Experiential Learning: Looking At Country Manager Simulation For Teaching International Business Courses

The use of simulations in business education started in 1957, since then, hundreds of simulations have been developed. In this paper, we present a literature review of the impact that business simulations have in developing decision-making skills, integrative, experiential learning, and team work skills. Building on the generative learning theory, experiential learning theory and bloom?s taxonomy, we tested the simulation Country Manager with a number of students divided in 4 groups. The objective was to obtain feedback of the applicability and benefit of using this software to teach decision-making in international business courses. Results showed Country Manager being applicable to senior level or capstone international business strategy courses and appropriate as an experiential learning tool. However, a series of difficulties and software inflexibilities were noted. We found supporting evidence for implementing a simulation into the international business curricula to represent an experiential learning prong, even if Country Manager was not the most pertinent match.