OVERALL DOMINANCE IN TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION PERFORMANCE Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 OVERALL DOMINANCE IN TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION PERFORMANCE Alan L. Patz, University of Southern California ABSTRACT The results presented here confirm that small samples of full-time student undergraduates in a capstone total enterprise (TE) simulation will show a pattern of performance where the domi- nant teams at the end on the competition will have established and maintained an early lead. Second, combined samples of full-time student under- graduates, a fortiori, will show a pattern of total enterprise simulation performance where the dominant teams at the end of the competition will have established and maintained an early lead. HYPOTHESES Earlier studies, using full-time employed MBAs (Patz, 1990, 1992), and a later one, using both full-time employed and full-time student BBAs (Patz, 1995), confirmed the following two hy- potheses: H1: Small samples of full-time employed MBAs and BBAs, as well as full-time student BBAs will show a pattern of TE simulation performance where the dominant teams at the end of the com- petition will have established and maintained an early lead. H2: Combined samples from the same popula- tions, a fortiori, will show a pattern of TE simula- tion performance where the dominant teams at the end of the competition will have established and maintained an early lead. Three well-known TE simulations, MICRO- MATIC (Scott & Strickland, 1985); the Multina- tional Management Game (Edge, Keys & Remus, 1985); and CORPORATION (Smith & Golden, 1989) were used in these studies and the results were the same. Yet, Anderson & Lawton (1993) and Washbush (1992) question their veracity. Similarly, Gosenpud & Washbush (1996) ignore them. METHOD Therefore, H1 and H2 were investigated again in a six-industry, 53-team, 258-subject investigation using an entirely different TE simulation—The Business Strategy Game (Thompson & Stappen- beck, 1997, 1998). Subjects All participants were full-time student seniors ma- joring in the various fields of business administra- tion. The Business Strategy Game was used in all sections; each section was an independent indus- try; and each team within each industry was self- selected. Simulation Procedures After one class session devoted to the clarification of simulation rules, evaluation procedures, and decision-making mechanics, a two-year practice decision sequence was completed. Questions per- taining to the results of each session were an- swered, and the evaluation procedure was re- stated. That is, students were reminded that the cumulative scores at the end of the simulation were the figures of merit. The importance placed on ending cumulative scores rather than current period results empha- sized long- rather than short-term strategies. Moreover, attention was direction to three specific conditions. First, the actual ending period of the simulation would remain unknown. (Each period is a year in the Business Strategy Game, and the length of the semester allowed for a maximum of ten periods of play.) Second, all teams were ex- pected to end their management tenure with a go- ing concern, not a firm stripped of long term po- 115 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 tential in order to gain short-term ranking en- hancements. Third, 20% of the semester grade for the course depended on ending cumulative score rankings. The participants were privy to the algorithm that determines cumulative scores in the simulation. These scores depended upon how each team’s cumulative results compared with the leading team’s results on each of six dimensions: sales revenue, total profit or earnings per share (EPS was used in all cases), return on equity, bond rat- ing, stock value, and strategy rating. The percent- age weights, respectively, were 5, 15, 20, 20, 20, and 20. RESULTS In four of the six, small sample industry cases, H1 is confirmed. A fifth one is close, and the last one shows the same behavioral pattern even though its results are not statistically significant. These re- sults are shown in Table 1 TABLE 1 ANALYSES OF VARIANCE Industry # Teams F p 1 7 24.7 0.00 2 10 5.14 0.05 3 9 7.95 0.03 4 9 4.87 0.06 5 9 28.6 0.00 6 9 2.47 0.16 More important, when comparing the six indus- tries, two each for each of three semesters over seven decisions periods using a repeated measure analysis of variance, there are no differences among them (F=.29, p=.75). Therefore, a pooled repeated measure analysis of variance test was performed, using not just the dichotomist first and last teams for each industry, but analyzing the first 17, middle 19, and last 17 performing teams over the six industry sample. The results, shown in Table 2, indicate no doubt that H2 is confirmed. High performing, full-time student BBA teams establish an early lead and maintain it throughout a TE simulation competi- tion (F=52.9, p<.0001). In addition, as to be ex- pected, the performance of all groups varied by year (F=33.0, p<.0001). Also, the year by year differences between teams (the teams by year in- teraction) is significant (F=11.4, p<.0001). ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FIRST 17-MIDDLE 19-LAST 17 TEAMS Source df MS F p Between Ss 52 Teams (T) 2 55325 52.9 <.0001 Ss w. T 50 1046 Within Ss 318 Years 6 4777 33.0 <.0001 T x Yrs. 12 1655 11.4 <.0001 Yrs x Ss w. T 300 145 DISCUSSION These results are not spurious. They have been demonstrated over and over again with four dif- ferent simulations and different populations. Full- time employed BBAs and MBAs exhibit the same results, as do full-time student BBAs. Dominant teams at the end of a TE competition will have established and maintained an early lead. Team personality composition, as measured by the MBTI instrument, helps understanding with the superior performance of full-time employed MBAs and BBAs (Patz, 1992, 1995). But it clearly is not important in the overall performance dominance of teams in TE simulations. This phe- nomenon simply occurs whatever the information processing and decision making characteristics of the participants. REFERENCES Available upon request. 