Encouraging
responsible business
through gaming
Case study of
The Peasant Business School
board game
Authors:
Karol Grabias
Huayi Lin
Petra Počanić
Iva Valčić
Acknowledgments:
Małopolski Instytut Kultury / Malopolska Institute of Culture
Fundacja Sendzimira / Sendzimir Foundation
Layout:
Petra Počanić
Krakow, 2014
Organizer:
Sendzimir Foundation
Co-�inanced by:
National Fund
of Environmental Protection
& Water Management
The only clear thing about the future is that it will entail a profound break
with the ways of doing and being we are used to.
Everything else about this vast phenomenon– how, when and
what it implies – is completely vague and will depend on a combination of many factors.
First and foremost is the behaviour of the various actors.
Ezio Manzini & François Jegou
Table of contents
1. Introduction 3
2. The Malopolska Institute of Culture and the Peasant Business School game 4
3. Challenges of PBS project 5
3.1. Content of the game 6
3.2. Responsible and sustainable management and strategy 7
3.3. Expert training 8
3.4. Finance issues 9
4. Suggestions for improvement of PBS project 10
4.1. Content of the game 10
4.1.1. Limitation of resources 10
4.1.2. Social cohesion indicator 10
4.2. Responsible and sustainable management and strategy 11
4.2.1. Sharing 11
4.2.2. Partnership 11
4.2.3. Sustainable tournament 12
4.3. Experts training 13
4.3.1. Cascade training 13
4.3.2. Education about sustainability 13
4.3.3. Trainers learning platform 14
4.4. Financing 14
5. Conclusions 16
References 17
Annexes 18
A1. Forest Game – Board game developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions 18
A2. Green & Great – Online game developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions 20
A3. Sustainable events – The case of the Polish presidency of the council of the UE in 2011 21
1. Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as corporate initiative to assess and take
responsibility for the company's effects on the environment and impact on social welfare. This
term generally refers to company endeavors which go beyond what are required by regulations
or laws on environmental issues and social benefits. Companies apply different means for CSR.
The most common means are corporate philanthropy, incorporating CSR strategy into business
strategy, creating shared value and benchmarking within own industries [1,2]. Besides,
educational organizations for business are exploring and executing more pedagogical methods
to foster managerial skills and at the same time instill the concept and application knowledge
of CSR.
Among different innovative pedagogical methods for entrepreneurial training, business board
gaming is a joyful and interactive approach which bears the ability to incorporate CSR training
into its module. As an institute working on promoting cultural heritage, the Malopolska
Institute of Culture (MIC) invented a board game integrating cultural promotion and business
education. Cultural heritage is a significant aspect of sustainable development and forms an
important part in CSR. Peasant Business School game (PBS) is an educational game aiming at
teaching business knowledge and promoting Malopolska culture in 18th century.
The report introduces the main challenges faced by the case study of PBS game followed by
suggestions for the development of the game and its sustainability.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is corporate
initiative to take responsibility for the company’s
impact on the environment and social welfare.
Gaming is a heuristic way for business education and
inspiring CSR. The Malopolska Institute of Culture
(MIC) is developing its Peasant Business School (PBS)
game for business education to promote Malopolska
culture and CSR.
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
2. The Malopolska Institute of Culture (MIC) and the Peasant Business
School game (PBS)
MIC took its name from 2002, with an emphasis on its objective as a self-governing cultural
institute and promoting modernization of the Malopolska Cultural Centre in the Malopolska
Region in Krakow [3]. The focus of MIC is use of new technology to promote cultural heritage of
Malopolska, including promotion of the heritage of national and ethnic minorities, while at the
same time to take up contemporary cultural challenges faced by the region, as well as the
integration of Europe. Through its educational, advisory, analytical and promotional activities,
MIC helps cultural sector organizations to use their potential actively and effectively. The
long-term strategy is to encourage people to take part in their cultural lives in order to create a
civil society.
Fig 2.1. Logo of Malopolska Institute of Culture
(Source: http://mik.krakow.pl)
Fig 2.2. Malopolska region
(Source: http://cordis.europa.eu)
Under its notion and mission, MIC developed a business game named the Peasant Business
School (PBS). This educational economic game features peasants’ lives in 18th century, when
peasants working for weaving flaxen fabrics from Andrychow in Malopolska established trade
partnerships and organized trade expeditions to cities throughout Europe [4]. These peasants
built an extraordinary weaving and trading center with an exportation of approximate 80% of
its production abroad, boasting the most far-reaching business center for foreign trading in
Poland at that time. The PBS game allows 12-30 players to play as historical entrepreneurs in
that cultural context to manufacture goods for sale, interact with other players on the market,
and accumulate the products necessary to organize trade expeditions to various European
cities. The basic level of the game aims at educating people for basic market mechanisms and
principles in the contemporary market (including supply and demand, competition, commercial
companies and economic clusters) with the function of entertainment. The advanced level
(expanded version) of the game incorporates variant options of goals, and CSR is an ultimate
goal for the players to accomplish in order to raise the awareness and foster the notion of CSR.
