Is there an international way to interact with other students in a business simulation?

Answer 1

The language barrier is always a problem. There’s an online business simulation site called the Informatist ( http://www.informatist.net/ ), which allows Chinese and English-speaking students to come together on their business simulation website. I understand it’s pretty good.

Answer 2

Sure. You have someone act as a clearing house. I've worked with students for years on the Manitoba International Marketing Competition, which draws students from a number of countries. It is based upon the LINKS Marketing Strategy simulation, and each team is placed in an industry with four other teams. The students submit their decision sets weekly, and get feedback a couple of hours later. At the end of the competition, there is a weekend during which all teams travel to Winnipeg to present their strategies to the judges. This year, my U.S. team won in an industry against teams from Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland. They then went on to the finals and won against the winners in other industries, who were another U.S. team and a Canadian team. The students not only get a good opportunity to use their analytical ability, strategy knowledge, and presentation skills, but they get to know students from other countries, realize that they are part of a global labor market for college graduates, and learn from the approaches used in other countries. I think I've taken six teams now, and each year they have learned more than the last.