tools for learning and development of entrepreneurial competencies

BUSINESS STRATEGY GAMES – TOOLS FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
OF ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Veronica ŞTEFAN
Valahia University of Târgovişte, România
veronica.stefan@ats.com.ro
Suzana ILIE, Rodica ALBU
Colegiul Economic “Ion Ghica”, Târgovişte, România
icsuzana@yahoo.com, rody_cara@yahoo.com
Abstract: Business Strategy Games sustain learning and the development of business relationships and
actions within companies of practice. This method is used more and more and it sustains the
entrepreneurial spirit, creates business abilities, and stimulates initiative and creativity in a risk-free
environment. The future economists shall be able to compete successfully in their business in a market
economy characterized by rapid changes in society and in the technology world. The authors of this
paper aim to present the way in which this method is used and the results obtained in schools from
Romania.
Keywords: Training firms, Simulated enterprise, Business strategy game, EuroPen
I. INTRODUCTION
In order to ensure the professional integration of graduates on the labor market and to sustain
their continuous professional training, it is necessary to create a flexible and adaptable system
correspondent to the specific types of skills required by the occupational standards in the market
economy.
The network of training firms that operate in schools is organized and leaded by the National
Office of Training Firms and it is included in the International Network of Training Firms. This
network was created to answer to needs of the labor market through education oriented on practical
training.
This education is individual oriented and directed towards the development of his/ her
personality. Training firms represent the closest interconnections with reality. They established the
framework for various types of activities correspondent to the full economic process, from production
to evaluation of the company’s results. The model creates unlimited possibilities for achieving active
processes and development; it creates the connections between the team members and also between
different companies in the country and abroad. Working in a training virtual company will allow
individuals to develop the fundamental skills required in order to work successfully in a real company.
The organization of education as a training company that operates in a virtual market and that takes
into consideration the national and international legislation helps individuals to establish how, where
and when to apply the knowledge acquired during the learning process.
Participants in such companies learn how to work and collaborate within a team, how to
assume responsibility for their decisions and actions, how to develop self-initiatives and how improve
their professional and technical skills. Traditional role of teachers change within a virtual company,
and educational priorities in business practice become more realistic.

II.
OPERATION FRAMEWORK FOR TRAINING FIRMS
Training firm represent a teaching concept, based on practical learning. It constitutes a
simulation of a real business and it is supported through the direct involvement of a coordinating
teacher. A training firm is a simulated exercise, which reflects the real operations of a business within
a domain of interest. It is a simulation of a real professional situation with the purpose of achieving
educational goals. Based on its open nature, the firm can interconnect with other similar training firms
within the network and it is able to establish contracts with other market players and other simulated
firms. The reason for the development of on open office within a training firm, without involving real
production of goods, is to simulate real business processes and to cover all the basic business
activities, without standing the risk of failure.
When students become part of a training firm, they can observe and track all business
processes, the relationship that emerges between them, and also the management of a company. The
training firm operates in an office equipped with appropriate furniture, where students can access all
the learning techniques that allow them to perform economical and commercial operations based on
the simulation of a real competitive environment. The main goal of this exercise is to allow students to
activate in the simulation environment of a company in order to acquire key competencies that enable
them to operate successfully in the real economic world.
Figure 1. Key competences formed within a training firm
After a practical training sequence with specialized teachers, the students will be able to:
- Organize and lead the activity within the service companies;
- Develop the offer for the company’s products and services;
- Tracking the company's accounting;
- Perform financial analysis and economic efficiency of the company.
2.1 Main characteristics of training firms
Moving towards a high level practical training in education contributes to the promotion and
the development of the students’ entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences, based on modern
information technology and the opportunity to use foreign languages. National and international
students have business contacts, exercise their language skills and get to know the business cultures of
other countries.
The relationships developed within a learning cycle among training firms can be maintained
for future use and can be restored when a new session begins. The previous teams can introduce the