As an educational tool inspired by the history of enterprising artisans from the
eighteenth-century village of Andrychow, the PBS game is an attractive way to learn the free
market economy, form the entrepreneurial attitude, develop social skills and integrate the
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
group [5]. What makes it unique in the contemporary board game pool is that it embraces the
players in a realistic historical ambient with cultural identity and stories of the time, in
particular characterizing the partnership and expedition as a symbol of the economic culture of
the 18th century Malopolska. Meanwhile, the CSR orientation as a goal of the advanced version
is intended to make the game more benevolent for its social responsibility and concern for
sustainability.
The contribution of the local culture and historical heritage and the dissemination of the notion
of CSR from the PBS game are worth studying as a good case for the future development for the
MIC and also other cultural entities with similar ambition in the game industry. The game has
won the project representing Poland in European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2014 and it has
been recommended by substantial well-known organizations in Poland including Center for
Civic Education, Institute of National Remembrance, Ministry of Education, Center for
Development of Education and National Leaders of Innovation and Development.
MIC is a self-governing cultural institute to promote
modernization of the Malopolska culture. PBS game
is created by MIC inspired by the history of
enterprising artisans from the eighteenth-century
village of Andrychow. The main features of the game
contain business partnership and expedition.
Extended version of the game incorporates CSR as a
goal for the game.
Fig 2.3. Malopolska region
(Source: MIC)
3. Challenges of the PBS project
Due to its big popularity and success in the first two editions (15 881 players in the second
edition tournament, including 10 944 players from bottom-up initiatives) as well as the
contentment of the users (according to the MIC report “Edukacja ekonomiczna z
wykorzystaniem gry symulacyjnej „Chłopska Szkoła Biznesu”, in the 2013, 84 out of 85
respondents evaluated they will use the game again), MIC has shown a strong interest and will
for the further development of the game on a larger scale which at the current state is facing
some barriers.
5
Lack of responsible and sustainable management and strategy, due to the basic lack of
knowledge about CSR and sustainable development themselves, represent the big issue faced
by MIC. Connected with this, the lack of “sustainability as a whole” in the core concept of the
game can be emphasized as one of the main problems as well. Furthermore, ss pointed out by
MIC, main challenges are related to lack of experts and financial issues for the further
development and promotion.
3.1. Content of the game
The main goal of the game, and also the project organised with it, was to stimulate
entrepreneurial attitudes, encouraging understanding of the basics of the market economy and
the development of social competence among young people. This goal, which was fulfilled
successfully, was extended on the promotion of the subject of social economy and business
social responsibility by supplement The Peasant Social Economy board published in 2012.
Although the idea of extending the game themes on CSR issues is certainly right, there's still
much to be done in it is implementation. The social dimension of the economy has been
reduced to the outdated model of philanthropy: players are competing in funding projects of
public interest (e.g. municipal hospital).
Other major problem is the complete lack of environmental topic - game gives players the
impression that they operate in conditions of an unlimited amount of natural resources.
Although the game is set in the 18th century of pre-industrial economy conditions, promotion
of entrepreneurial attitudes in present economic situation can not ignore dependence of
economy on limited natural capital. Improving the social-responsibility aspect of game and
adding to it environmental theme seems to be important challenge for the PBS project.
An additional task of game was to promote local history and the identity of the city Andrychów.
Evaluation reports1 has proven that this goal of game wasn’t fulfilled in satisfactory extent.
However, the game attracted some players interest in the history of the city Andrychów, the
gameplay itself and its visual side do not highlight the specifics of time and place - during the
game player easily loses a sense of being set in the realities of the 18th century village. Placing
bigger emphasis on historical accents of the game could be the way of improving it.
Fig 3. 1. The PBS boardgame
(Source: MIC )
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
Fig 3.2. & 3.3. PBS players
(Source: MIC )
3.2. Responsible and sustainable management and strategy
The biggest challenge that MIC faces, together with its PBS game project, is a missing
organization and strategies for managing sustainability and social responsibility relating to the
PBS game project. Currently there are two employees in MIC undertaking the work relating to
the game and both of them are occupied with other projects undergoing in MIC. Unfortunatelly
there is no emloyee of MIC fully dedicated to the development of the game and there is no
operative strategy for CSR and sustainability. Financial aspect of the project is strogly affecting
this problem.
