THE USE OF BUSINESS GAME AND SIMULATION IN UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS PROGRAMS IN BAHIA STATE

Abstract

This paper presents an overview about the use of business simulation and games inundergraduate business programs in Bahia State, Brazil. The increasing interest about thistechnique can be originated, among others facts, on the many benefits that the specializedliterature shows for its users. In this article a theoretical review on this literature is developedsearching its central concepts, its origins and its use in Brazil and in the world. Someempirical data are presented from a survey with 47 under-graduation coordinators anddirectors from Bahian Institutions about their experience with business simulation and gamesby their lectures and professors. A quantitative approach using descriptive statistics(frequency, means and standard deviation) showed that 44.7% of the Bahian Institutions applythis kind of techniques. It shows also that business simulation practices are expected to growin next five years, for 63, 8 % due to high satisfaction indications on its application. Finally,two aspects appeared as very important ones to a higher level of business simulation andgames application in Management courses in Bahia: the acquisition cost and the availabilityof electronic simulations.