The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

The Business Game is an engaging games-based learning product from PIXELearning and businessdynamics. The simulation has been developed inline with the ‘National Strategy for Enterprise Education’ to provide an excellent way of introducing enterprise to young adults and teens.

The game puts the learner into a realistic business scenario where they develop and market a new product.

It is designed to be challenging and fun whilst at the same time demonstrating how various business issues such as finance, sales, marketing and production are affected by each other.

Overview

What is the game for?

The Business Game is a business simulation and role-playing game which has been specifically designed for use by teenagers, for in-class use and to fulfill the requirements of enterprise education within the National Curriculum.

The Business Game provides a visually appealing educational game experience that has a complex business simulation running ‘under the bonnet’.

The game is scenario-based in that the users (your students) ‘play’ the role of someone who wants to start a new manufacturing company. They choose a product which they are then tasked to produce and to take to market and sell.

The students work through five ‘stages’. Each stage involves the student undertaking a specific activity which ensures that they are exposed to key enterprise concepts such as pricing, marketing and sales.

Each stage is named (e.g. ‘Market Research’) and requires that the student undertakes specific tasks in order that they may progress to the next stage.

Game duration

The Business Game has been designed to deliver an initial session lasting around 45 minutes. Students are able to adjust the game speed which will affect the overall length of the game. The game has also been designed for replayability and has many different possible outcomes. Students may find that they can run through subsequent plays in as little as 15 minutes.

Games-based approaches

PIXELearning specialises in the design and development of games and simulation-based learning solutions to deliver deep learning experiences which are engaging, effective and authentic.

It is recognised that the term ‘game’ may have, for some, negative connotations in relation to education. The authors would seek to reassure teachers and school administrators that The Business Game is very much an educational product which has been designed specifically to support schools-based enterprise education and with a teenage audience in mind.

We define our games-based approach as: “The use of computer game and simulation approaches and/or technologies for primarily non-entertainment purposes”.

The use of games for education, whilst still in an embryonic stage of development, is growing very rapidly with many international events, publications and organisations appearing every week across the world.

“The potential (for games-based approaches) is huge and remains largely untapped. For example, in educational applications alone International Data Corporation, the IT market research company, predicts that about 40 per cent of the US corporate e-learning market will use simulations by 2008 and estimates the market will be worth $10.8bn (£6bn) by 2007.”

Source Financial Times, September 2005

The following sections depict each of the key screens from within the game and explains what the students need to do. This should assist you in recognising where in the game each student has reached so that you can help them if required.

NB! Don’t forget that the game has in-built instructions for learners. These can be accessed by their clicking upon the ‘INSTRUCTIONS’ button which is located at the top right hand side of the interface at all times.

The following text serves to describe each of the game’s five ‘stages’ to ensure that teachers are able to recognise them and that they are familiar with what their students are required to do in each.

Stage 1: Introduction to the scenario and learning the interface

This stage has been designed to allow students to quickly get familiar with the interfaces within the game such as, for example, the PDA, PC and plasma screen.

When students click on the plasma screen and then click on the stage 1 icon they will see a series of graphical buttons which depict and give access to each of the game’s main screens.

Under each graphic there will be shown either a tick or a cross (see image below) which shows the student whether they have visited this particular interface.

Once the student has visited all of the interfaces they are then free to progress to stage 2 by simply clicking on the button (entitled ‘START STAGE 2’) from within the ‘stage 1 interface of the plasma screen.

Our pilot testing has found that students were surprisingly adept at mastering the game’s interfaces and we don’t expect that teachers will find this to be a problem.

Not withstanding this it is recommended that all students make use of the optional introduction and that teachers play through the game at least once beforehand to ensure that they themselves are familiar with it in case any problems do arise.

NB! Remember that in order to progress from one stage to the next, students need to return to the appropriate interface of the plasma screen and click on the relevant button.

Stage 2: Carry out market research

This stage requires the learners to review the market research results for the five different product ‘ideas’ from which they then have to select one.

The Stage 2 interface of the plasma screen depicts the five products from which the students can choose from and has two buttons.

The first button is entitled ‘GO TO MARKET RESEARCH’ and will take the learner to the market research folder. This is also accessible from the main office screen.

The second button is entitled ‘CONFIRM PRODUCT & GO TO STAGE 3’. Once the learner has chosen the product that they want to make and sell (by clicking on that product icon in the plasma screen stage 2 screen) they then have to type a short explanation of why they chose that particular product.

Stage 3: Selecting your sales strategy

The activities in this stage are similar to the previous stage (where the learner selected the product that they will make and sell).

In this stage the learner decides how they are going to sell their product. The choices are between using a sales agent, distributor or by trading directly. Collectively these options are referred to as ‘Sales Channels’.

The learners click on the first of two buttons (‘GO TO SALES CHANNELS’) to see information relating to the three different choices in the ‘Sales Channels’ folder which, again, is also accessible from the main office interface.

Once the learner is looking at the Sales Channels folder they are given a brief overview of the differences between the three options and then information which is specific to each choice.

When the learner wants to decide which sales channel to select they simply click on the relevant icon (back in the stage 3 screen of the plasma screen interface) and then provide another short explanation of their reasoning.