However, challenges other than financing remain important and can turn to opportunities for
changes if tackled with good strategies.
Firstly there is no sufficient training and networking inside of the MIC which lead to the
situation that it have not done any survey about the demand of CSR and sustainability of the
game market – which means that there is no base of knowledge and skills for upgrading the
game towards this aspect to attract more relevant game players. Lack of report stressing CSR
condition of organisation is another aspect of this problem.
Secondly MIC have not joined any organizations or formed any alliance with similar
organizations or business sectors to promote CSR and sustainability in order to get social
support and inspiration.
Thirdly, social events organised and co-organised by MIC, including tournaments and
educational activities, did not incorporate CSR and sustainability as a notion to announce or
inform the participants during the process.
Fourthly, organization lack an information system to be informed of the social trend regarding
CSR and sustainability and relating events and movements and it did not take part in these
7
movements to get more information, to enlarge it's social influence and to find opportunities
for funding and partnership.
Fifthly, MIC did not consider to execute CSR and sustainable practices including using eco-label
and recycling paper in printing the game and other materials, making sustainable logistics and
catering for the tournaments and other educational activities and inviting local media for
broadcasting.
3.3. Experts training
During two editions of PBS game MIC organised several courses and workshops for game
instructors, mainly for school teachers, but also for librarians, cultural activists, private
companies and workers of labour market. Estimated number of already trained facilitators able
to conduct gameplay is around 300. Teacher training centres, involved in the organisation of
training courses, proved to be significant partner in formation of qualified facilitators of PBS
game.
But growing problem in development of the game is very limited amount of well qualified staff,
that could manage further trainings for new facilitators- educational or commercial- and
provide other services connected to the game. There are 4 available trainers inside MIC and
around 10 well qualified trainers in whole Poland. This, combined with fact that current method
of training was based on workshops conducted directly by members of MIC, set crucial
limitations on possible scale of game popularity. The project of PBS could expand further only
if MIC and collaborative institutions will invent some kind of organization for training activities.
3.4. Finance issues
MIC was able to afford production and distribution of 600 pieces of basic version of the game,
and also 10 pieces of extended version. Institutions – mainly schools – received the game from
MIC for free, committing to take part in staff training and organise game-play events. Publishing
first 300 pieces of game in 2010 was subsided by Polish History Museum in Warsaw under the
"Patriotism of Tomorrow” project, second edition of next 300 games in 2012 got financial
support from National Bank of Poland and Andrychow Municipality. Cost of both editions is
estimated around 70-80.000 zlotys per each.
At this moment, MIC is facing the problem of lack of money for production of new pieces of
extended version of a game. Actually, available forms of funding from municipal and national
institutions are insufficient for progression of current PBS project. Extending the project on a
larger educational or commercial scale will require significant outlay of money for game
production and distribution, training courses, workshops and marketing. Estimated cost of
publishing new edition of 300 pieces of game, taking into account all mentioned actions
(without upgrades in game content and visual side), is around 50.000 zlotys for basic version,
and around 80-90.000 zlotys for extended version. Finding new, more affluent sources of
funding the project is first, and probably most urgent challenge of improving PBS.
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
All the challenges mentioned before demonstrate that MIC has great space to improve itself
and the PBS game towards responsible and sustainable managing and functioning.
The challenges of the PBS game projects include the content of the game relating
to CSR and sustainable development, responsible and sustainable management,
expert training and financing.
4. Suggestions for improvement of the PBS project
Since culture has an important role as driver and enabler of sustainable development, MIC
should assume the role as one of the promoter of sustainable development and CSR in culture.
The ability of MIC to reach a large number of users through the PBS project (among which the
largest groups are youngsters) shows a good opportunity to do so. By using the upgraded
version as education tool not just to promote entrepreneurship with the aim of economic
growth but to promote a more sustainable model which will take into consideration the
interaction of the 3 pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental, MIC can
accomplish this role.
The proposed solutions in this chapter follow the structure of the outlined challenges in the
Chapter 3.
For easier understanding of suggestions presented in the following chapter, the following tables
describes the general concept of sustainable development, social economy and corporate
social responsibility, which are all the definitions important for deeper understanding and
implementation of responsible business in MIC.
(SD)
(SE)
9
4.1. Content of the game
Serious approach to the topic of CSR requires the creation of mechanisms of gameplay, in which
responsibility occurs at the level of business strategy, not just a peripheral outcome of business
activities. Issues of sustainable development should be incorporated into the gameplay in a
similar way - as part of a strategy influencing all actions taken by the entrepreneur. Connecting
economy with environment and society at structural level is an indication of authentic idea of
sustainable and responsible business. The inclusion of genuine CSR and sustainable
development to the mechanism of the game may take place in several ways, below are
presented suggestions on how this could be done.
