Serious Games
nextOne
nextOne is one of Simenco’s most popular business games, developed with business professors and industry professionals. The game’s challenge is to manage a multinational company in a competitive market.
Unique about this game is its incremental gameplay. The game starts with only a few options and results, and each round the dataset slowly expands. Achievements in the game go hand in hand with a growing understanding of Business.
The benefits of this gameplay are:
- Players can start immediately, without having to read a manual.
- The first iterations are fast, putting players in a ‘flow’.
- The complexity is built up gradually, which reduces errors and helps players better understand the game.
Case
The case is set in the high-tech industry – a transparent and highly competitive market, where nextOne produces and sells an innovative smartphone. nextOne has branches around the world, along with various marketing strategies, a factory, logistical challenges, and a separate HR-policy for each continent.
The players take the role of nextOne’s management team. For each period and for each branch, the team takes strategic, tactical, and operational decisions in the areas of research and development, purchasing, production & logistics, marketing & sales, finances, and HR-management.
Learning goals
The learning goals of this game are:
- insight into the interdependence of various management disciplines;
- understanding of the importance of teamwork for effective decision-making; and
- taking strategic and tactical decisions in a dynamic environment.
Execution
Throughout the game, players receive emails with useful or confusing information. They have to respond well to all sorts of events, including piracy and disgruntled staff. After each term, the team receives information about its performance in the areas of HR, market developments, production bottlenecks, financial indicators, market shares, product quality, etc.
The score of each team member is determined by the score on:
- Customer satisfaction and market share (CCO)
- Staff morale and profit per employee (CHRO)
- Profit and solvability (CFO)
- Product availability and production- and storage costs (COO)
The average of these four roles determines the score of the CEO, the team score.