| Each year, research brings forth new concepts and theories which must be incorporated into the common body of knowledge called business administration. Currently, business schools are under pressure from the AACSB to increase the international business content of the core courses. In response to this pressure, business simulation games are being widely adopted to aid in the teaching process without verification of their worth as a learning medium. Much of their popularity is based on their recognized ability to generate student interest and motivation, an almost unanimous research finding, and on their face validity as an effective learning environment. However, there is almost no agreement concerning their actual validity as an effective learning medium. If games are to be used effectively as pedagogic tools, we should learn more about their effectiveness, their strengths and weaknesses, in order to integrate them with other teaching media into an effective teaching system.;Seventy business majors, at the senior policy level, were divided into two groups; one of which played a domestic policy game, the other played an international business policy game. Neither group had any significant prior introduction to either international business or simulation games. The students were given a pre-test and a post-test multiple-choice examination consisting of sixty-eight international business questions; they were also asked to answer essay questions on the midterm and final examinations and to analyze case problems on the same subject.;The essay test results showed that students in the different test groups were sensitized to critical issues related to their respective business environments, either domestic or international. In response to general essay questions on planning, for instance, the multinational competitors expressed concern for inflation and expropriation; their domestic counterparts were more concerned with raw material shotages and labor costs. In responding to specific international questions, the multinational group provided decidedly superior answers to those questions which were related to the gaming experience. In the case study analysis, the between-group differences were evident only when the problem was closely related to the game.;Although the objective questions were somewhat less sensitive to between-group differenes, the analysis of these questions supported the findings from the essay data, providing a degree of internal validity for the study. A factor analysis was used to examine the underlying structure of the two groups' answers on the pre-test and post-test. Changes in the factor structure strongly support the contention that the simulations provided an effective learning environment.;The major conclusion drawn from this study indicates that the widely used business simulation does indeed sensitize its users to critical international business issues that are an integral part of the game's decision-making tasks; the game appears to be an effective learning tool that requires a minimum of overlap with other media. The redundancy between the game and lecture can be reduced with confidence.;Areas in which questions remain include th instructor's role. Can limited instructional time be used more advantageously performing a game feedback function, as indicated in prior studies, or lecturing on new material as indicated herein? Another area of interest is the development of simulation oriented test instruments. The typical textbook instructor's manual supplies test questions that may be poorly suited to the measurement of experiential learning.;In conclusion, this study leads us to the belief that the simulation is an important and valuable learning tool. Questions still remain concerning just how games do what they do. Exciting and valuable contributions are yet to be made. |
