Firm's management - simulation game

Teacher(s)

Girard Alexandre;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

The main objective of this course is to offer students an opportunity to manage their own enterprise in a competitive environment. Through this exercise, students can explore their knowledge of business and economics management. They can train their professional writing and conversation skills, a number of management skills such as team work, time management, negotiation and self-assessment.

Content

The Business game course/seminar is an exercise of group decision-making in management. By means of a computerized business game, the students are entrusted of a virtual company for two years and exercise all the functions of management (production, finance, marketing, HR, etc.) in realistic conditions (competition between firms in a dynamic environment). On the basis of the analysis of a initial situation characterized by a recent factory fire, the participants set their objectives and medium-term plans. Then, they make 8 decisions concerning all the functions of the company. The interaction between these decisions, those of their competitors and the economic and social situation influence the result of each firm. On the basis of these results, successive decisions are made. At the end of the simulation, the companies' progress and final situation are analyzed and evaluated.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lectures, 1st term, The course consists of 45 hours of lectures and 15 hours of tutorial sessions.

Evaluation methods

The evaluation is founded on the quality of team’s decisions, on the interactions with the stakeholders (labor unions, banks, insurance companies, board members…) and on the quality of managers’ reports. Therefore, the final grade is made of:
- An evaluation of 8 decisions
- An evaluation of the quality of the interaction with the stakeholders
- An evaluation of managers’ reports:
o Executive summary (end of 1st year)
o A marketing plan (if required)
o A final report that will be presented at the annual stockholder’s meeting
o Potential additional reports depending on the scenario: (social reports, wind up reports, grant application forms, investment requests…)
- An evaluation of the annual report presentation
- An assessment by the peers of the annual report presentation
- An assessment by the peers of the overall managing performance

Absence to any of the teaching activities will be treated as an absence to the entire course.
During the second session, an assessment of similar skills is carried out via the submission of a report defended orally.

Faculty or entity

ESPB