What is The Global Business Game?

The Global Business Game (GBG) is a web-based business simulation designed for undergraduate and graduate strategic management and international business courses. GBG allows students to manage a virtual international company operating in the television set segment of the Household Audio and Video Equipment Industry. Participants work in teams competing against three to nine companies who manufacture 25-inch and 27-inch television sets. These sets can be sold in several international markets.

Students take over an established company with a strong reputation and in good financial condition. Their goal is to take advantage of new business opportunities and increase wealth for themselves and the company's shareholders.

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Benefits for your course

Strong emphasis on the international aspects of business management

GBG business simulation offers a number of international strategic options. Student teams compete at the global level by marketing and selling their TV sets in the NAFTA countries of the United States and Mexico, the EU countries of Germany and Spain, and/or Japan and Thailand as members of APEC. Just as in the real-world global business environment, students weigh the pros and cons of manufacturing the goods in their home country versus offshore production. They learn to manage and optimize their firm's distribution channels through the network of international distribution centers, company owned and independent wholesalers and sales offices. They face the challenges of just-in-time supply throughout the world by managing their firm's logistics and shipping options.

Under these international operating conditions, participants learn to consider the cultures, work ethic, and taxation policies associated with various countries. If you choose the "Dynamic" option for your game, players also experience the challenges of currency fluctuations, changing exchange rates, raw material costs, factory workers wages across different regions, interest rates, and stock market indexes.

Well balanced learning content across all business functions

The Global Business Game delivers well balanced strategic exercise by giving students equal amount of exposure into each business function of an international company. In order to be successful, students must master strategic level decision-making in marketing, logistics, distribution, production and quality control, as well as finance.

Freedom to customize for your course via Global Business Game flexible options

As the instructor of the course you can set the simulation's complexity and dynamism. You can choose the number of firms in each game or industry, the number of countries put in play and the amount of environmentally associated changes your students face. Before play begins you also choose the country of incorporation for all the industry's firms. This tells the simulation to trade the firm's stock in the economic zone's major financial market and to report all results in the Home Country's currency.

Ease of use for you and your students

The Global Business Game is user-friendly for both you and your students. All game-related interactions are handled via the Internet at the simulation's dedicated website. The simulation guides students through the decision-making process by the functional areas of marketing, logistics, materials handling, factory operations and finance. In each decision round, the players first receive the overview of the quarter's situation, then make their decisions. Content sensitive help in each decision area works as a built in textbook that the students can quickly access as they work through the exercise. The simulation cautions the students about the ramifications of various tactical decisions and it provides hints on such decision's pros and cons and factors that should be considered.

Support and tools for the instructor

Although the game administrative tasks are handled remotely by the GBG Processing Center, you can access your simulation game on-line via the GBG Web Instructor. Through its easy to use web interface, you can monitor your student's progress and access vast array of instructor materials. From lecture templates and tutorials to coaching tools and grading guidelines, the instructor materials are designed to save your time and help make your class a success. They contain such tools as the Gamecoach - an Excel-based tool that allows you to enter any firm's decisions and results for the quarter and then outputs a comment on the decision or its results. This gives you valuable clues when student decisions are far off the mark, as well as hints on what would have been a better set of decisions.

In addition to the set of supporting materials, GBG support specialists are available to help you with any game related questions.

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