The effects of a web-based business strategy game for understanding of strategic management

Abstract

Business strategy games are defined as sequential decision-making exercises structured around a model of an enterprise. In these games, participants have to make management decisions from time to time. Their choices of different strategies, such as cost leadership, differentiation or focus, at one time generally affect the environmental conditions under which the subsequent decisions must be made. These games have a long history and with the change of technology also the fields of application changed. Current reasons for using such games are to evaluate personnel, to study individual and group behavior but also to support teaching because of their incredible opportunities for learning. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to develop an own web-based business strategy game, to integrate it in a strategic management course at the university and to analyze if the usage of this game can improve the students-understanding of strategic management. This evaluation was done with a pre- and post-survey to prove if the knowledge level of understanding strategic management has changed significantly. Furthermore, it was also tested how the game participants perceived the game. The results of the first statistical tests identified no significant improvements in understanding. Nevertheless, the second part of the evaluation showed that the participants perceived the game as useful for understanding strategic management and were also satisfied with the learning experience. Moreover, they enjoyed playing the game and perceived it as interesting and challenging. These findings motivate to further improve the business strategy game itself and the course integration to achieve significant results of performance improvements the next time.