For those who still don't know what a Business Game is, the concept is simple. Students must, over a set period, manage a fictitious company and all its constraints as a team. Between competition, strategy, and decision-making, students have to consider all the factors imposed by the game in order to manage their company as best as possible and emerge victorious.

Meet Katia SCHMITZ, assistant director of Assomption Saint Clotilde in Bordeaux.

What is a Business Game?

Katia Schmitz: Business game, serious game, management simulator or business game: equivalent terms to describe a type of computerized educational tool and more broadly an educational approach based on involvement, interactivity, emulation, inductive and accelerated learning. Students are divided into teams and appointed as the heads of companies, competing against each other. The roles of our students? CEO, sales director, marketing, finance, communication, production, human resources: you will be responsible for your actions and the results of your company in front of your shareholders...

Who did you organize this Business Game with?

KS: The facilitators who organized the game are business professionals, consultants, but also training facilitators in higher education (business schools, engineering schools, HR, and universities). They were accompanied by the usual educational teams (teachers and pedagogical management) from ASC Bordeaux and Bel Orme establishments.

Who was the Business Game aimed at?

KS: First and second year BTS students from MCO, GPME and CI sections of Assomption Saint Clotilde and Lycée Bel Orme, a total of 231 students divided into 42 teams, mixing all the sections of the two schools.

Why organize such an event?

KS: Firstly, to get a global vision of business and the company, and to understand from the inside how a company is organized: a business game is a "business simulator", much like Flight Simulator is a flight simulator! It's an experience accelerator, a training tool, a proven method of skill acquisition. Secondly, to live a company simulation: for 3 days, students embody the CODIR of the company (CODIR = Executive Committee) and live a collective adventure, teamwork, a human experience made up of successes, failures, competition, risk-taking, and betting. Serious and substantial for business. Fun and memories for the competition.

How did the Business Game go?

KS: In teams of 5 or 6 people (the teams are made by the teachers in advance), students decide the future of the company in its markets, facing competitors. The students are connected to the simulator via a website, with the iPad. Stress, fun, negotiations between subcontractor partners, alliances or on the contrary takeover bids, crises, tenders, betrayals, media in search of scoops, shareholders waiting for dividends, and finally and especially customers... In short, the life of today's company... On the last day: pitch presentations of the companies to different audiences interested in startups (business angels to convince, young talents to recruit, consumers to win over) and finally the announcement of the final results of the simulation.

How did the iPad facilitate the game?

KS: The portability and interconnectivity of the iPads (the possibility of transferring information via AirDrop, for example) allowed for optimized collaboration between students and professional postures adapted to decision-making situations on an accelerated timeline. Creation tools (pages at minimum) allowed for the optimized presentation of communication and presentation projects.

The portability and interconnectivity of the iPads enabled optimized collaboration

What was the outcome of the game?

KS: A very positive report!
The game allowed students who didn't know each other to meet and come together to serve the same project; the acquisition of soft skills (behavioral skills) essential for performance in business and efficient decision-making was thus encouraged. The teachers from both establishments were able to meet and talk about future cross-curricular projects. The link between theoretical knowledge and practice gave meaning to the didactic teachings and provided a lever for future motivation.
Given the particular context of the health crisis, the students met physically. For many, this was very beneficial.

We thank Katia Schmitz for her testimony as well as the Assomption Saint Clotilde and Bel Orme institutions. We are proud to support them in their digital project.

Offer new learning experiences to your students with the iPad in class.

To learn more

IPAJE, the publisher of the Business Game