Business Simulation Exercises Research Articles

Optimization of Teaching Design for 'Chinese Tax System' Based on the Integration of Law and Business Background

This paper proposes a course design plan for "Chinese Tax System" based on the integration of law and business in response to the demand for tax talent training and the characteristics of the "Chinese Tax System" course. In light of the current teaching design issues, this paper emphasizes the need for practical teaching, including interdisciplinary comprehensive teaching, field trips and visits, as well as information technology-assisted teaching. Additionally, it suggests updating textbooks and curriculum settings, emphasizing the practical application and ability cultivation, interdisciplinary and comprehensive characteristics, as well as fostering students' innovative awareness and practical abilities. Furthermore, innovative teaching methods such as legal case analysis, business simulation exercises, interactive discussions and debates, and innovative project design are proposed. Lastly, a multi-faceted assessment method is recommended, including comprehensive ability assessment, classroom performance assessment, and professional ability assessment. The implementation of these teaching design optimization plans will help improve students' understanding and application abilities of the "Chinese Tax System" course, promote their comprehensive development and enhance their capabilities, providing guidance and reference for the cultivation of high-quality tax professionals.

Enhancing students' employability through business simulation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an approach to business simulation with less dependence on business simulation software to provide innovative work experience within a programme of study, to boost students’ confidence and employability.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on analysis of existing business simulation literature, which is synthesised with contemporary pedagogic trends and the outputs of the authors’ longitudinal research on improving the effectiveness of business simulation as a teaching method.FindingsThe use of business simulation as a pedagogic tool can be considerably extended beyond built‐in functionality to match the needs of various business‐related disciplines. Learning from their own mistakes enabled students to appreciate the gap between theory and its application.Research limitations/implicationsBusiness simulation can provide an innovative provision of work experience for students, if its design utilises continuous formative feedback and reflective practice amongst other pedagogical elements rather than relying on sophisticated business simulation software.Practical implicationsThis paper offers a blueprint for the provision of business simulation exercises in higher education as means for equipping participants with a work‐like experience.Originality/valueThe article presents a fresh view on the use of business simulation in the educational process, while contributing to the long‐standing debate on bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Capstone Course Innovation: Bloomberg Professional Service

This paper reports on the introduction of a curricular innovation in a required capstone course: namely the Business Policy and Strategy course in the School of Business at Adelphi University. The curriculum capstone courses have tended to primarily include business related case studies and business simulation exercises. Consequently, curriculum content innovation can be very difficult to implement. The School of Business was recently equipped with a proprietary Bloomberg professional system (BPS) lab as a resource for graduate and undergraduate finance majors. After a training session by one of the authors of this paper, a class assignment was conceived on how the BPS lab could be used in a capstone course without a major disruption of the existing course requirements. This paper described the assignment and presents the results of a survey conducted on the last class day on what the students thought of the BPS assignment which was entitled: “Adopt A Company.”

Business simulation exercises in small business management education: using principles and ideas from action learning

Recent calls to close the rigour-relevance gap in business school education have suggested incorporating principles and ideas from action learning in small business management education. In this paper we discuss how business simulation exercises can be used as a platform to trigger students’ learning by providing them with a platform where they can merge theory with practice. We provide theoretical arguments accompanied by illustrations to show how such initiatives can create a more student-centred teaching structure than what is usually practised in contemporary business school education. This may in turn work as a potential bridge between the safe harbour of traditional classroom teaching and the more chaotic and complex world of managerial practice.

Learning outcomes from business simulation exercises

PurposeHigh order leadership, problem solving skills, and the capacity for innovation in new markets, and technologically complex and multidimensional contexts, are the new set of skills that are most valued by companies and employers alike. Business simulation exercises are one way of enhancing these skills. This article aims to examine the capacity of business simulations to deliver the learning outcomes they have the potential to achieve, and the challenges faced in implementing these technologies.Design/methodology/approachA literature of the learning outcomes from business simulations, and critical assessment of the challenges and problems involved in the implementation of learning technologies.FindingsTraditionally, postgraduate business education programs have adopted the functional silos that provide the organizational framework for the design of the curriculum. Business problems rarely present themselves in the compartmentalized silo supply‐driven disciplinary framework. The question of how to achieve greater convergence of the business curriculum programs that offer students more practical oriented experiences to develop their conceptual understanding in cross functional decision making and analytical thinking abilities through “learning by doing” of real business problems, has concerned business education for a considerable time.Originality/valueThe article shows that the prospect of adopting a broad‐based, integrative approach that goes beyond the conventional lectures and case studies complemented by business simulations and emerging technologies has significant potential to resolve the traditional problems of business education convergence of the curriculum.

