One of the key problems in teaching fundamental concepts in information systems is how to ground the theory in experiences that the students can relate to. To overcome this problem, a business game called Flowers For The World has been developed and used across a wide variety of IS courses. This paper will describe the game and the result of using it for a 300-level course in analysis and design. The possibility exists that the game could be developed to provide a common business foundation across all business school curricula

Chang, Jerry Cha-Jan

Moores, Trevor T.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Repository

Flowers For The World: Developing a Business Game to Support the Teaching of IS Concepts

Moores, Trevor

Chang, Jerry

AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)AMCIS 2001 Proceedings Americas Conference on Information Systems(AMCIS)December 2001Flowers for the World: Developing a BusinessGame to Support the Teaching of IS ConceptsTrevor MooresUniversity of Nevada, Las VegasJerry ChangUniversity of Nevada, Las VegasFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2001This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in AMCIS 2001 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationMoores, Trevor and Chang, Jerry, "Flowers for the World: Developing a Business Game to Support the Teaching of IS Concepts"(2001). AMCIS 2001 Proceedings. 2.http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2001/28 2001  Seventh Americas Conference on Information SystemsFLOWERS FOR THE WORLD: DEVELOPING A BUSINESS GAMETO SUPPORT THE TEACHING OF IS CONCEPTSTrevor T. MooresUniversity of Nevada Las Vegastrevor.moores@ccmail.nevada.eduJerry ChangUniversity of Nevada Las Vegasjchang@nevada.eduAbstractOne of the key problems in teaching fundamental concepts in information systems is how to ground the theoryin experiences that the students can relate to. To overcome this problem, a business game called Flowers ForThe World has been developed and used across a wide variety of IS courses. This paper will describe the gameand the result of using it for a 300-level course in analysis and design. The possibility exists that the gamecould be developed to provide a common business foundation across all business school curricula.Keywords: Pedagogy, business games, IS conceptsIntroductionOne of the key problems in teaching fundamental concepts in information systems is how to ground the theory in experiences thatthe students can relate to. In other words, it is often difficult to demonstrate to a student the value of, say, a transaction processingsystem, unless the student has experienced some of the problems managers face in gathering data on basic business activities. Toovercome this problem, a business game called Flowers For The World (or FFTW, for short) has been developed and used acrossa wide variety of IS courses. The game is based on the idea of a company buying flowers at an auction and then fulfilling specificorders from customers on a week-by-week basis.This paper will describe the game and then provide an example of how FFTW was used in a 300-level analysis and design courseto provide a richer experience of business problems upon which further analysis (and design) could be based. It is intended thatthis game will be further refined, with a  set of tools developed that will support the playing the game and, ultimately, to allowthe game to be used as a foundation for all courses across a School of Business. The idea here is that after playing the gameelements of the game can be used as examples for all the courses taken by the student in the School of Business. The game allowssufficient variations to allow each playing of the game to be a unique experience.How to Play the FFTW Business GameThe game is typically played over a period of two weeks for a 3-credit course. The students are divided into groups of at least four,but no more than six. Each group is one instance of FFTW and are not in direct competition for flowers at auction or customerorders. The company has a traditional/hierarchical structure, with a Managing Director overseeing the company, and a Purchasing,Sales and Financial Manager playing their respective roles. Students assume one of the available roles. The instructor plays therole of a Referee, presenting the auction and customer order details at the appropriate time, and accepting or rejecting team bidsor quotations.The game progresses in a series of weeks (week 1, week 2, etc.) of between 10 and 20 minutes duration. Two practice weeks of20 minutes duration are played at the beginning to allow the students to work out how to play the game and organize theirinformation flow between managers. The week duration is then reduced to 15 (and then 10) minutes to apply further pressure onthe students and as a test of how well they have organized themselves and determined their information needs. The rate at whichthe time duration is reduced depends on how well the groups are playing the game. Each week has the same cycle of activities.Moores & Chang/Flowers for the World2001  Seventh Americas Conference on Information Systems 9First, there is a flower auction of approximately 5 minutes. For simplicity, there are only three types of flowers, namely, Roses,Irises, and Daffodils. An auction would have, say, 5 lots of Roses, 4 lots of Irises and 3 lots of Daffodils available. The PurchasingManagers must present a written bid for the flowers they wish to buy. For every auction the Referee has a secret minimum pricefor the lots. If the bid presented meets or exceeds that minimum bid, the Purchasing Manager is told they are successful. ThePurchasing Manager is given three chances to secure the bid. There is a weekly storage fee of $25 per 100 flowers (or partthereof), and any flowers more than 4 weeks old cannot be sold and must be scrapped from inventory.After the auction the game progresses to the customer order stage that lasts for the reminder of the