Beat the Market Game BEAT THE MARKET GAME Steven Gold Rochester Institute of Technology sgold@saunders.rit.edu WHAT IS BEAT THE MARKET GAME? Beat the Market is a simplified online business simulation game that is designed to help students learn or reinforce basic business economic principles. In the game participants are placed in the role of a managing a firm under different market environments including: perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. The game provides the opportunity to observe how different markets function in a dynamic setting and how to apply economic tools of analysis to try to beat the market under different environments. Student performance is automatically graded by the program from 0 to 100%. In addition to measuring game performance, there is also a set of optional multiple choice questions associated with game exercises that evaluate the student’s understanding of basic economic concepts derived from the game such as: law of demand, price elasticity, production and cost relationship, economies of scale, marginal analysis, revenue and profit maximization. (For more information see: www.goldsimulations.com) GAME DECISIONS: The number of game decisions may be controlled by the instructor, and increased in a step wise fashion, from two to up to eight decisions, to facilitate learning. Step 1: Price, Production Step 2: Price, Production, Advertising Step 3: Price, Production, Advertising, Plant Size Step 4: Price, Production, Advertising, Plant Size, Product Development, Process Improvements Step 5: Step 4 plus e-commerce and traiing. LEARNING OBJECTIVES The game is designed to help students: 1. Acquire a “working” knowledge of economics as they receive and discuss economic information on a firm’s demand, revenues, price elasticity, marginal revenues, marginal costs, economies of scale, profits and many other relevant economic variables. 2. Reinforce economic principles and decision-making as they have the opportunity to apply theories and tools of analysis to achieve the objectives of the firm; 3. Gain a clearer understanding of market forces and how equilibrium is achieved in different market environments from highly competitive to concentrated markets. SESSION AGENDA (2 hours) 1. How to integrate a game in a foundation business or economics course. 2. Tutorial and demonstration of the Beat the Market game. 3. Attendees divided into small groups (or may work individually) to participate in a structured game. 4. Group discussion of game experience and its pedagogical effectiveness. 102 | Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 36, 2009 mailto:sgold@saunders.rit.edu Table of Contents Volume 36, 2009 Protecting Academic Integrity: Student Assessment In The Online Environment Pedagogical Shift: Teaching Report Writing For Accountants Online Increasing Student Learning In An Investment Management Course Through The Innovative Use Of Experiential Learning Pedagogy A Moral Development Unit For Business Courses Dividing Up Grandma’s Things: A Multifaceted Exercise In Critical Thinking Application Of Haekel’s Thesis To ABSEL Development Linking Stories With On-Line Threaded Discussions For Critical Thinking In Management Curriculum Why Have We Neglected Vicarious Experiential Learning? A Triadic Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Enhancing The Efficacy Of Experiential Learning Movement Toward Increased Student Roles In The Design Of Experiential Exercises Ready-Mix Concrete Company: An Experiential Exercise In Management Theory Using Portfolio Theory In A General Management Simulation An Experimental Analysis Of Advertising Strategies And Advertising The Relationship Between Goal Orientation And Simulation Performance With Attitude Change And Perceived Learning Beyond The Profitable-Product Death Spiral: Managing Product Mix In An Environment Of Constrained Resources Online Marketing Control With The Strategic Business Unit Analysis Package Beat The Market Game Creating Decision Support Systems In Business Simulation Games The Use Of Computer-Assisted, Interactive Role-Play Simulation In China Asia Marketing: An International Business Game An Empirical Test Of “Behavioral Immersion” In Experiential Learning Existing And Emerging Business Simulation-Game Design Movements Computerized Business Simulations: A Systems Dynamics Process Service Launch Evaluating Business Plans In A Simulation Environment Teaching Software Development By Means Of A Classroom Game: The Software Development Game Group Decision Experiments Using Business Game - Problem Solving With Conflict Luna: A Role Play Game For Learning Incoterms 2000 Entrepreneurship: A Game Of Risk And Reward Phase I -- The Search For Opportunity The Wee Game: A Pre-Game Learning Inhibitors In Business Simulations And Games New Version Of An Old Simulation Helps Build A Perfect Capstone Course Project Competitor: A Simulation Game For Project Management With 2 Models And 2 Modes Mitigating The Winner’s Curse In The Auction Market Of A Computer-Assisted Business Gaming Simulation Evaluation Of Collaborative Filtering By Agent-Based Simulation Considering Market Environment Marketing Simulation Game Decision Making Experience And Its Impact On Indecisiveness Among Introductory Marketing Students Individual And Organizational Learning In A Top Management Game In Pursuit Of Stockholder Value: Reinforcing Core Concepts In A Business Strategy Simulation With A “Shadow” Stock Market Competition The Simplicity Paradox: Another Look At Complexity In Design Of Simulations And Experiential Exercises In Search Of The Ethnocentric Consumer: Experiencing “Laddering” Research In International Advertising The Paradise Islands Revisited: Trouble In Paradise Developing And Assessing Student Information Literacy Competency Do First Mover Advantages Exist In Competitive Board Games: The Importance Of Zugzwang The Natural Debriefing Approach: A Case In A Simple Business Game Pursued For Perfect Communications New Product Development Simulation Dominance In On Line Business Games Competitions Cooperative Business Game With Framing Effect Experiential Exercises In The Online Environment Enhancing Web-Based Simulations With Game Elements For Increased Engagement The Ginseng Game Experience Business Using a Simple Business Simulation