Course Title: Business Simulation Game

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Business Simulation Game

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
ACCT2063	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	630H Management	Internet	Sem 2 2006, Sem 2 2007
ACCT2088	East Gippsland TAFE Bairnsdale	Undergraduate	630H Management	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2006, Sem 1 2008
ACCT2106	RMIT University Vietnam	Undergraduate	630H Management	Face-to-Face	Viet2 2007, Viet3 2007, Viet1 2008, Viet2 2008, Viet3 2008, Viet1 2009, Viet2 2009, Viet3 2009

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Carlene Boucher

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 99255914

Course Coordinator Email: carlene.boucher@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Availability: please email

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Introduction to Organizational Behaviour

Business Frameworks

Course Description

What is this course about?

Business Simulation is a one-semester course that extends the systems thinking developed in Business Frameworks. Working in teams, students take an active role in running a company through a business simulation, and contribute to decision-making as the game unfolds.

The learning will connect with business practice, providing an integration of theory learned in the initial semesters of the Bachelor of Commerce program, and application in the running of a simulated manufacturing company.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

You will have increased your ability to:

1. effectively use a variety of software packages widely employed in business practice
2. work effectively in small groups; manage and contribute to the process and task in a variety of group settings
3. critically analyse marketing situations and apply appropriate research methodologies
4. identify the current state of the economy, analyse the inter-relationships between macroeconomic variables and generate forecasts of likely future developments for the organisation
5. use financial variables to guide the setting of objectives and to evaluate how objectives are being met.

The course will also help you develop the following generic capabilities:

• problem diagnosis and solving: apply knowledge to simple and well defined problems
• responsive practice: ‘read’ environments, see and create opportunity showing initiative
• reflective practice: ability to reflect on experiences, employ conceptual frameworks, to relate these to similar and dissimilar contexts, to inform and improve future practice
• evidence based practice: interpret the work of others and make judgments of value
• information management/literacy: access information from a wide variety of sources, discern value and use
• communicative capability: communicate processes of thinking and reflection.

What can I expect to learn by studying this course?

When you have successfully completed this course, you should be able to:
1. understand the importance of a business plan in guiding business decisions
2. successfully operate as part of a team in planning, organising, staffing and controlling a business
3. integrate theory with experience through the computer game simulation
4. analyse environmental conditions impacting the operations of the firm
5. understand and experience the steps in an effective decision-making process
6. analyse and utilise accounting information and financial statements in assessing the performance of the business
7. identify and assess the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making
8. identify appropriate data and apply information from a data series in making and evaluating the effects of decisions
9. write and present succinct business reports.

Overview of Learning Activities

What opportunities does the course provide for me to learn? What will I be expected to do?

Activities include developing a business mission statement and strategic plan; evaluate data from a variety of sources in making financing, production and marketing decisions to run a simulated company; and the opportunity to reflect on your team’s decision making practice. The course is based on team participation in a simulation game. You will have access to online discussion boards for discussion with other members of your team and also with other students.

Overview of Learning Resources

What will I need to access and read for this course?

You will need to have access to the RMIT Learning Hub, as well as the prescribed text. The text contains the simulation exercise software and instructions for use.

Anderson, P.H., Beveridge, D.A., Scott, T.W. and Hofmeister, D.L. 2003, Threshold Competitor: Companion Management Simulations, Version 3, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Other useful references are:

Allen, D. (1996), Strategic Financial Management, FT Financial Publishing, London.
Barney, B. J. & Hesterly, S. W. (2006). Strategic Management and
Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. Pearson Education, Upper
Saddle River.
Bazerman, M.H. (1998), Judgement in Managerial Decision Making, 4th edn, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Birt I. (2004). Writing Your Plan for Small Business Success. 3rd
Edition. Pearson Education, Australia.
CIMA (1995), Handbook of Strategic Management, 1995, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Garrett, B. Ed. (1995), Developing Strategic Thought, HarperCollins, London.
Harrison, E.F. (1999), The Managerial Decision Making Process, 5th edn, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Morrisey, G. (1996), Morrisey on Planning: A Guide to Strategic Thinking, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Ratnatunga, J. (1993), Issues in Strategic Management Accounting, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Sydney.
Viljoen, J., and Dann, S. (2000), Strategic Management, Pearson Education, Australia.

Strategic Management Journal

Overview of Assessment

How will I demonstrate my learning in this course?

This course takes an action-learning focus, where you learn by undertaking a number of activities and assessment tasks. The purpose of these activities is to enable you to apply knowledge already acquired to running a simulated company. Associated with this you are required to develop a strategic plan for your company, and report on the performance of your sector of the company.