4.1.1. Limitation of resources
To sustain their production weavers, blacksmiths and bakers need natural resources: timber,
linen, and wheat. Even in the circumstances of pre-industrial economy these natural resources
are limited and renew at a predetermined rate, what should be reflected in a game mode.
Bank as a part of the game which mediates the production of goods by artisans, can be
considered as the body responsible for the distribution of natural resources available in the
gameplay: timber, linen and wheat. The common pool of resources available in a bank,
dependently on the business strategy adopted by players, would decrease or remain constant.
The banker would be responsible for setting the starting amount of resources proportional to
the number of players and for the calculation of the rate of consumption of resources by the
players due to the recovery rate.
At the moment of consumption of all the resources the game would end with defeat of all
players. This would force the players to make joint decisions considering the scale of used
resources - their common goal would be to maintain a constant level of resources.
4.1.2. Social cohesion indicator
The social aspect of the economy has been included in the game only in terms of funding public
infrastructure for which the player receives points - a game is won by the player who collects
the biggest amount of points. A more complete reflection of responsible business would
internalise needs of social stakeholders in the commercial strategy of players. Individual
indicator of social points could be replaced by a common index of social cohesion, which would
consist of the points for each funding of social infrastructure as well as points for meeting the
needs of society through responsible trade. Social needs of the local community would be
understood as a demand for certain products - bread and linon.
Before organizing trade expeditions each player would make the decision how big amount of
products would be dedicated for export - which would give him a greater profit - and how many
he would like to sell in the local market with a smaller profit. The banker would determine the
rate of social needs for products at given time and calculate, whether the decisions of players
respond to these needs. Lack of fulfillment of these demands would lead to reduction of social
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
cohesion points, which, under a certain threshold, would lead to social unrest and thus defeat
of all the players. This would create a motivation for all players to coordinate their business
strategy with meeting social needs - balancing social cohesion would become their common
goal.
4.2. Responsible and sustainable management and strategy
4.2.1. Integrate and share
Bringing the product to a larger scale does not always mean producing and distributing more
copies. In the case of PBS, finding alternatives ways of spreading existing and already
distributed pieces (300 from the first and 300 from the second edition) to reach larger groups
of people for educational purposes would be a more effective solution from the point of view
of sustainability, especially with the upgraded CSR as tool for promote and educate about
sustainability.
A sharing system can take a variety of forms and sizes but it always emphasises the sharing
access to product or services, rather than having individual ownership. A single PBS game could
be shared between neighbouring schools or even between a variety of stakeholders (eg.
schools, NGOs, businesses, local government). Benefits of a sharing system are multiple
affecting the three pillars of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) by contributing
to the reduction of carbon emissions, empowering individuals and communities, helping to
forge new social networks, creating new partnerships.
4.2.2. Partnerships
Besides fundraising, MIC can use cooperative partnership to collect the money for gaming
project. There are many profitable business consulting companies offering demonstrating tools
and training programs for business and management. If a company wants to sell its share on the
exchange stock market, it is often required to publish its CSR report annually. Companies also
usually publish their CSR report in order to raise their social reputation and decorate their social
images.
To accommodate this hot business trend, consulting companies also provide services and
training programs especially aiming at CSR education. PBS with CSR element can be
incorporated into these training programs as a pedagogical method. MIC can have some share
of the training revenue through cooperation with these consulting companies. Some business
schools offer business training programs for undergraduate students and also people working
in the business industry and they also care about CSR. These business schools are another good
source for cooperation with MIC and have good financial potential.
As having already issued 600 PBS games in the society and organized several large-scale
tournaments and other educational events, MIC has gain substantial social influence and high
respect in the society, which is a merit for conducting advertising. Attracting sponsors to donate
printing expenses and printing the logos or labels of the donators on the package of the game,
11
brochure and relating materials will be reasonable ways of advertisement. Advertising activities
during the tournament and other social event for PBS game and having donation from the
advertising entities is another way to boost the financial condition of MIC.
In many conferences and workshops for training CSR, sustainability, business, culture and
education, there are often networking and team-building section during the process. As an
interesting game with cultural heritage and element of CSR, PBS game can be a good
educational and networking section in the conferences and workshops mentioned before.
Maintaining good partnership with the organizations and companies which have regular
conferences and workshops with the same theme of culture and CSR can guarantee MIC a
sustainable involvement and financial inflow in the long run.
