Abstract:

Through the action program Maatschappelijke Sectoren en ICT , the Dutch government subsidizes projects that solve (what is called) market failure: promising applications of ICT that do not come into full bloom for some reason.

The challenge

Business games or management simulations are very popular in Dutch Higher Education. The business games that are available on the market, however, are – for the most part – developed for training purposes within trade and industry. Therefore, lecturers and management in higher education often find that the existing games do not fit their needs, for many reasons.
The project Business Games a la Carte develops a business game library with which faculty can arrange and compose a bespoke business game for their students. One chooses the size of the company and the level of complexity for disciplines like Marketing, Accounting, Production, Logistics, HRM etc. Themes like sustainability or internationalization are available in a growing, a stable or diminishing market. This game library will provide a unique generic solution for many specific educational situations. The game will be available in English and Dutch. Other languages are possible, too.

The project

In order to build a game that is professionally designed and made, with a sound business case and truly fit for a broad use within the universities, the project brings together professional game builders, publishers and faculty from three universities. They work closely together at all stages, from design through the pilots and the dissemination and evaluation. During the project new educational partners were sought and found; they contribute by carrying out pilots and evaluating the results with their students.

We will present an advanced and very detailed game, in which many aspects of the operational management of a SME are shown. The simulated market in which the students operate with their firms is divided in eight segments, all with their own behaviour. Pilots have already been held within three universities with level 1. Level 2 is meant for students in an economic field after their second year and level 3 modules will be suitable for graduating students at bachelor level and for students in their masters stage.

The presentation at EDULEARN09

The project ends in October 2009 but already market expectations are highly strung; many universities have already stated their interest in the final product of this project. The project will be success as it will deliver what it promised: a next generation business games library. The collaboration between educational and commercial partners however turned out to be fruitful only after careful management of mutual expectations and the synchronization of the working methods that were used by the different parties.
During the presentation we will elaborate on the project and show its product, the business games library at level 1,2,3. We will look into the challenges we have met on the way and show how we have dealt with them.

The partnership

The Business Games a la Carte project is managed by INHolland University of Applied Science, together with Simenco, gamebuilders and HBuitgevers, educational publishers. Partners are Fontys Universities at Eindhoven and NHL University at Leeuwarden.