The Compelling Case for Using a Strategy Simulation

There are four huge benefits associated with using a competition-based simulation in strategy courses taken by seniors and MBA students:

1. Having class members run a company in head-to-head competition against companies managed by other class members results in a truly powerful learning experience that engages students in the subject matter of the course and helps achieve course learning objectives. (The Learning Assurance Report accompanying The Business Strategy Game quantifies how well each class member performs vis-à-vis the 35,000+ students worldwide that have completed the simulation in the past 12 months.)

   • Using both case analysis and a competition-based strategy simulation to drive home the lessons that class members are expected to learn is far more pedagogically powerful and lasting than case analysis alone. Both cases and strategy simulations drill students in thinking strategically and applying what they read in the text chapters, thus helping them connect theory with practice and gradually build better business judgment. What cases do that a simulation cannot is give class members broad exposure to a variety of companies and industry situations and insight into the kinds of strategy-related problems managers face. But what a competition-based strategy simulation does far better than case analysis is thrust class members squarely into an active managerial role where they have to take the analysis of market conditions, the actions of competitors, and their company’s situation seriously. Because they are held fully accountable for their decisions and their company’s performance, co-managers are strongly motivated to dig deeply into company operations, probe for ways to be more cost-efficient, and ferret out strategic moves and decisions calculated to boost company performance. Such diligent and purposeful actions on the part of company co-managers translate into a constructive and beneficial learning experience.
   • The achievement of course learning objectives is further enhanced because of the extremely tight connection between The Business Strategy Game and the best-selling strategic management texts (the lead author of one of these texts is also the lead author of BSG). The issues and decisions that co-managers face in running their BSG company embrace the very concepts, analytical tools, and strategy options they encounter in the text chapters. Giving class members immediate hands-on opportunity to apply and experiment with the material covered in their text, while at the same time honing their business and decision-making skills, carries solid learning benefits.
   • Since it doesn’t take long for a spirited rivalry to emerge among the management teams of competing companies and for co-managers to become emotionally invested in figuring out what strategic moves to make to out-compete rivals, class members become more receptive to reading the text chapters, listening to your lectures, and wrestling with assigned cases—partly in the hope they will come across ideas and approaches that will help their company outperform rivals and partly because they begin to see the practical relevance of the subject matter and the value of taking the course. As a consequence, the three-pronged text-case-simulation course model delivers significantly more teaching-learning power than the traditional text-case model.

2. The competitive nature of a strategy simulation arouses positive energy and classroom excitement and steps up the whole tempo of the course by a notch or two.

   • The healthy rivalry that emerges among the management teams of competing companies stirs competitive juices and spurs class members to fully exercise their strategic wits, analytical skills, and decision-making prowess—much more so than occurs with case assignments. Nothing invigorates a class quicker or better than efforts to remain the market leader or overtake the leader or avoid the perilous consequences of falling too far behind the best-performing companies. Class members are thus motivated and energized when they dig in to evaluate their company’s situation and figure out what strategic moves will make their BSG company perform better.
   • Participating in a competition-based strategy simulation is an interesting and enjoyable way to learn. As soon as your students start to say “Wow! Not only is this fun but I am learning a lot”— which they will, you have won the battle of engaging students in the subject matter and moved the value of taking your course to a much higher plateau in the business school curriculum. This translates into a livelier, richer learning experience from a student perspective and better instructor-course evaluations.

3. Use of a fully automated online simulation reduces the time instructors spend on course preparation and course administration.

   • Often, simulation adopters compensate for the 20 to 30-hour workload of a simulation (2 hours per decision round times 10-12 rounds, plus optional assignments) by trimming the number of assigned cases from, say, 10 to 12 to perhaps 4 to 6, which significantly reduces your time in studying the cases and accompanying teaching notes and otherwise getting ready to lead the class discussion of a case or grade oral team presentations. The cases-for-simulation tradeoff is a sound one because class members will learn every bit as much or more from their experience managing a BSG company and retain it longer as compared to the learning that occurs from covering 4 to 6 more cases.
   • Course preparation time is further cut some because on several days there’s merit in having class members meet in the computer lab to work on upcoming decisions or a 3-year strategic plan assignment instead of holding a regularly scheduled class (to cover an additional assigned case). Lab sessions create a splendid opportunity for you to visit briefly with each team, observe the interplay among co-managers that goes on, and view firsthand the caliber of the learning experience class members get from the The Business Strategy Game exercise.
   • As explained in detail on the link below entitled “The Minimal Time Requirements for Instructors”, you will welcome how quickly and easily you can conduct the BSG simulation, which frees time for other activities. Plus, every task can be performed from an office or home PC that has an Internet connection and is equipped with Excel.
4. The time that instructors spend grading can be significantly reduced. The scoring of company and individual performance in The Business Strategy Game is fully automated and reported in your online grade book; once you enter percentage weights for each of the assignments, a suggested final grade is calculated for you. Moreover, as many simulation users are doing, not only can you trim the number of case assignments but you can eliminate at least one assignment that entails considerable grading. Grading one less written case or essay exam or other written assignment saves enormous time.

Swiftly mounting instructor recognition of the benefits of incorporating a top-notch strategy simulation in their course explains why over a thousand instructors worldwide use a strategy simulation exercise for their some 100,000+ students annually and why the numbers are growing 10-15% annually. (Since market inception, The Business Strategy Game has been used at 500+ schools in 25+ countries and played by 500,000+ students.) .