Advanced Seminar Marketing, Strategy, Leadership & Management: Strategic Decision Making & Business Simulation

This course consists of three different elements: 1) In-class lecture that teaches the most important concepts and aspects of strategic decision making in an interactive setting 2) Exercises that apply the learned concepts for real-world strategy cases. Students will work on various important topics that managers regularly face 3) Business simulation game in which students take over the management of a virtual company and compete with their fellow students in a fictual market. Accordingly, students have to deal with the complex facettes of managing a company and make strategic decisions with respect to a realistic and dynamic market. For this, each decision has consequences for the entire game.

The participants will learn important concepts and approaches for an effective decision-making in strategic management and apply their learnings in a virtual business simulation game. The students will work on real-world strategy issues and learn about i) how to identify problems, ii) how to structure them, ii) how to analyze and solve them, as well as iv) how to appropriately communicate and present developed solutions. Moreover, since the students are required to elaborate a complex project topic and to compete in a realistic business simulation game with other groups, they will further improve their personal, teamwork, and strategy skills.

The students will get allocated into different groups. The final examination of each group depends on the following two elements: a) Project presentation: a group project elaboration with final MS PowerPoint presentation (50% of the grade). A list of potential topics will be provided by the lecturers. b) Business simulation game: the groups' strategies and decision-making behaviors during the business simulation game as well as the final results after the game (50% of the grade). Important: Students who already attended the course Strategic Decision Making & Business Simulation (MGT001426) in the summer semester 2024 cannot register for this Advanced Seminar.

Successful attendance of module "Fundamentals of Strategy" highly recommended but not mandatory

The students will learn highly demanded problem-solving skills that today's managers, strategists, and consultants need. Furthermore, while participants will work on very important management topics, they will develop a general understanding of strategic management. On top, the students have to develop teamwork skills as they have to elaborate a specific project topic in groups and compete with other student groups in a business simulation game. In this, the students will learn how their decision-making has direct (positive or negative) consequences for their firm on a virtual market. The entire course is built on active interactions and discussions for improving personal and professional skills.