In order to become eligible for European funds (eg. Creative Europe) international partnerships
are needed. The similar principle of the game could be eventually implemented into other cities
(for instance in the case of the production and trading of Olive Oil from Istria – Croatia to the
rest of the Roman Empire in Ancient times) and as in the PBS case serve both purposes promotion of cultural heritage through a business board game.
4.2.3. Sustainable tournament
Today, there is a growing awareness of the importance of promoting sustainability through
event industry. Since events are highly resource-intensive, their organisation is frequently
faced by many negative impacts. As a result of such situation, many stakeholders started to
make efforts in “greening” their events which can bring bring several benefits for organisation in environmental, economic and social aspect. For named reasons, MIC can prosper by
implementing concept of sustainable events into their practice.
The upgraded PBS as educational and promotional tool for CSR should apply principles of
sustainability into the organisation of the Tournaments, following the suggestions available in
the practical handbook 'How to implement sustainable event standard' published by Fundacja
Aeris Futuro for the polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As stated in the handbook, a sustainable event is an event of any type and scale whose strategy
embraces three pillars of sustainable growth:
rational use of natural resources and reduction of negative environmental impact;
social development, embracing specific profiles of various groups;
economic efficiency and stability.
A sustainable event should apply the principles of sustainability to:
The location (e.g. easy accessible by local transport);
Transport and travel (e.g. promoting bicycle transport to reach the venue);
Catering (e.g. cuisine typical for the given region contracting businesses from the
local market);
Promotion, advertising, education (e.g. using recycled paper, eco colours);
CO2 Emissions and offset (e.g. tree planting action during or after the event)
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
Implementing a sustainable event strategy goes in the line with small step method with a
long-term (strategic) vision in mind which could eventually be implemented to all events hosted
by MIC and eventually implement green standards across the whole organisation.
The benefits to be gained are of economic (eg. greater competitive edge, higher quality of
services and products, building the positive image and good relations with the environment
etc.), social (team-building, promotion and development of volunteering, supporting local
communities etc.) and environmental nature (climate and air, water and earth's surface,
biodiversity).
4.3. Expert training
Education is one of the most powerful tools for promoting CSR and developing values and
knowledge about sustainable development. By addressing the issue of sustainable
development through PBS and conducting the trainings/workshops for trainers on game rules
and moderating, MIC can ensure consequent transfer of knowledge from its employees, to the
professional trainers, and all the way to the players. Additional training could be conducted
through the following activities: cascade training, eduaction about sustainability and trainers
learning platform.
4.3.1. Cascade training
One of the efficient methods how knowledge about the rules and concept of PBS can be
transfered is cascade training. The cascade model involves the delivery of training through
layers of trainers until it reaches the final target group (Elder), which in our case would be the
training of the new trainers who can facilitate the PBS.
Main advantages of this educating system are possibility to educate large number of people,
reducing the cost of the training and decreasing the needed training time, which are the
current problems that MIC faces. Since the trainers should be fully familiar with both theory
and practice, it is important to provide quality training material and spend enough time on
playing the game to gain full understanding of the rules and processes. Gaming sessions for
trainers should be periodically organised.
4.3.2. Education about sustainability
Except for the need of trainings about the game itself, it is very important to include training
about sustainable business as well, so that professional trainers can lead the game on the
higher level regarding CSR and sustainable development. Trainers need to have deep
understanding of the concept of sustainability so they could more easy facilitate and modify
game, ensuring that sustainability concept is incorporated into the game.
13
4.3.3. Trainers learning platform
Learning Platform (LP) is a generic term used to describe a range of integrated web based
applications (web pages, email, message boards, text and video conference, shared diaries,
online social areas, as well as assessment tools) that are used to deliver and support learning.
A learning platform could enable several practical benefits:
it can raise awareness about the game itself and sustainability concept (both among
the trainers and players);
open access to a wide variety of learning materials related to PBS and sustainability
issues (available documents, articles, courses);
access new experiences and insights from played games.
The trainers learning platform could be implemented into the PBS website/network.
4.4. Financing
CSR and sustainable development are new concern and benevolent concepts as the basis for
many social movements influencing consequent changes in the society in terms of
consumption pattern, marketing, business, education, etc. Cultural identity and historical
heritage are prominent parts of conservation of cultural diversity, social equality, sustainable
civic society, which is emphasized under the framework of sustainable development.
Depicting the life of peasants’ and their business activities in the 18th century through a
simulation game combines an innovative way of historical storytelling with entrepreneurial
learning features. Educating and convincing society to change is a significant component of the
sustainability agenda. The element of CSR in the upgraded version of the game is another
advantage and tool that could be used by MIC to promote behaviour change.
