MVSO students succeeded in an international management simulation game — they gave a try at launching their own companies
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, more international activities undertaken by MVSO and its partner universities follow on from the MVSO’s international ACT Bridge programme. Last week, MVSO students as well as teachers had the opportunity to participate in an online international program entitled "Dutch Lions, Chinese Dragons and Czech Eagles", which was co-organized by our college and included, for instance, a management simulation game, debate battles, and intercultural workshops. The partner universities to organise this online event were NHL-Stenden University (Netherlands) and Guangzhou City University of Technology (China). MVSO students not only gained deeper knowledge and valuable experience, but also secured a very good place for our college in the management game.
As we have seen in the last year and a half, all processes need to be fully digitized and this does not apply solely to higher education institutions. Teaching and various projects have moved to the online setting due to the pandemic. "Thanks to the latest technical equipment at MVSO, our students and teachers were able to fully participate in the online international program throughout the week. Not only the organisation process but also the participation in such an extensive online event, where as many as 150 participants were present at the same time (sometimes in 30 chat rooms), were extremely valuable for all participants," says Mgr. Jitka Lidaříková, the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation.
During the intercultural workshops, participants learned a number of interesting facts not only about culture but especially about the typical behaviour and stereotypes of people’s way of thinking across countries. During the debate contest, MVSO teachers acted as judges and commenters. For MVSO students, however, the most intense part of the program was undoubtedly the management game. In the game, students were divided into international teams. Each team was supposed to establish its own mock company and take the necessary steps for it to succeed in a real business environment. Designing the logo and the product name with respect to all three participating nationalities was one of the easier tasks of the first day, but in the following days students had to, for instance, devise sales strategies, assess market competition and address potential crises that affect company operations. At the end of the week, students presented their week-long efforts to others.
MVSO students achieved very good results right from the beginning of the simulation game. During the first day, they placed 7th out of 29 teams, and in the following days they even took first places with their teams. After a week-long effort, in the final, they placed in the first third of all teams. What is more, one of the MVSO students was part of the team, which finished in excellent third place.
"The success of our students is based, among other things, on how we approach teaching at our college. It is crucial to teach students not only theory but also to provide them with real examples from practice and to support practice itself, " adds Mgr. Jitka Lidaříková.