The Use of Simulation Games in Marketing Classes: Is Simulation Performance Due to Luck or Skill?

Abstract

Inevitably, students who perform poorly in a business simulation game feel that they were the victims of the good luck of their competitors. Simulation administrators, however, generally believe that winners in the simulation competition are those students who make the best decisions. This study examines the relationship between simulation performance over two separate and distinct rounds of play in the same marketing simulation game. The rigorously controlled experiment found a medium to strong relationship between rank order performance in the two simulation rounds. This finding led to the conclusion that simulation performance is relatively stable over time and due more to the participants' marketing decision-making skills than luck.