Datum und Uhrzeiten
+++ Please note: We currently offer two editions of the Business Simulation Game: Business Simulation Game – Management Essentials (3 CP) and Business Simulation Game – Scale Up (3 CP). +++
How does a company actually make money – and why do some teams win the market while others lose it? In this simulation game, you and your team take over a virtual company that produces innovative on-ear headphones. You compete directly against the other teams in the room: every decision you make on pricing, marketing, production and investment shows up in your next set of results.
Over three days at the Innovation Center, you learn to read the numbers behind a business, build a strategy, defend it under time pressure and pitch it to an audience. No business background is required! The fundamentals are part of the programme, and everything is explained along the way.
The entire course is held in English, which makes it a great fit for international students and mixed teams from all disciplines. The number of participants is limited to 30.
What can you expect?
Day 1: Kick-off, business fundamentals, first decisions
You get to know the simulation, the market and your team – and take over your company. A compact introduction covers the essentials you need to play well: cost structures, pricing logic, market segments and the key performance indicators that tell you how your company is doing. Then the first decision round starts, and your strategy meets reality for the first time.
Day 2: Competing under pressure
The market gets tougher. Over several decision rounds, you analyse your reports, react to what your competitors are doing and adjust your strategy. Pricing, marketing budgets, production capacity, product quality – you decide where to push and where to hold back, and you see the consequences immediately.
Group work phase: strategy paper and pitch preparation
Between the second and third day, your team prepares a short strategic pitch: What was your plan, what do the numbers say, and what would you do differently? The better, the more rewards you earn for your company’s success.
Day 3: Final round, pitch and debrief
The last decision round settles the ranking. Each team then presents its strategy in a short pitch with Q&A. In the closing debrief, we look at the full picture together: which strategies worked, which didn’t and why.
Who is the programme intended for?
The course is open to Bachelor’s and Master’s students of all disciplines. It is a particularly good starting point if you have never studied business but want to understand how companies work and how management decisions are made – by making them yourself. Since the course runs entirely in English, all students are explicitly welcome.
Why should you participate?
Because you will not sit through lectures about management – you will do the managing. In three days, you learn to work with real business indicators, to make decisions as a team when time is short and information is incomplete, and to present and defend a strategy in front of others. These are skills you will use in any career, whether you found a start-up, join a company or stay in research.
The Business Simulation Game is part of the “Entrepreneurship Basics” programme, the first stage of the Entrepreneurial Education Path at Saarland University. Successful participants receive 3 of the 6 CP required to complete “Entrepreneurship Basics”.
Registration covers all three days. To receive the 3 CP, you need to attend the full programme and submit a short written assignment after the simulation.