Managerial optimism and search

This paper proposes and tests a model of the influence of managerial dispositional optimism on the propensity to search. The model developed in this article was tested using a business simulation exercise and survey method. Results show support for the positive influence of optimism on search; in addition, the relationship appears curvilinear.

Creating and managing a virtual inter-organizational learning network for greener production: a conceptual model and case study

The utility of applying a virtual learning network model for illustrating successful triple bottom line transitions—one that integrates the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of cleaner production—is illustrated by a successful approach to promote “green chemistry” in the North Carolina textile wet-processing industry. This case is unique in demonstrating the quality of this process to develop cleaner production methods; it shows how reducing aquatic toxicity and harmful environmental effects in a “real world” situation depends on successful efforts to build, manage, and maintain an inter-organizational network of multiple stakeholders. This network included industries in the textile production chain, their local and provincial communities, regulators and policy makers. The utilization of cases such as this in the business school pedagogy expands understanding of the role of sustainable practices in enterprise management. The value of this specific case in promoting the understanding of such networks was demonstrated in a recent MBA experience when students trained in these areas linked diverse stakeholders and applied the triple bottom line perspective in traditional business simulation exercises in an MBA capstone course. Such cases can also effectively prepare students for actual challenges facing managers in the rapidly changing business environment.

Changing mental models: Business simulation exercises

The effectiveness of business simulation exercises in uncovering the interconnectedness of business decisions has been explored in the literature. Little research has been done, however, to quantify empirically how simply identifying connections can change the decision maker’s perceptions and actions. This research exposes the process by which business simulations bring about these changes. Using the semantic differential technique and a one-group pretest-posttest design, tests are conducted to assess perceptual changes in problem characterization and approach induced by participation in a business simulation exercise. The results presented provide quantifiable justification for the use of business simulation exercises to induce targeted change in a decision maker’s mental models. In addition, business simulation designers are offered a powerful feedback tool that allows them to customize decision parameters and confirm the desired participant impact has been achieved.

Guest editorial: Design and use of business simulation and experiential exercises: ABSEL Best Papers and tribute to Bernie Keys

Guest editorial: Design and use of business simulation and experiential exercises: ABSEL Best Papers and tribute to Bernie Keys

Comparing the Performance of Distance-Earning and Traditional Students in a Business Simulation Exercise

The performance of distant students in a simulation exercise for a Small Business Management (SBM) course was compared with that of internal students and the demographic and psychological variables associated with the performance of each student group were examined. Distant students matched or exceeded the performance of internal students in spite of the setbacks associated with distance learning. Work experience and rational information processing were associated with the performance of distant students but not with that of internal students. Distant students proved more able to achieve the multiple learning objectives of the course. Effective online interaction among students can help reduce the setbacks associated with independent learning for distant students and the work experience gap for internal students.

A validation study of Belbin's team roles

The Belbin team role preferences of the members of 55 teams were assessed by three independent methods: (1) Cattell's 16PF (Form 5) personality questionnaire, (2) video observation of a business simulation exercise and subsequent analysis with a Belbin behavioural checklist, and (3) Saville and Holdsworth's Occupational Personality Questionnaire. The 338 participants were drawn in approximately equal measure from managerial and non-managerial levels from equal numbers of manufacturing and public service organizations. A multitrait-multimethod correlation matrix derived from the data collected from the participants was employed to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validities of the Belbin team roles. Application of the Campbell and Fiske criteria to the matrix did not produce clear support for discriminant validity. Application of a correlated uniqueness model in a confirmatory factor analysis showed the Belbin team role model to be overparameterized and to lack both convergent and discriminant validity. Further modelling revealed that the Belbin team roles fit easily into a “Big Five” five-factor personality framework.

