4th Business & Management Conference, Istanbul

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: LOOKING AT COUNTRY MANAGER SIMULATION FOR TEACHING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COURSES

FRANK COTAE, JACQUELINE MUSABENDE

Abstract:

The use of simulations in business education started in 1957, since then, hundreds of simulations have been developed. In this paper, we present a literature review of the impact that business simulations have in developing decision-making skills, integrative, experiential learning, and team work skills. Building on the generative learning theory, experiential learning theory and bloom’s taxonomy, we tested the simulation Country Manager with a number of students divided in 4 groups. The objective was to obtain feedback of the applicability and benefit of using this software to teach decision-making in international business courses. Results showed Country Manager being applicable to senior level or capstone international business strategy courses and appropriate as an experiential learning tool. However, a series of difficulties and software inflexibilities were noted. We found supporting evidence for implementing a simulation into the international business curricula to represent an experiential learning prong, even if Country Manager was not the most pertinent match.

Keywords: Simulation, Experiential Learning, International Business, Benchmark Competition

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