Merger of Companies in Business Game Exercise

Abstract

Business games are designed to simulate real business en-vironments. Merger and acquisition of companies are usual processes in real world. However, designers of business games are somehow ignoring this hot topic. This paper aims to present a simulated merger process. To do so, a business games was modified to encompass the horizontal merger process of companies. Moreover, a pilot admin-istration of the merger process was conducted in a business game exercise. Simulated results are presented focusing on the performance of the merged companies. All merged companies had a superior performance in comparison to their competitors. Finally, evaluations of participants in the pilot exercise are also presented. These evaluations are focused on learning results, simulated performance and teamwork. Overall, participants stressed learning about the merger process and teamwork was improved by providing organizational learning, out-of-box thinking, benchmarking information, and intercultural interaction.