Stage 4: Prepare to trade

The learner has now chosen a product to make and sell and decided on how they will sell it. They now have to set their product price, decide on the product ‘quality’ and set their sales & marketing budget.

To do these tasks the learner has to use the PC and click on the MIS icon (Management Information System) and then ‘Marketing’ (from the grey navigation bar).

This will cause a drop box to appear (see image below) from which they can select the appropriate screen.

1. Setting price

The learner can select a price between £5 and £395 and can see the competitor prices to help them.

2. Setting Sales & Marketing budget

The learner can select the ‘Select SM budget’ navigation option to access the screen from which they can set their sales & marketing budget. They can also see their competitors’ budgets for comparison.

3. Setting product ‘quality’

The learner can use this screen to determine the % rating of the main features of each product for example ‘style’ is a feature for alloy wheels.

The learner is free to change the percentage rating of each from 1% to 100%. The effect of increasing this is that the product becomes more attractive to customers but the trade-off is that the product costs more to produce.

NB! It is important that learners realise that if they do not at least match the market research findings then the level of demand for their product will be severely affected.

Another useful screen for learners at this stage is the ‘Product Positioning’ screen (see image below).

This shows the learner’s product in comparison to their five competitors. The comparison is via a graph that uses the product quality rating on the X (horizontal) scale and price on the Y (vertical) scale.

Once the student has set these three values they can then return to the Plasma screen, click on Stage 4 again and they are then able to progress to the final stage; completing 3 years of trading.

The learners can do this by clicking on the ‘GO TO MY PC’ button.

Stage 5: Complete 3 years of trading

This stage is where the students actually produce and sell their product.

Several new screens are now available to the students all of which are found in the PC MIS screens and can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Financials’ and ‘Production’ navigation options as shown below.

Financials

At first the learners can access the Sales Charts and Cash Flow screens. These both use graphs that display the number of unit sales over time and the current level of cash over time. These graphs are updated at the start of each month.

After the first month of trading has been completed another screen called ‘Financial Performance’ becomes available. This shows a simplified financial statement which details sales revenues, gross profit, overheads and net profitability on a monthly and overall time basis. See image below:

Production

The production screen shows the learner the overall level of demand for their product in the present month. It also details the current production capacity, stock levels and the current surplus or shortfall.

The learners can adjust Production Capacity by adding or removing production lines (maximum is three) and/or adjusting the level of staff overtime (maximum is 50%).

The lower right hand side of the production screen shows the make up of the direct (production) costs and the current gross profit per unit.

The game automatically increases the level of demand in the marketplace by a small percentage each month however the competitors will change their pricing, product quality and sales & marketing budgets periodically i.e. they can get more competitive. These changes will be indicated to the learner via an email message.

If the learner does not respond to these competitor changes they will find that the level of demand for their product can fall significantly as they are no longer competitive.

All through the game the learner will be sent messages from various stakeholders. These messages will tell them information (e.g. that competitors have changed their prices) or give them game advice (e.g. how to use the game speed controls).

NB! Don’t forget to remind your students that they can access these emails at any time from their PDA (on their desktop) and that they can also get advice from various people by using their video phone.

Accolades & awards

From time to time and depending upon how well each learner is doing, they will receive various accolades and awards. These are displayed in the ‘Desk File’ which is accessible by clicking on the leather and paper files on the desk in the main office interface.

Client Testimonials

Our students found this interactive game, exciting, engaging and easy to use and understand. It gives students an excellent insight into how businesses are run and will be a valuable tool in helping schools to teach young people about enterprise. We will definitely be using it as part of our programme of enterprise education. This supports the development of personalised learning.

Deputy Head, Lampton School

The feedback I have had from the students has been very positive. I get groans when I tell them that we need to get on with other work. ''It's a really useful game sir, I was playing it at home last night. This is what it will be like when I'm running my own business', this is just one quote I had.

From a teacher's point of view, the game's interaction really engages students into learning. It can be difficult to teach that there are consequences to any business actions, but the game enables me to do this. Students enjoy discussing the decisions they made and justifying them to each other.

Marc Coton, The Community College, Chulmleigh, Devon

I didn't realise just what we were not getting. It's a great game. Well done!!

[This is] A game of strategy, students are in control of a business. Choosing one of five products they position the quality, and set the price and production levels. They need to take consideration of the competition, market research and other advice in order to make as large a profit over a three year period as possible. Students can sit and watch the balance sheet improve or otherwise in response to the changes they make. [The Business Game is] Useful for any Business course at or above GCSE level, or for Enterprise education. [In addition, the] Graphics are good, and the printout for the students at the end is a positive bonus.

Chris Thompson, Spalding Grammar School

It proved a great success. The fact that scenarios can be saved means there is lots of flexibility. A single scenario can take about 45 minutes to run through, but play could be spread across shorter periods over a number of weeks. It will certainly enable lots of enterprise-curriculum boxes to be ticked.

Rav Gill, Head of Business at Lampton School

She made some staggering profits selling the ring, her success was probably due to matching her product precisely to the market research findings with which the simulation begins.

Assistant Head Dr Carrington-Howell at St Thomas Moore's Catholic Secondary School in Nuneaton