116 Table of Contents Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Back From the Future: An ABSEL Merlin Exercise for the Year 2005 The Contributions of ABSEL During the 1980's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential Exercises in the 90's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential learning/Experiential Exercises: The Decade of the 1970's Business Simulations - Algorithms and Model Enhancements: A 25 year Review A Study of the ETS General Field Test as an AACSB Assessment Tool and the Impact of Experiential Exercises and Simulation on Learning A Framework for Assessing the Competencies Reflected in Simulation Performance Developing A Learning Culture: Assessing Changes in Student Performance and Perception Financial Simulation Using Distributed Computing Technology Analyzing Managers' Judgements and Decisions with an Educational Business Simulation Understanding Your Business through Home-Made Simulator Development An Examination of a Reanalysis of the Impact of a Market Leader on Simulation Competitors' Strategies Applying Shocks to TE Simulations: A Demonstration Increasing Efficiency of Management Skill Assessment A Testbank for Measuring Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Developing Leadership Skills - Video Live! LEADSIMM: Collaborative Leadership Development for the Knowledge Society A Team Approach to Producing Multi-Media Laptop and Video Formatted Presentation Tinkertoys Revisited: Exploring Trust Based Relationships Overall Dominance in Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Success or Bankruptcy: The Relationship between Personal and Goal Orientation and Simulation Performance Assessing the Effects of Feedback: Muti-method and Muti-directions in Multi-pedagogical Courses The Missing Ingredients in Experiential Learning Purpose and Learning Benefits of Business Simulations: A Design and Development Perspective Building Capabilities for Change through Laboratory Simulations Modeling Innovation as a Process of Design in Educational Business Simulation The Need to Measurer variance in Experiential Learning and a New Statistic to do so Assessing Effectiveness of an Experiential Oriented Course Over Time Developing Participant Satisfaction Models of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Perceptions of Learning in TE Simulations Students' View on the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Management Gaming's Lost Opportunity: Meditations about the Russian Experience and Prospects for the Future Unanticipated Enhancements in the Business Strategy and Policy Game when Running in Windows 95 Using a Business Game to Demonstrate Broad Business Concepts A New Model for Business Courses (Getting the Student Connected) Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Integrating Knowledge Using Large Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes Is It Here To Stay? A Roundtable Discussion of the Inter-Group Interaction Interactive Tools Used in Applying Financial Concepts Strengthening Essential Skills through a Finance Exercise: Calculation of Beta A Model of Currency Exchange Rates Understanding Currency Exchange Rates: A three-part Exercise Student Experiences in the World Intercollegiate Business Game Competition Student Experiences in the International-Collegiate Business Policy Game Competition Using Boards of Directors in Simulation Environments: Comments From Board Members Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Star Power: A Simulation for Understanding Power and Empowerment The Marketing Game: A Marketing Principles Simulation Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Putting Strategy into Strategic Business Games Industry Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Model and Strategic Group Maps in the Business Strategy Game Simulation The Use of Concept Mapping to Improve Student Performance and Understanding of Strategic Management Concepts: A Comparison of Techniques Transformational thinking in the Organizational Behavior Course: The Use of Metaphor as an Assessment Tool Creation of a Virtual Learning Community for the Global Virtual Enterprise Project Inter Institutional use of Educational Resources: Joint Use of Management Simulation Games Business Insights: Theory and Practice with the Aid of a Business Simulation Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing The ABC's of teaching the Theory of Constraints to Undergraduate Business Students Demonstrating Principles of Organizational Purchasing Behavior through an Experiential Exercise The Virtual Manager: A Different Simulation for Managing Complexity When the Rules are changing and Chaos Breeds Innovation: Recapturing the Value of Constructive Thinking and Play in Simulation Training The Pitfalls, and Potential, of Actual Events as Problem Drivers Using Business Games to teach Environmental Awareness and Green Management: The International Experience with the ENSIM Game A Review of my ABSEL-Related Work Simulation of Government: A Workshop Using GEO Creating Internet-Based Games Using Perl and JavaScript Who's on First? Exploring the Concepts of Problem-Based Learning, Experiential Learning, and Lifelong Learning Students Learn Customer Service and Selling while Conducting Research So You Want to Run an NFL Football Team–An Honors Interdisciplinary Project Supervised Internship: The Employer's Perspective Using Computer Assisted Simulation to Teach International Business Strategy: A Case of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in China An Appreciative Stance on Diversity as We Move into the 21st Century: A Timeline Exercise to Identify Key Experiences in Good Work Relationships between Black and White Peers A Day in the Life of an Interactive, Real Time, and Internet Delivered Course: A Demonstration Comparing Internet Search Engines: An Experiential Learning Exercise Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Assessing Student Perceptions and Preferences Teaching Accounting Information Systems in a Practicum Format Providing Experiential Learning in Accounting through a Field Study Payroll Project A Spreadsheet Based Business Simulation Game Computer-Behavioral Simulations Training for Project Managers Simulation Scenarios - Rationale and Illustration