In The Business Strategy Game, 1 to 5 class members are assigned to operate an athletic footwear company that produces and markets both branded and private-label footwear and competes head-to-head against footwear companies run by other members of the class. As many as 12 companies can compete in a single industry grouping (class sizes above 50 are typically divided into two or more industry groups). The companies compete in a global market arena, selling in four geographic regions—Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
The co-managers of each company are responsible for assessing market conditions, determining how to respond to the actions of competitors, forging a long-term direction and strategy for their company, forecasting upcoming sales volumes, and making decisions relating to:
-Production operations (up to 10 decisions for each plant, with a maximum of 4 plants)
-Upgrading plants and expanding/reducing plant capacity (up to 6 decisions per plant)
-Worker compensation and training (3 decisions per plant)
-Shipping and inventory management (up to 8 decisions each plant/geographic region)
-Pricing and marketing (up to 10 decisions in each of 4 geographic regions)
-Bids to sign celebrities to endorse their brand of footwear (2 decision entries per bid)
-Corporate social responsibility and citizenship (up to 6 decision entries)
-Financing of company operations (up to 8 decision entries)
Company: GLO-BUS
Approximate price: $45/student
Playtime: 4-10 rounds of approx. 2 hours each.
Learning objectives: The Business Strategy Game is a hands-on learning exercise that draws together the information and lessons of prior courses, consolidates your knowledge about the different aspects of running a company, builds your confidence in analyzing the revenue-cost-profit economics of a business, helps you understand how the functional pieces of a business fit together, provides valuable practice in crafting profitable growth strategies, sharpens your business judgment, and provides a capstone for your business school education. You will gain some useful experience and practice in assessing business risk, analyzing industry and competitive conditions, making decisions from a companywide perspective, thinking strategically about a company's market position and the kinds of actions it will take to improve it, developing strategies and revising them in light of changing conditions, and applying what you have learned in business school.
Link to simulation home page: https://www.bsg-online.com