What is a Business Game?

27 Nov 2020

business-game

For several years now, the pedagogical virtues of Business Games have been widely recognised in business school circles, so much so that these "business games" are now part of the curriculum of every student specialising in management, entrepreneurial management, business development, international business, etc. Here's how a business game works and how to put all the chances on one's side to win.

Definition and functioning of a Business Game?

In concrete terms, the Business Games take the form of role-playing games during which participants are grouped into teams that compete against each other to respond to a practical case. Accompanied by one or more faculty members, students work together for three, four or five days, usually on their school campus. It is also as a group that they defend their case before a jury, often composed of professionals and professors, at the end of the Business Games.

Grande Ecole Programme

Why take part in a Business Game?

If these games find their place in the pedagogy developed by the business schools, it is mainly because they allow students to put their managerial skills into practice and to experience the know-how and interpersonal skills necessary for the exercise of their future profession. Whether they specialise in marketing, supply chain, entrepreneurship, international management, corporate finance or human resources management, a business school student must have acquired experience in project management, which is what these Business Games are all about.

Also, this type of role-playing allows students to meet each other, to get to know each other better and to learn how to create synergies between different characters and personalities. At ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Business School, students participate in their first Business Game during the first week of the first year of study of certain courses (Grande Ecole Programme, Bachelor's Degree in Luxury Management, Marketing and Digital, International Business...). As for the Business Games of the second year, third year or Master's cycle, their vocation is rather to prepare students for their professional integration and to accustom them to working collectively in project mode as they will have to do in the professional world.

How to make your Business Game a success?

In Monopoly, it is often said that the best strategy is to buy all the orange properties, ignore the blue ones, mortgage to invest and cause the housing shortage to be certain to win. For the Business Games, it's much more serious and there is unfortunately no miracle solution, only a few main principles to be respected:

  • Have a global managerial vision and evaluate the reciprocal effects of marketing on logistics, finance or R&D of the company managed in a virtual way;
  • Reflect on the long-term viability of the company or project and propose solutions that are as profitable as they are sustainable;
  • Be prepared to change strategy in the event of unforeseen events: it is often the team that shows maximum agility that prevails;
  • Distribute tasks intelligently, leaving each student to focus on his or her area of expertise. In other words, international business and management specialists take care of the international, marketers take care of marketing, financiers take care of finance... nothing fancy in short.

While some business schools give great rewards to the winners, it is mainly in terms of work experience and skills acquisition that students win through these experiences. Good luck to all of you for your next Business Games... or your next Monopoly games with your family, for that matter.

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