Therefore, the focus should move from the goal of releasing the 3rd edition to upgrading the
game and improving the related services (eg. Tournament event, CSR education, cultural
promotion, sharing system) as well as trying to drive towards organisational changes (eg.
publishing own CSR report of MIC, joining organizations and forming partnership with other
game producers and other institute in cooperation to promote CSR and sustainable
development, making market survey with the game players for their opinions on CSR and
sustainable development, etc.) which would consequently open more financing possibilities for
MIC as being a more responsible organisation.
As a public cultural institute, MIC has been collecting money mainly by fundraising, a similar
channel of capital mobilization of NGOs. The first two editions of the PBs game have been
subsidised with funds from the Polish History Museum (1st edition) and the National Bank of
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
Poland (2nd edition) and Andrychow Municipality. Realizing that the internal fund of the
institute is far from enough for promoting and developing the game, MIC is scouting for new
stakeholders which are willing to fund the gaming project.
Upgrading to the version of the game which promotes sustainability opens new possibilities for
fundraising.
Possible sources for fundraising can be outlined as following:
Government Sources, such as the ministries or departments of health, education,
and public welfare, and provincial and local government sources. These departments
usually have funds for promoting culture, sustainable development and CSR thus can
be targets for raising fund of promote PBS game project. Possible sources include the
National Cultural Centre (Narodowe Centrum Kultury) in Poland and the Ministry of
Culture and National Heritage (Ministerstwa Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego);
Local Businesses, such as banks, real estate companies, service and industrial
companies, etc., and local subsidiaries or partners of multinational corporations.
National Bank of Poland can be a good example since it has already funded MIC;
Local Independent Foundations and Trusts. Examples include the Foundation Open
Culture (Fundacji Open Culture), LabforCulture and Congress Initiatives in Eastern
Europe (Kongres Inicjatyw Europy Wschodniej) and Sendzmir Foundation;
Community Foundations. Community foundations are independent, grant making
organizations that mobilize resources from a variety of sources, including the general
public. Such foundations are dedicated to addressing critical societal needs and on
improving the quality of life of specific segments of a community in a limited
geographic area.
It is worth notice that the ability to manage small and separate funds is very important for small
institute. MIC has expressed in its interview that they can raise some small funds for the society,
but these funds are too small to be used. However, small funds can be of big effect if there are
efficient sources of these small funds and the total amount is big enough. Thus we suggest MIC
pay attention to those small funds and development a good managerial strategy to make use of
these funds.
The main suggestions to address the challenges of
the PBS game project are updating the content of the
game in order to convey strong and clear notion of
CSR and sustainable development, conducting
partnership and sustainability practices to enhance
responsible and sustainable management,
strengthening expert training and building sufficient
fundraising channels.
15
5. Conclusions
As a cultural institute, MIC has offered an innovative approach for the promotion of the cultural
heritage of the town of Andrychow in Malopolska in the 18th century through a board game
promoting entrepreneurship.The upgraded version of the game gained a big popularity
involving a significant number of people revealing its great potential for future development
especially in the upgraded version currently introducing elements of the Social Economy.
However, the institute is facing some challenges as barrier for the further development of the
game.
The report explores the current approach of MIC towards PBS and its main challenges and offer
possible solutions for integrating CSR and sustainable development principles into the PBS
game and practice of MIC.
To overcome identified problems as an outcome of current practice, MIC should focus on
following:
improving sustainable management;
building partnerships in field of CSR;
introducing SD and CSR issues in staff trainings, adjustment of game content to
accurate;
understanding of CSR and SD ideas;
building training network for game facilitators;
organising sustainable events with PBS game;
and diversification of sources of funding.
Within the limited time and information, this report can be taken as a primary study result and
a tentative research sample. For further improvement of the report, expert consultancy,
information enrichment and field work including more interview with MIC, players and other
organizations should be conducted.
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
References
1. Dieleman, H. and Huisingh, D., 2006. “Games by which to learn and teach about sustainable
development: exploring the relevance of games and experiential learning for
sustainability”,Journal of Cleaner Production, 14, p. 837-847
2. Elder, H., “The Cascade Model of Training,: It’s Place in the Pacific”, [Online]
http://www.directions.usp.ac.fj/collect/direct/index/assoc/D1064942.dir/doc.pdf
3. Malopolska Institute of Culture, 2013. “Edukacja ekonomiczna z wykorzystaniem gry
symulacyjnej „Chłopska Szkoła Biznesu”, [Online]
http://mik.krakow.pl/wp-content/uploads/CSBNBP_sprawozdanie_raport_V2013.pdf
4. Mission of MIC [Online]
http://MIK.krakow.pl/misja/.