week. Again for simplicity,there are only two customers called Customer 1 and Customer 2. Customer orders are typically for odd numbers of flowers, say,33 Roses, 175 Irises, etc., so as to impact on storage calculations. For each customer order the Referee has a secret maximum priceper flower and delivery time. The price per flower is set so as to guarantee a healthy profit. The Sales  Manager must present acustomer quotation showing both price per flower, and the delivery time. If the quotation is equal to or less than the maximumprice per flower and delivery time then the Sales Manager is told they are successful, otherwise, they have two more chances toget the price or delivery time correct.When the week ends the Financial Manager must produce a Financial Statement for the previous week. The Financial Statementmust show their opening balance, total income, total expenditure, closing balance, and profit/loss for the week. Failure to submita Financial Statement in time results in a $500 fine. Having completed all these tasks, the next week begins. A minimum of 10-12weeks is recommended in order for the groups to really get to grips with the game.What Happened in the Analysis and Design Course?Analysis and design is one of the most difficult courses to teach, specifically because good examples to illustrate the conceptsare few and far between. The FFTW game was introduced to provide a basis upon to which to apply the techniques. The gamewas played with two sections of students taking a 300-level analysis and design undergraduate course. There were eight groupsin Section 1 and seven in Section 2. Groups began with an opening balance of $1000 and given some marketing information thatprovided a basis for their subsequent auction bids and customer quotes. None of the groups played the  game particularly well.After playing more than 10 weeks, three of the 15 groups posted a loss in their final closing balance, with the greatest loss postedat $4803. The highest closing balance was $983.70. After the game was concluded, each group presented what they learned fromthe game.Most groups realized the importance of proper record keeping, with many developing standardized forms to aid in com-munications as well as record keeping. In general, it took about 3 to 4 weeks for groups to become familiarized with the rules ofthe game, with most groups beginning to think strategically after 5 to 6 weeks of play. All groups agreed that excess inventorywas the main issue that prevented them from making a profit during the game. A few groups decided near the end of the gameto sell off their inventory cheaply to avoid storage costs. Another strategy used by many groups was to focus on the mostprofitable flower, Roses. As the final financial statements showed, however, these strategies did not prove entirely successful.The post-game presentations clearly showed that most students had developed a good understanding of the information problemsinherent in being a manager in the game, which was exactly the result the game was intended to provide. The course  is due tocontinue for the rest of the semester with functional groups (Purchasing, Sales, Financial, etc.) analyzing their respectiveinformation flows and designing a system to support their functional area. The game, however, will allow each student to analyzeand design with a clear understanding of the underlying business processes and how they relate to other areas of the business.Further Development of the GameThe game has now been used at three Universities around the world and for a wide range of IS courses. The results across all thesecourses tend to be same: The students approach the game with genuine enthusiasm, and develop a good appreciation ofinformation problems in an organizational setting. Tweaking aspects of the  game, such as the rate at which prices change, andhaving groups in direct competition with each other for auction lots and customer orders, allows each playing of the game to bea unique experience. The next step is to develop a set of materials to support the running of the game and to provide examplesof game solutions to aid post-game discussions. The main problem for the instructor is to keep track of what each team is doingand to provide a genuine analysis of their performance, rather than rely on their self-reported financial status. This suggests theneed for an automated system to run the game itself, storing the values for auction bids and customer orders, and allowing  theinstructor to keep track of how each group is playing.Curriculum and Learning10 2001  Seventh Americas Conference on Information SystemsThere is also a need to test the merits of the game as a tool to provide a common foundation across the whole range of curriculawithin a School of Business. Given the Management, Marketing, Financial, and Accounting issues inherent in playing the game,the possibility exists that the game could be used as a foundation learning exercise that each discipline could then pick up on intheir respective courses. There are numerous case studies papers in the literature to support analysis of the flower industry in termsstrategy (e.g., Booker and Hoffman, 1995; HBR, 1995) and the use of technology (e.g., Gunnerod, 1991; Heezen and Baets, 1996).This would allow for a far richer learning experience than is currently possible in a School of Business curriculum.ReferencesBooker, E., and Hoffman, T. “On-line Options Blooming: Hearts Afire on the ’Net,” Computerworld (29:7), February 1995, pp.1 and 14.Gunnerod, P.K. “Marketing Cut Flowers in Japan and Hong Kong,” International Trade Forum (27), July-Sept. 1991, pp. 28-29.HBR “Innovating to Be Competitive: The Dutch Flower Industry,” Harvard Business Review (73), Sept.-Oct. 1995, pp. 130-131.Heezen, J., and Baets, W. “The Impact of Electronic Markets: The Case of the Dutch Flower Auctions,” Journal of StrategicInformation Systems, (5:4), 1996, pp. 317-333.

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