BUSINESS NAVIGATION GAME
Business Navigation Game
Learning through play at university? Prepare your students for real-world practice with a sophisticated simulation tool.
Learning through play at university? Why not! We’ve tried it out. Such teaching not only makes the students have more fun, but also prepares them better for practice. Thanks to the integrated BNS–LUDUS solution, where we combined the BNS management information system used in hundreds of companies in the Czech Republic and abroad and the LUDUS simulation software implemented in hundreds of universities around the world, including the Czech Republic, into one functional unit. This unique unit allows us to use a simulation game within the study, in which students can actually try out what their work as managers in the field of planning and controlling will look like and how they will stand up in a competitive environment. BNS–LUDUS supports tactical and strategic planning using the Balanced Scorecard methodology.
Benefits for those who study with BNS–LUDUS
- Students will acquire skills specifically sought after by leading Czech and foreign companies. In addition, they will be able to work in a team with members with different competences.
- The transition between teaching and involvement in business processes related to business planning, forecasting or reporting will be instantaneous upon employment.
- Competing with other teams (virtual enterprises) for the best result will increase students’ responsibility to themselves and others and strengthen their motivation to perform.
- The opportunity to develop a strategy, subsequent business plan and its success in a competitive environment will prepare students to work more successfully with MIS.
This is
What the experts say about BNG
"The use of SW tools can better prepare students for the practice of managers, which almost all of them want to do after graduation. Graduates who have already succeeded, or are even business owners, say that the management simulation game has helped them to find a better job on the labour market and has deepened their ability to use the knowledge acquired during their studies. It has been shown that when students are able to visualise the results with the help of BNS, they are better prepared for future employment within the company. “
"For a long time, our faculty has been looking for a tool in which students could not only plan but also see the consequences of their decisions. Therefore, I am convinced that the use of the BNS–LUDUS simulation game, in which they can also test their teamwork skills in a competitive environment, is of great benefit to our students. Moreover, this integrated solution has a great advantage in that it works in the real environment of a real management information system, which many will encounter after graduation in the specific company where they will work. “
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Business Navigation Game Plan
- Students are divided into teams, which form the management of the company. All teams are given the same assignment. They act as independent competitors.
- With the help of BNS, the teams create a strategy, agree on it and transform it into a business plan in the full range of functional areas.
- The business plan is uploaded to the market simulation in the LUDUS software. Subsequently, the “businesses” get information on what their position on the market is.
- Based on the information obtained, students create a forecast and other decisions that they apply in the next round of the simulation game…
- Based on the results achieved in the quarters, students examine how their decisions contributed to the achievement of their goals.
Game description
Two to five groups of students form teams – businesses that compete against each other with two or three products in up to four markets simultaneously. At the beginning, they are all in the same situation. They act essentially as independent competitors. They do not form cartels, do not enter into cooperation agreements and do not exchange experience.
Each virtual company is represented by its management. This is composed of 3 to 8 students. At the beginning of the simulation, each team chooses its CEO, who is responsible for the cooperation with the game leader (educator). They also monitor adhering to the deadline for entering the decision data for the playing period, which covers a time period – a quarter. The data for the quarter must first be entered into the system and agreed within the team. The data is then processed in the system and projected to the users as a basis for their decisions.
All teams independently derive other sub-goals from the main goal and determine their order. They then select the corresponding actions to be implemented in the form of decisions in each functional area of the enterprise. Meeting a target indicator (e.g. cumulative profit after tax) is a criterion for assessing the success of competing enterprises.
The management simulation game entertains students and easily tests their skills
Once the data is entered and reconciled by the team, the data is processed in the system and projected back to the users to support decisions for the next quarter.
In the BNS – Strategy Map environment, players design a strategy within their responsibilities in the enterprise. Once it is agreed, it is transformed into a business plan corresponding to the length of the game (up to 12 periods/quarters). This plan is developed in the full range of functional areas – sales performance, cost performance and profitability, financial performance and resources and potentials. The completed plan must then be agreed again by a team representing the management of the business. It is then automatically uploaded into the market simulation (LUDUS) together with the plans of the other student groups. Participants in the “Business Navigation Game” are then informed immediately how their plan has been received by the market and receive the basis for the next forecast and the decisions they have to make in the next round. Each team will receive information on the results achieved at the end of one quarter and before the beginning of the next quarter:
- Company balance sheet ratios and price indices for the following quarter;
- information on the cost contribution (incomplete);
- an assessment of sales;
- market research information – price and sales data for each company and market, advertising expenditure, market shares, company profits, product quality assessment;
- information on the operating activities of the enterprise – machine capacity utilisation, planned and actual production volume, list of machines, staffing levels, cost per employee, stocks of raw materials and finished products;
- information on the company’s financial situation – liquidity trends, payment terms, company income and expenses, interest rates, financial investments;
- the quarterly balance sheet at the end of the financial year and the balance sheet of competitors;
- the profit and loss account according to the financial accounting methodology. Based on these reports, companies examine how far their decisions have contributed to achieving their objectives.
If the expectations have not been met, the strategy needs to be modified.
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