Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 224 ALEXANDER ISLANDS: GSSM TINY BUSINESS SIMULATOR ON THE WWW Hiroshi Fujimori *1, Yasushi Kuno *2, Hiroaki Shirai *3, Hisatoshi Suzuki *2, TakaoTerano *2, *1 Reitaku University; *2 GSSM, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo; *3 Fujitsu Information Network Systems Ltd. ABSTRACT This paper describes a tiny business simulator: Alexander Islands developed for Business Simulation course at GSSM, Tsukuba University. Alexander Islands is used (1) to understand principles of both business models and gaming simulators and (2) to help students to develop their own simulators. INTRODUCTION Graduate School of Systems Management (GSSM) of Tsukuba University is a school only for business people, where they learn and explore not only various topics including administrative, mathematical, and computer sciences but also interdisciplinary integrated courses, before completing the master thesis. One of the major courses is ``Business Simulation.'' Unlike conventional simulation courses, which aim at studying basic principles of simulated business processes, accounting, or data analysis techniques, the objective of our Business Game is to develop skills (1) to implement their own specific models of business firms, (2) to develop information systems for the firms, and (3) to understand business processes among companies. To attain the objective, we are developing (1) Alexander Island: tiny business simulator on the www, and (2) its business model description language (BMDL) and business model development system (BMDS) to easily develop home-made models by the students themselves. In this demonstration, we show the basic principles of the game, how it works, and how it is implemented by BMDL/BMDS. FEATURES OF ALEXANDER ISLANDS Alexander Islands1 models the business process of (1) purchasing consumer goods (e.g., personal computers) from a vendor, (2) selling them to two different markets, and (3) making marketing decisions among the players' dynamic environments. The features of Alexander Islands are summarized as follows:1) it is so simple that business people with various background can understand the principles of the games and business processes; 2) however, it is enough complex for students with real and practical business experience to play in marketing decision making and in analyzing the business processes; 3) it is designed to motivate the students to further exploring advanced courses on operations research, information systems, and decision support systems in GSSM; 4) a dozen of students can play the game at the same time using browsers on the WWW environments; 5) it takes shorter time (e.g., 20 minutes) to carry out simulations cycles because the students with their own business are very busy even in school hours; 6) it is implemented in C and CGI to run on popular workstations or PCs with browsers for the WWW, therefore portable and transferable in the various computing environments; and 7) the equipped model is both executable as a business game and readable as source codes of the business model for further extensions. Figure 1 and 2 respectively show the business 1 Alexander Islands contains two markets: Herbert and Simon islands. Of course, the name stands for Prof. H. A. Simon. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 225 model and system configuration of Alexander Islands. Multiple users and one controller play the marketing game using networked environments. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate sample windows of the game for users and a game maneger. The equipped model is written in BMDL, and runs on BMDS, therefore, the developers or students of the course can easily modify the model. CONCLUDING REMARKS Alexander Islands has been used for three years in the introductory Business Simulation course. We believe the approach is also promising for more advanced system management science studies. We have described the ideas in more detail in the other paper at ABSEL’99. The research is supported in part by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Ministry of FIGURE 1: BUSINESS FRAMWORK FIGURE 2: SYSTEM CONFIGURATION Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan under the contract number : 09558044. Head- quarters Banks Simon ls. Herbert ls. Players Markets Order Items Purchase Items Borrowing Repayment Supplies DemandsMarketing Decisions: -Order of Qty of Sales Items -Ads Preparation for Radios and/or Newspapers -Price Determination -Amount of Borrowing /Repayment FIGURE 3: SAMPLE WINDOW OF SIMULATION ENTRY browser player browser player browser player browser Game manager CGI scripts + C programs Model variables WWW server host BMDL translator BMDL description WWW server FIGURE 4: SAMPLE OF SIMULATION DISPLAY FOR A MANAGER 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