THE DYNAMICS OF A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS AND EDUCATION Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20,1993 121 THE DYNAMICS OF A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS AND EDUCATION John A. Chyzyk, Department of Business Administration Brandon University, Brandon Manitoba, Canada ABSTRACT The management and administration of a provincial business simulation competition is, to say the least, a major undertaking. The undertaking requires a number of variables working together to form the net result of a change within; the high school students perception of a career path, the teacher advisor’s perception of another extracurricular activity, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce shift to provide the financing support, and myself, the gamesmaster, whose self motivation must never be perceived to slow down. The Manitoba Youth Business Institute (MYBI) has successfully run such a competition for the past four years. There are 170 teams, over 700 students, and 75 teacher advisors who have now competed in the “Executive Games” for the opportunity to take home a thousand dollars for each student or $4,000 for the four members of the winning team. The four second place team members receive $500 each or $2,000 and the third place team members receive $250 each. This paper outlines the issues faced by Brandon University, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and Manitoba’s students and teachers. The procedures will be detailed below for any other province, state, territory or country to help in organizing a similar competition. INTRODUCTION Simulation games have been around for almost 30 years and for that time focused on exposing only university and college students. The Manitoba Youth Business Institute (MYBI) has utilized business simulation games for teaching the students in the high schools in Manitoba. ‘Executive Game” was chosen because it brought in the reality of the changing age of technology. What will the impact of robotics have on the analysis of return on investment (ROl), more return on investment and setting goals or strategies to provide the best results? In Table 1, “Executive Game" provided both students and teachers alike with the chance to learn by experiencing the business world without actually being in it. Students, working with teacher advisors, have come from high schools with over 500 grade 12 students to high schools with as few as 8 students (5 are on the team—one alternate). Their objectives for participating varied from the curious to the enthusiastic. TABLE 1 TYPES OF LEARNING WHICH CAN BE SOUGHT THROUGH PLAYING THE GAME Awareness, Familiarity, Understanding A) Typical characteristics and uses of the business accounting system, both as a ‘scorekeeper’ indicating how well a firm is doing, and as a basis for management’s striving toward improved performance. B) Typical basic business functions and their characteristics and interactions. C) The integrated wholeness of the firm, and the corresponding need for mutual consistency among decisions concerning the various business functions. D) Typical characteristics of the competitive environment, and their importance for the effective management of the firm. E) Critical economic variables such as business cycles and inflation. F) The need for planning as a basis for consistency and for avoiding outright mistakes. G) The value of analytic techniques for refining management decisions. H) The fundamental need to learn from experience in the business environment. I) The need to step back frequently from current crisis in order to attend to larger issues. REFERENCES Henshaw & Jackson (1990) Executive Game Homewood, IL: Irwin Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program