The development of an improved business game for use in Massey University marketing courses : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Business and Administration in Marketing at Massey University

The thesis is a response to a problem situation in which a business game, having been used in undergraduate courses for several years, was thought to be inadequate by course and game administrators. The problem is first defined and objectives for the study are set. This is followed by a comprehensive overview of business gaming and a more specific review of the processes and problems of business game design. A description of the game in use, MARKSIM, is given. The MARKSIM experience at Massey University is evaluated from the game administrators' and game players' points of view, the latter by a survey of 41 second and third year marketing students. The specifications of a more satisfactory game are derived from this evaluation and alternative means of acquiring such a game are investigated. The solution chosen as most appropriate is to modify the game already in use and this is carried out. Improvements to the game include reparameterization of the game to reflect the New Zealand business environment, adoption of a two-product product mix, inclusion of optional qualitative administrator inputs reflecting advertising efficiency and annual report quality, superimposition of a share market on the model business community, increased market research capabilities, and general improvement of the game's robustness against administrator and player errors. Evaluation of the resultant game in terms of the problem situation is not possible within the time horizon of the thesis. Program listings are appended

Learning entrepreneurship in a multicultural context

ABSTRACT Nowadays learning entrepreneurship in higher education became an important issue. International experiences promote the relationship between students from several countries in a multicultural context. In this sense it was developed an entrepreneurial game were tutors have the role to support students during the activities. The objective of entrepreneurial game objective is to create a business idea and develop a small business plan to present to the group. The general aim of this paper is to describe this international experience of Setúbal Business week. The specific goals are:  Understand how students learning in an international environment;  Understand how international multicultural groups function;  Evaluate how this kind of game improve a set of competencies, such as entrepreneurial spirit, capacity to work in an international team, oral communication, creativity, confidence and research skills;  Evaluate business week performance in order to improve future events. The study concludes with some recommendations and remarks about learning in an entrepreneurship in a multicultural environment.Entrepreneurial Game; Multiculturalism; International Environment

The anatomy of a business game

We describe in detail a business game, which has been used extensively in education for a decade. Although the business game is smaller than other games, it is fairly realistic as it includes decisions on investments, production, prices, and advertising. Furthermore, the game has dynamic properties, in that decisions and financial states of the firms carry over from one period to the next. There are not many such detailed descriptions of business games, although this is in demand. Such a complete mathematical description lays ground not only for alterations of the game, but also for developments of new games. It can also provide a link to models used in micro-economic theory.Business games; learning; microeconomics; modeling; science of simulation/gaming

Putting theory oriented evaluation into practice

Evaluations of gaming simulations and business games as teaching devices are typically end-state driven. This emphasis fails to detect how the simulation being evaluated does or does not bring about its desired consequences. This paper advances the use of a logic model approach which possesses a holistic perspective that aims at including all elements associated with the situation created by a game. The use of the logic model approach is illustrated as applied to Simgame, a board game created for secondary school level business education in six European Union countries

For Student Investment Fund Managers, National Champions Times Two

With a 36.17 percent return during 2013, finance students at Mario J. Gabelli School of Business capture top honors at GAME, RISE competitions

Cost allocation and communication

Game Theory;Cost Accounting;business economics

A Versatile Stochastic Duel Game

This paper deals with a standard stochastic game model with a continuum of states under the duel-type setup. It newly proposes a hybrid model of game theory and the fluctuation process, which could be applied for various practical decision making situations. The unique theoretical stochastic game model is targeted to analyze a two-person duel-type game in the time domain. The parameters for strategic decisions including the moments of crossings, prior crossings, and the optimal number of iterations to get the highest winning chance are obtained by the compact closed joint functional. This paper also demonstrates the usage of a new time based stochastic game model by analyzing a conventional duel game model in the distance domain and briefly explains how to build strategies for an atypical business case to show how this theoretical model works.Comment: This paper is the condensed version of the original paper titled "A Versatile Stochastic Duel Game" which has been published in the Mathematic