasm for simulation games is striking. Lecturers also find the method very engaging, but acknowledge that there are important barriers to more widespread simulation game adoption.

Introduction Operations research, i.e. the application of scientific methodology to operational problems in the search for improved understanding and control, can be said to have started with the application of mathematical tools to military problems of supply bombing and strategy, during the Second World War. Post‐war these tools were applied to business problems, particularly production scheduling, inventory control and physical distribution because of the acute shortages of goods and the numerical aspects of these problems.

Education can cultivate a variety of skills for future entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of a marketing simulation game as a pedagogical tool to enhance the entrepreneurial mind-set and boost the predisposition of postgraduate students to become entrepreneurs.

Qualitative data from the feedback of students regarding their simulation experience in an advanced marketing course were collected and analyzed.

The reports showed that, in a simulation setting, entrepreneurial learning can develop students' entrepreneurial skills and encourage them to undertake entrepreneurial activities. The simulation experience allowed students to face challenges, overcome limitations, improve their analytical skills, and enhance their business knowledge.

First, these findings cannot be generalized as they are based on a small sample of students. Second, qualitative research is very reliant on the individual characteristics of students. Because of the restricted time of the module, the students were only allowed to run six rounds (the minimum) out of 10. More rounds would have benefitted student learning and increased the likelihood of capturing more of their insights.

By using qualitative research, this study provides more thoughtful insights into students' perceptions of entrepreneurial skills and competency improvements by using simulation as a pedagogical tool. Following the suggestions of Fayolle et al. (2016), this study underlines the entrepreneurship education outcomes in terms of students' reflections on understanding their capability and their predisposition to take entrepreneurial actions in the future. Also, the role of education in fostering entrepreneurship is highlighted.

This study aims to investigate an integrated approach that stimulates engagement and interaction in the online learning environment. A simulation game was developed to support the specific learning objectives (LOs) of the lecture and give students the opportunity to apply relevant practical skills (management and group decision-making). The simulation is designed to engage students, facilitate group work in teams and actively apply the knowledge from the lectures.

Qualitative research methods and a pilot version of the simulation game in an actual classroom setting were used. The primary LO was to apply decision-making in groups and experience the consequences of decisions on business success. The students were assigned randomly to five groups representing different competing companies.

This study revealed that a simulation game with a reduced scope can facilitate interaction and participation in online lectures. It demonstrated that it is possible to obtain the main benefits of simulation-based learning with a simple game that consists of few decision variables and requires minimal training.

There are limitations to this pilot study, some of which need to be address in future research. One limitation is the small number of participants (21). Another limitation is that all participants were from a class at an Asian university. While adding to existing research that focused primarily on Anglo-America and Europe, this study’s approach should be evaluated with more subjects from varying cultural backgrounds to validate the findings. The evaluation could be improved with more participants but also additional questions to measure how and why this study’s approach benefits learning success. E.g. it should be explored what component of decision-making or group learning was most significant. With this, it would also be interesting to explore incremental learning and learning across groups along the study duration.

The simulation game can be used in business education. Students enjoyed the interaction with their peers and the instructor. The students stated that it was a good learning experience for them and they made good learning progress.

The prototype demonstrated the general feasibility and the smooth handling of the practical application and integration in online lectures. The aim to develop a serious simulation game for online classes was achieved. It was possible to obtain the main benefits of simulation-based learning with a simple game that consists of few decision variables and therefore requires minimal training and time.

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.

Compared with other methods of instruction, whether in management training programmes or in university courses, simulation gaming is relatively new. Readings, lectures, cases, role playing and other instructional techniques were in use long before the appearance of business games. Though recent in comparative terms, however, simulation games have been in existence for nearly 40 years. Examines the use of simulation games for sales management training, describes a newly developed sales management simulation and illustrates its use in a sales‐training programme.

The learning outcomes are as follows: introduce the concept of the decision-making process, decision-making unit and hierarchy of effects and marketing strategy; identify the critical aspect of segmentation, targeting and positioning; and highlight the critical element of pricing and communication media.

In early January 2017, Mr Ashish and Mr Rahul, co-founders of Biziga, a company engaged in training through simulation for management education, was at crossroads. Keeping in view the challenges of the emerging Indian market, Biziga envisioned creating participant-centric business learning simulations. The initial responses and feedback received from several top B-schools were promising. However, the euphoria did not last long. Biziga retained only a few of its initial clients from the Tier-1 B-schools who had adopted the product. But the response received from other categories of B-schools was not very encouraging. Acquiring new clients from these institutes was the major challenge. The founders of Biziga had differences in their thought about the strategic path they should pursue to achieve future growth. There were several options to achieve the goal of a target revenue of INR 1bn in the next five years and be known as a virtual gamification company with a complete bundle of business simulation products. They had to finalize for the financial year 2017-18 the most feasible and promising option/s that would have a long-term impact on the company’s future growth and success in the upcoming meeting scheduled in the last week of February 2017.

Postgraduate students and executive students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Business games for instruction have continued to grow in their use. While the basic structure of these games has largely remained the same, the technical support provided to both players and game administrators has changed substantially.

Business simulations are increasingly used to facilitate knowledge transfer in management education. Although such simulations have already been widely applied in other disciplines, this method of facilitating learning has not yet been used much in financial education. This article reports on three studies that examine the value added by this experiential learning method in a financial management course, as perceived by students. The reasons for students’ experiencing this teaching method as positive are investigated. It would seem that financial education has much to gain from a wider application of business simulations.

This paper investigates how individuals' decision-making approach and perceptions of a game's cognitive realism affect the performance of virtual businesses in a web-based simulation game.

Survey data are collected from 274 business simulation game users and is analysed using the fsQCA technique.

The study identifies three alternative pathways to high and low performance in a business simulation game. Results indicate that a flexible decision-making approach exists in all high performance pathway solutions. Where a game is perceived to be realistic, a more focused decision-making approach is associated with high performance. However, where perceived cognitive realism is absent, a less focused experimental decision-making approach is employed, which increases the chances to achieve low performance. Finally, perceived cognitive realism and an experimental decision-making approach are found to be mutually exclusive for achieving high performance.

Whilst the learning benefits of web-based simulation games are widely acknowledged, the complex interplay amongst factors affecting performance in games is under-researched. Limited research exists on how perceptions of a game's cognitive realism interact with user decision-making approaches to affect performance.