Coaching and Business Simulations: A Formula for Success?

Abstract

This research studies the affect of coaching on student’s success in a simple, off-the-shelf, business simulation. Data was collected and analyzed from an undergraduate Business Research class at a small, private, 4-year university. The data, most likely because of the small sample size, did not fully support the expected findings that students would benefit from coaching on strategy, which would result in higher levels of performance on an off-the-shelf business simulator. However, strong correlations were found between the self-stated familiarity with similar games and results in the simulation. The research and results that support these findings are presented and discussed.