International Economics students upgraded transnational business skills

16:21, May 31, 2019

Online business simulation of international sales was held as part of an interdisciplinary project in May

All week long third-year students of IEB program have been upgrading skills gained in the courses of International Business, Business Planning, International Marketing, International Monetary Relationships, and Industrial Economics. The specially tailoured online business simulation allowed to dive in the actual decision making environment of the transnational company. The simulation allowed participants to obtain necessary practical experience in solving analytical, financial, manafacturing, logistics  and management tasks.

The main team’s aim was to manage the international pharmaceutical company. Teams had to adopt the right strategy of production, logistics and sales for company’s development in three markets — Finland, USA and France. The game operated for 6 years (game-periods), taking into account changes in market trends, exchange rates and demand in the various industrial markets. Also internationally composed groups once again practiced cross-cultural skills.

Nowadays business simulations are used by the largest companies for employees qualification upgrade, and obviously this practice helps to satisfy employers needs better, outlines the head of IEB programme Zhanna Belyaeva.

The game was accompanied by Professor Ed Overes of partner university — Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands). Professor noted the advantages of  interactive teaching method:

“Students understand the levers of interaction on the company's management and analytical processes in the context of external influences, train the ability to interpret and predict market situations, see the consequences of analytical decisions based on production facts, link decisions with cash flows and performance, and also get practical experience in team over solving business problems in a real international diversified environment”.

Students identified key success factors in online simulation: analytical approach to decision making, forecasting and planning, teamwork.

The winners of the online game

1^st place — OCHRE team (Shelkovnikov Vadim, Estee Cogneau, Furzikova Nadezhda, Poilova Nadezhda, Popov Vyacheslav, Voskanyan Michail).
2^nd place — team BLUE (Grigoryeva Polina, Roméo ArosteguyCuignet, Trunov Evgeniy, Tselkovikov Nikita, Konovalova Anna, Mokina Alena).
3^rd place — team GREEN (Anait Petrosyan, Darya Kormiltseva, Valentin Delannoy, Pavel Kopylov, Kevin Oberlehner, Vladislav Yarin).