Business Simulations for Business Strategy? Talk to HR.

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There are many uses for a business simulation. There is definitely a trend towards using business simulation games for working on your corporate strategy (AKA: Strategy Gamification). Traditionally, these tools work their way to being managed by HR/T&D. If you're a business manager who oversees corporate strategy in one form or another, it is usually easiest to manage using a business simulation through Human Resources. This is because it usually involves many employees and cross divisional collaboration. This is also because using a business simulation takes up a lot of time and HR traditionally has already been exposed to these tools. Thus, it really becomes a matter of efficiency.

Human Resources not only has the capacity to manage the project, they also have the ability to deliver the solution to your employees company wide. In most cases, business simulations are utilized as a training tool. This is the primary reason why Human Resources and/or Training and Development/Leadership Development is a good fit. In terms of the different types of strategy business simulations, this is really as broad as the number of corporate strategies out there.

No matter the corporate strategy, using a business simulation for strategy development is best in the customized form. This is simply because of the uniqueness of your strategy, company, and people. Trying to utilize an off the shelf solution for strategy work is usually ineffective. Of course, this depends on your goals and objectives.

Another quick post. There will be more posts soon.

Business Simulations- You Bought It, Don't Re-Rent It!

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This article specifically applies to custom business simulations. When you are looking to purchase a business simulation, it is important to understand the topic of licensing and/or ownership. It basically comes down to this: If you have paid to create a custom business simulation, you should have unlimited licensing rights. In other words: You should not be re-charged for something you already purchased.

If you paid for business simulation development, you should not pay to use it!

This is like buying a house and then renting it from the buyer. Its simply not a nice thing to do. Its actually quite astounding that people are even asked to rent after buying. It smells like greed. Maybe there's something missing here, but maybe not.

So, if you're looking for a business simulation, make sure if you've paid for development, you don't have to pay to re-use it. That's simply bad business.

Hope this helps!

Business Acumen Simulations for Strategy Development

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Yes, its been two weeks. Sorry about that. Very very busy and everything is getting back on schedule (for now).

Let's talk about:

Business Acumen Simulations for Strategic Development

Yes, this is a mouthful. Business acumen simulations are most often used when a company is trying to execute a strategy, but the people simply don't have the business acumen skills necessary to make it happen. When this is the case, you often have a couple choices. First, you can go with a canned business acumen or financial acumen for non acumen people. Another option is to make the business acumen content applicable to what they do in their jobs. The second option (learning application), is by far more popular these days. If this is the case, utilizing a business acumen simulation is a great option.

Utilizing a business acumen simulation will enable your participants to actually try the learning content in the context of their business (or job). The results are a far more applicable learning experience and faster strategic execution. In a sense, you get a twofer. Not too bad. Keep in mind, these are often a full blown business simulation solution. Thus, they are not to be taken lightly. They are usually quite complex because they need to encapsulate your business. Thus, take the complexity of your business and bottle it. Not too easy of a task. That being said, they are exceptionally well received and very worth the effort.

Short post for now. Still digging out of deadlines, but everything will be back on track soon.

Hope this helps!