Number of Firms and Industries, Team Size in The Global Business
Game
 Number
of teams and industries
The number of firms and Industries you choose for your GBG exercise
depends on your program's enrollment. Each team in the game represents
one firm which competes against other student firms. Each industry,
or game represents a set of teams competing against each other.
Teams can only "see" and compete against other teams within
the same industry.
The GBG allows between three and nine teams (firms) per game (industry).
Thus for larger classes you may need to organize students into several
industries. When choosing the ideal number of firms and industries
for your course there are a number of points you should consider.
The number of firms in an industry affects the motivation of students
and the richness of the comparative experiences between industries.
Some Instructors like to run as few industries as possible. This
minimizes the number of industries that need to be monitored and
the number of firms to handle. With a large number of players you
might create a nine-firm industry with five to six students per
team. If you are playing a complex version of the game, a management
team of this size would be needed, but it is demotivating to be
one of the last-placed companies in a nine-firm industry. Dividing
the class into two industries would allow you to have two winning
teams and thus would better motivate your students.
If you are handling a large number of students, you would ideally
organize a number of industries with five or six companies per industry.
In this case you could have each industry use different Home Countries
and Economic Zones. By using different scenarios and home country
conditions you are enriching the game's debriefing because you allow
for a comparative discussion of which strategies and actions seemed
to work better under what conditions. By creating slightly different
industries, you also minimize the firms in one industry copying
the strategies of firms in other industries.
Team
size
When organizing students into teams and industries, you will need
to determine the number of players to place on each management team
and how players are assigned to their companies. There are a number
of team size factors to consider.
The number of players you put on each management team should primarily
be a function of the game's complexity. If your game is relatively
simple, such as the Static/Simple situation or the "Minimal senior-level
integration of previous core coursework with minimal international
perspective" choice, a two or three-member team would probably work
out well. This team size also reinforces the need for functional
integration because the players have to interact as marketers, production
managers, financial officers, and accountants.
If you have created a relatively complex game, and want your students
to practice strategic management and international business on a
global scale, a five- to seven-member team would be useful. By doing
this the management group could structure itself along country/market
lines while also creating staff positions for finance and accounting.
Whatever team size you create remember that as the team's size
increases the time the team spends on administrative matters increases
while the percent of time spent on the game itself decreases. If
organization structure and administration are what you want your
students to learn, and certainly "time management," "group leadership,"
and "transnational management" are important lessons, make sure
these are part of your teaching objectives.
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