Interorganisational – Supply Chain Management

Who hasn’t played the beer game in a basic SCM class? (which is btw also dubbed the “flight simulator for management education“…) It’s so much more effective to play it than to explain the Forrester effect over and over… Back from my undergrad times, I will never forget learning how to write an algorithm while trying to figure out how “Settlers” worked. Or playing “Transport Tycoon” over and over again. Nerdy? Perhaps. But also effective for the learning process. And there is no more fun than to discuss the existence of transportation companies in Second Life with students (which is, however, still a mystery to me; why use, say, a plane, or a sailboat, if you can teleport yourself?).

There are so many interesting games coming up every day, it’s a shame so few seem to use them. They don’t even require any wizardry from the teachers, there are also online versions of even the beer game. Or, for those into questions of sustainability, check out simulation games on “building a sustainable city” or different ways to look at a “sustainable campus“. Who said education can’t be fun?

Gyöngyi

PS. For those inclined to play “real beer games“, here’s a link to some of those as well. And special thanks to Manfred Gronalt for getting me hooked on settlers – and the questions of algorithms behind a game.