We saw the challenges faced by businesses in downturn of economy
The question arises, does B-school prepare future managers to face crisis? Even if they do so, how effective they are?
As a student of PGDM executive at IMT- Ghaziabad, I recently attended a 6 days marketing simulation program conducted by faculties from Austria.
Executive MBA requires people with minimum 5 years of work experience as a manager.
MARKETING SIMULATION is software based program in which teams of student form a company and compete in simulated global market. At the start of the simulation, each company sells its products in the market. As the simulation progresses, existing products can be changed or withdrawn, and new products brought onto the market, depending on how the game develops. The aim is to strengthen your own company's market position and profit situation. This makes the conflicts between a company's various goals, which arise when making business decisions, very obvious. Each company's sales strategy should reflect its unique position within the market.
There are 9 rounds to play this game and each round is a considered to be a financial year. The teams makes their strategies based on multiple variables like positioning, new product development, marketing mixes, demand forecasting etc. The variables go upto100 in number. At the end of each round, results were declared. Results include market shares, revenues, unit solid contribution margins, net profit, etc.
Now, by artificially creating recession in random periods, companies are tested. Companies which strategically build capacities, staffing, investments in R&D etc. were able to face recession well. Others were left with piles of inventories & huge fixed costs killing their profits.
This stimulation gives student managers a chance to practice handling real life scenarios without risking millions of dollars which otherwise may damage the bottom line.
I experienced that business can be taught better by putting student managers into challenging scenarios. Learning’s which comes out of such situational handling are long lasting as they change perspectives.
Simulation vs. Case based approach:
Harvard business school case base approach is highly appreciated & followed by most of the B-schools across the globe. Moving one level ahead, it will be simulation, which gives you result for your chosen strategies. It also gives an opportunity for new idea generation and application of theoretical concepts.
Similarly case studies also provide simulation, as there are multiple options that one can choose. Challenge is that you never come to know the results of your chosen strategies.
Ethics: How important they are in business?
One of the core reasons for financial downturn was excessive greed for profit. I believe that business ethics should be a core course {full credit} which should be mandatory for all B-schools students. I have studied core course on business ethics which is taught through HBR case studies. It repeatedly reinforced the fact that companies whose core ideology was ethical were at disadvantageous positions in short term, but in long term, these companies were highly admired by stake holders.