5. “PEASANT BUSINESS SCHOOL" – Educational Economic Game-Instruction Manual. Internal
material.
6. Recommendations for PBS game. [Online]
http://csb.MIK.krakow.pl/rekomendacje/.
7. Tilcsik, A. & Marquis, C., 2013. "Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural
Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in U.S. Communities." ''Administrative Science
Quarterly'', 58(1): 111-148". Papers.ssrn.com.
8. "The Fairtrade Foundation | Fairtrade - Read a case study". Fairtrade.
17
Annexes
Games as an educational tool enable to learn about complex system through playful activity
and are used by professionals from different disciplines. Nowadays, both board and
computer-based games that address sustainability issues and responsible businesses become
more relevant. Many games are already available and new ones are being developed all the
time (Dieleman and Huisingh, 2006).
Games presented below can serve as good examples of educational games for promoting
sustainability and responsible business. For easier navigation through the text, each game is
outlined with several sections: game description, target audience & funding, organisation of
the game and key benefits.
As the last part of the annex, authors presented the good practice of organising sustainable
events during The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2011, which can be used as an
inspiration for organising sustainable gaming tournaments.
A1. FOREST GAME – board game developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions
Fig A 1.1. Participants of the XVII Summer Academy
Challenges of Sustainable Development engaged in the Forest Game
Game description:
The Forest Game is an experimental game directed towards sustainability and which
emphasizes the importance of sustainable management of natural resources by confronting
the players with the challenges faced by communities that use forest as a source of income.
The players are embedded in a setting where they need to balance between environmental
aspect (forest), economical aspect (earning income) and social aspect (investing in education).
Target audience & funding
This game was tested in Uganda and applied in different countries, for different groups of
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
players: forest owning communities, forest managers, policy makers and other stakeholders
interested in sustainable forest management.
The game was developed as a part of the international project “The Emergence of Adaptive
Governance Arrangements for Tropical Forest Ecosystems” and funds had been provided by
National Science Foundation from USA.
Organisation of the game
A game session starts with the presentation of the Forest Game and its rules. The entire game
is led by a facilitator. It is played for 2 hours and it is divided into rounds (years). Players are
divided into the families – one group represents one family (3-4 members per family). In the
starting round, each family receives starting capital. In the following rounds, each family has to
define the number of trees they would like to cut, make decision about education of their
family members and decision of monitoring other families. In each round the forest has
regeneration potential of 35%. Possible threats for forest are following: over-exploitation,
insufficient protection and natural disasters.
Once the game is finished, it is debriefed in the form of group discussion.
Key benefits
Through engagement of their minds and emotions, players are learning the importance of trust
in the community for sustainable forest management. Also, The Forest Game enables players to
see the bigger picture of the sustainability, and stresses out the complexity and importance of
different sustainability dimensions. For example, by calculating how many trees players want to
cut in each round and also considering to maintain the whole forest in a long run, the players
are forced to reflect on their actions in order to have a sustainable society. This aspect of the
game makes a big significance in the education for sustainable development and makes it a
great pedagogical tool.
Furthermore, The Forest Game improves communication and collaboration skills because
players need to make joint decision, both inside the team and between teams. Once players
realize that in order to achieve their goals, they need to collaborate, The Forest Game achieves
its purpose of stressing the importance of working together. Playing games that facilitate
communication and collaboration usually do result in better team performance and provide a
sense of belonging to a team (Dieleman and Huisingh, 2006).
More information about the Forest Game can be found on:
www.crs.org.pl/en/games/forest-game
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A2. GREEN&GREAT – online game developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions
Game description
Green&Great is a simulation game which explores business transition towards sustainability
and incorporates the excitement of the competition together with the business possibilities.
Engaging players on emotional and intellectual level, Green&Great enables them to realise the
importance, benefits and value of sustainable business and help them with perceiving
sustainability as an competitive advantage.
Target audience & funding
Green&Great is developed for different groups of players: leaders, managers and consultants
both from business and civil society organizations. It has been used with success in different
workshop and training, both in business and academia sectors.
Funds for the development of the game were provided by the Centre for Systems Solutions.
Organisation of the game
The entire game is led by a moderator and lasts approximately 2 hours. Green&Great has user
friendly tutorials which facilitates the understanding of the game content. There are 5 rounds
in each game. Players (up to 24 players) take on their roles as managers in big consulting
companies, with the aim of making profit while minimizing impact on environment and trying
to achieve social goals. At the beginning of the game, players compete for the clients which are
obtained at the auction. Each project requires employees with specific competencies which can
be developed through the training of the employees. Each project could have positive, neutral
or negative impact on environment, society, economics and employees’ wellbeing (known as
Compass tool). In the end of the game, each player can see overall impact of his/her company.
