CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN
BUSINESS EDUCATION
Themes
Digital Business Education
Employability and Graduate Impacts
Lord Ashcroft International Business School
Enhancing Assessment and Feedback
Online Simulation Game: Inspiring students
to actively learn about International Business
Introduction
Cesim
Sandra Selmanovic implemented Cesim, an online
international business strategy simulation in which
students compete in teams by taking decisions in a
range of business areas. Simulation games have been
used in business education in order to provides
students with hands on experience in a safe
environment where they can learn from their successes
and by making mistakes. Ritchie et al (2013) state that
the “student teams develop the necessary skills to
examine the competitive environment, develop a
company strategy, and manage their firm’s internal
capabilities (e.g., finance, marketing, production, and
R&D) to implement the strategy effectively.
Cesim
simulates
a
virtual
international
telecommunications technology company. Teams have
an identical starting position in terms of resources and
compete
in
identical
markets.
Student/team
achievements are evaluated upon a range of
performance indicators.
Within the game, strategic international business
decisions are made in the areas of demand estimation,
procurement, R&D, production, marketing, HR and
finance,
most
students
developed
in-depth
understanding of the inter-dependencies between
different business areas.
Self and Peer Assessment Approach
Sandra Selmanovic piloted this simulation with student
volunteers, incorporating a self and peer assessment approach.
Simulation Results
Informal peer feedback
face to face and online
Self-assessment
online
The simulation game produces the results (1
week = 1 year in simulation time)
Informal feedback from
the facilitator
Individual decisions
Group discussion
Students analyse the
results
data
and
make
decisions
individually,
each
week.
The team discuss
and agree on the
decisions,
each
week.
Student Feedback
Development
Cesim Global Challenge proved highly effective in
enhancing students’ strategic decision-making- and
teamwork skills. This helped them to better interrelate the contents of the individual modules they
study throughout their degree.
The next stage will to use Cesim as part of a formal
assessment piece within, for example, our Level 5
30-credit module International Business. Feedback
from students reinforced this idea.
Author: Sandra Selmanovic
 Assesses real-world business skills
 Embedded
peer
assessment
and
feedback
Email: [email protected]
Reference:
Ritchie, W.J., Fornaciari, C.J., Drew, S.A.W. and Marlin, D., 2013. Team Culture and Business Strategy Simulation Performance. Journal of Management Education 37 (601)