Using Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics

This paper discusses how to introduce ethical dilemmas into computer-based business simulation exercise to teach business ethics. Simulations have an inherent advantage over other pedagogies for teaching ethics because simulations provide students with both an intellectual and a behavioral exposure to the topic. Issues addressed include considerations before writing ethical dilemmas, the writing of ethical dilemmas, and process issues for introducing ethical dilemmas. An example is developed and discussed. Through the process described, instructors can better prepare students for a lifetime of tough business decisions.

The Relationship between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise

Analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between financial performance on a business simulation exercise and various other measures of student learning. Financial performance was represented by a composite performance score that rated student companies based on net income, return on investment (ROI), and return on assets (ROA) achieved in a competitive, computer-based management simulation. (Although highly intercorrelated, a 1988 study by House and Napier found the combination of these measures provided the best overall measure of a company's financial performance.) Little or no relationship was found between the performance score and the other measurements used to assess student learning.

Informal Communications

ABSEL News and Notes was formed as Simulation and Games became the official journal of ABSEL in 1982. Its purpose has been to give ABSEL members the opportunity to present news and views concerning business simulation and experimental exercise theory and practice. Therefore, member contribution is encouraged and can be sent in the form of short articles, position papers, requests for information, or letters. Material should be sent to Jerry Gosenpud, ABSEL News and Notes, Management Department, University of Wisconsin— Whitewater, Whitewater, WI 53190.

Fairness and participation in evaluation procedures: Effects on task attitudes and performance

A laboratory study was conducted to examine the role of two components of participatory work evaluation procedures on fairness attitudes and work performance. “Opportunity for influential opinion expression” and “knowledge of evaluation criteria” were manipulated in a business simulation exercise. Thirty-eight male and 49 female undergraduates worked under a task evaluation procedure that either did or did not allow them to express their opinions to the evaluator. In addition, subjects either were or were not provided with specific information about the criteria to be used in making the performance evaluation, and they received either a favorable or an unfavorable outcome. Questionnaire responses indicated that influential opinion expression enhanced perceptions of procedural and distributive fairness independently of the outcome of the evaluation. Both knowledge of evaluation criteria and perceptions of evaluation fairness correlated with subsequent task performance. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to understanding the influence of procedural justice on attitudes and task behavior in organizational settings.

Stimulation by simulation

There has been welcome comment in recent months from all shades of political opinion and from all levels in society, from the Prime Minister downwards, calling for more relevant education as a contribution towards regenerating British industry. However, one relevant technique in business education in Britain remains under‐utilised: business simulation exercises, or “business games”. As the essence of business is that of decision‐taking, and as the quality of decisions made is the single most important factor in economic performance (no amount of investment will create wealth if it is misdirected), surely this technique has a major contribution to play in education for business?

The International Operations Simulation at the University of Chicago

7j~HE University of Chicago Inter| national Operations Simulation (INTOP) is the first major business simulation exercise oriented toward the specific problems of international trade and overseas operations.1 It derives special significance from the fact that international operations will become an increasingly vital element in the evolving American enterprise system of the 1960's. This is obviously true with regard to the growing number of American firms directly engaged in such operations. But the statement is also valid for the majority of businesses not so engaged; there is every indication that domestic business will be subject to more intense international competition in the United States market. The high degree of realism in the game brings out the fact that effective solution of international business problems often requires diagnostic ability and conceptual thinking to a greater degree than most other management situations-and whatever other merits business games may have they do seem to stimulate these qualities. While a prime purpose of the game is to increase understanding of the problems of international operations in general, and those of the multi-national corporation in particular, INTOP is so designed as to yield substantial payoff in general management training as well. This is achieved by a balanced representation of such classical functional areas of reallife companies as finance, marketing, production, research and development. The companies also face major problems of personnel, executive teamwork, and internal organization: the number and complexity of decisions to be made make survival subject to effective division of labor within company teams. As might be expected, the relative complexity of a management game of this nature made the use of a computer indispensable. The exercise is programmed for UNIVAC I-III, and it is being translated into FORTRAN. Among the particular advantages of INTOP is that this game forces participants into a stream of truly entrepreneurial (top management) decisions of business philosophy and objectives, as opposed to the heavy strategy-tactics emphasis of most other games. This is accomplished by continually facing the teams with the choice of representing national or international companies, and, if the latter, whether by exporting, licensing, selling to overseas distributors, or overseas* Professor of business administration, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.

Business simulation exercises

Business simulation exercises