Key benefits
This game has an extra value by using the indexing tool The Compass of Sustainability which
was created by Alan Atkisson with the aim of better understanding of the sustainable concept
for different stakeholders. The Compass consists from four aspects of sustainability – Nature,
Economy, Society and Wellbeing – which are integrated in the core of the Green&Great. Using
the compass as a guide, players can have clear picture of setting their goals and by playing the
game move towards more sustainable operation of their business.
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game
Since up to 24 players can play at the same time, Green&Great provides great opportunity for
team building, tournaments etc. Also, even more than 24 players can play at the same time by
managing a few parallel game session by an experienced moderator.
Furthermore, one of the key benefit of Green&Great is its accessibility, users can play it
whenever and wherever they want, the only prerequisite is a computer.
How the game is progressing, players become aware of the reputation significance for their
businesses and understand the importance of business sustainability. Furthermore, during the
game, players have the possibility to improve their “real-life” skills, such as negotiation skills,
teamwork and interpersonal communication due to the reason that the game feel more “real”,
so the learning process is more quick and efficient.
More information about the Green&Great can be found on:
http://greenandgreat.games4sustainability.com
A3. SUSTAINABLE EVENTS - THE CASE OF THE POLISH PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU
IN 2011
The year 2011 was the year of The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
During that time, Presidency introduced “Green Presidency” project with the aim of mitigating
negative environmental impact of the Presidency, including events. Events were organised in
term with Sustainable Event standard, which became a positive designation of Poland for
representing it as a country that gives a priority to sustainability and promotes CSR.
The events were organised taking into consideration the “green” choice of partners,
subcontractors, production of souvenirs, event logistics and efficient use of resources such as
water and energy fuel.
To be more precise, following is the list of some activities that could serve as an inspiration and
starting point for organising the sustainable events:
Management and green procurement - environmental protection criteria in all the
tenders for services (e.g. waste sorting)
Partnership - cooperation with stakeholders from different sectors (private, public,
NGOs) to build sustainable civic attitude and raise awareness
Travel and mobility - promotion of public and shared transport; free parking spaces
for bicycles and reduced fees for shared transport; map pointing out the venue and
a timetable of recommended connections and guidelines how to reach the venue on
foot - sent to the participants and posted on the website in order of promoting
shared transport
Conference Venues and Hotels - selection of venues in the city centre due to its easy
access; management of the venue interested in the questions of sustainable
development; avoiding daily changes of towels; using natural daylight to a large
extent
Catering - promotion of local cuisine and contracting producers and business from
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the local market; promotion of vegeterian dishes; usage of edible plates (e.g.from
oat bran) and biodegradable cutlery and cups (e.g. made of starch); non-GMO
products, drinks in larger containers; food remains shared with the participants or
local charities after event
Communication, promotion and education - electronic registration of participants
and electronic form of all information materials; recyclable printouts; printing on
both sides of the sheets; multi-use name badge; stickers without plastic coating
Waste - materials should be disposed for eco-recycling;
Outcomes of organising sustainable event:
By following this requirements for organising sustainable events, during The Polish Presidency
of the Council of the EU, green activities has achieved next results (only several examples of all
accomplished results):
4 tonnes of resources unused during the Presidency have been recycled;
totally savings of PLN 481,838.44 on fuel cards with a total value of 1 PLN billion
provided by the Presidency partner which led to savings of 90,500 kg of CO2;
establishment of number of cross-sectoral partnerships which finalized number of
pro-environmental initiatives;
eco-criteria has been included in all contracts and tender specifications addressed to
providers of services for the Presidency;
recyclables in the amount of almost 4 metric tones were sorted so they could be
used again. As a result of that, more natural resources and energy was saved.
8400 kg of greenhouse gases did not go to the atmosphere, what is equal to the
amount that 1120 trees absorb during one year. Furthermore, funds collected from
the sales of recyclables were used to plant new trees in collaboration of all the
partners.
Data presented show how the organisation of sustainable events brings many tangible benefits,
in environmental, economic and social aspect, and develops competitive advantage through
setting up and promoting CSR and sustainable development as a point of difference.
More information about the sustainable event during The Polish Presidency of the Council of
the EU in 2011 can be found on:
http://aerisfuturo.pl/en/i.113.id.614.0/How_to_implement_Green_Event_Standard_-_practic
al_handbook.html
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Encouraging responsible business through gaming
Case study of The Peasant Business School board game