usiness contacts to the newcomers. This creates a solid operational context for simulation and
students integrate in a more complex environment that allows them to get closer to real life situations.
The traditional role of the teacher, within practice firms, changes and the educational priorities become
more obvious.
The practical training can be based on three design models:
- The learning office; simulation of economic activities based on a closed didactic
model;
- The practice firm, a model of simulation for the real economic process in a real
company;
- The junior firm, activates in the store, laboratory, consultancy office in the school.
In order to carry out the processes required within a training firm, it is necessary to provide a
laboratory with the economic, theoretical and practical conditions students need to activate. In this
environment, the training firm:
- Carries put its activity as a real company, but with virtual goods and money,
according to the national legislation in force;
- Implement knowledge on a real working place, under the methodological management
of the teacher;
- Carries out the connection between the educational and the professional environment;
- Provides the opportunity to involve experts from the practical area;
- Eliminates important problems that would have appeared based on wrong decisionmaking,
if operating in a real environment.
- realizează legătura între şcoală şi mediul profesional;
2.2 Educational purpose and tasks of training firms
The teachers play a crucial role in preparing the Company or throughout the exercise. They
must have skills and knowledge of commerce and management. Diverse training firms are consultants
and organizers of the training process and must master the principle of the practice-oriented training.
They offer consultations and foster independence in training firms, verify the knowledge and skills
acquired by students, motivate, activate and guide the work of students.
The teachers sustain students to assume responsibilities, to make decisions, to participate
within the team, to think critically, to solve unexpected problems that might occur. The teachers act
both like active moderators and co-participants. They will encourage self-management, initiative and
students’ self-evaluation, and boost work team. They will be both consultants and instructors, acting
towards the immediate improvement of work and solving conflict situations.
Working in a training firm brings new opportunities and challenges for teachers as well:
- Teamwork requires qualities such as responsibility, organizational skills, exactness,
precision, accuracy, conflict-solving skills.
- Training firms involve knowledge from various domains of activity, such as
accounting, law, information technology, or social science, and this is a demanding
work that implies the teacher must have extra knowledge in these fields.
- Training firms study and apply the norms .established for its activity (laws,
government decisions, emergency government decisions and so on); the teacher must
constantly update his/ her knowledge.
- By simulating real situations, the students become aware of the specific objectives of
enterprises, and they understand its organization structure. This requires that the
teacher maintains a close relationship with the real enterprise correspondent to the
virtual one.
- The role the teacher is different. S/he supports the activity, coordinates and controls it.
This makes his/ her work more complex and difficult, but also more interesting.
The training firms implies the use of diverse methodologies, of simulation, individual and
team work, imaginary discussions, presentations and case studies. The experience of students and
teachers within the firm of exercise resulted in numerous awards received by the Economic College
"Ion Ghica" Târgovişte at international expositions concerning training firms.

III.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRAINING FIRMS’ METHOD
In terms of contemporary economic development, marked by trends of globalization and
market economy, the social partners cannot have just the role of observers; they need to participate
effectively in the decision-making process and its implementation, so that business can achieve their
planned objectives. Social partnership in vocational training is linked to the idea of association and
that of joint, collective action.
The concept of association is, in turn, traditionally linked with concepts of participation,
collaboration and cooperation. The partnership is not just a new social structure, but it represents a
new philosophy of development of social relations. Therefore, it is important to identify those partners
who really have to say something, which can optimize the decision in a particular social process
through their input and support.
Figure 2. Sites promoting training firms
School-business partnership that aims to sustain work-based learning takes on a new
dimension in terms of carrying out practical training of students as a learning method. Although there
is no real transfer of property or money, and no other types of transactions held, orders and invoices
are issued, and financial records are maintained - including records of creditors, the debtor,
transactions and stocks, and so on.
A business practice is very often assisted by at least a real company - the so-called Mentor
Company - whose products and services are in the same range and category of business practice.
Mentor Company provides information on technical and management problems. Practice companies
undertake market research, business advertising, acquisition of raw materials, transport operations,
management of inventories, development of plans and strategies on short and medium term,
production of goods on simulated markets, payment of salaries, fees, etc. and submission of statistical
reports.
In addition to these objectives, there are also other targets to be achieved such as the ability to
take initiative, increase confidence and obtain the necessary knowledge to establish work teams,
sharing tasks and choice management within companies. Participants in the company learn how to
activate within the teams, take responsibility, develop self-initiative and improve their professional
and technical skills.
Prior to the establishment and registration, training firms identify businesses that have the
same object of activity and choose a firm as Mentor. This company agrees and gets involved in
creating partnership with the company office, materialized by a partnership agreement covering
mutual benefits.

Differentiation
criteria
Accomplishments
Training firm
Decision-making is similar to
real life circumstance, but the
goods and services are virtual.
Real firm
The entire spectrum of
possible tasks. Real
goods and services.
Cash flows There is no real cash flow. Real cash flow
Company Risk The company does not
undertake any risks,
The risks must be
undertaken.
External contacts
Table 1. Differences between training firms and real companies
In training firms students behave as responsible managers or employees and educate their
entrepreneurial spirit. They exercise real economic transactions within a company, as the training firm
is structured in correspondence with the real situations. The departments are similar: human resources,
secretarial, marketing, sales, finance, accounting, and the firm’s activity is conducted as required by
law that applies to the Mentor Company. It is registered at the Central Office ROCT Timisoara and
uses the same documents as the Mentor Company, having a distinctive mark TEACHERS USE /
WORK FORM.
Business activity of the exercise firm is characterized by two defining aspects:
- Virtual: there are no real money and no real goods;
- Real: the commercial legislation is observed, there is an informational flow, there are
documents similar to those used by Mentor Company.
Simulated situations and the failure to succeed constitute relevant, vital and necessary
experiences for students. Wrong decisions, which for the Mentor Company could lead to endangering
its existence, do not attract negative economic consequences because students operate in a virtual
situation. Skills training is achieved through practice situations in the Mentor Company, and the
exercises are multiple in structure and texture.
Acquiring key skills (ability to work in teams, interdisciplinary thinking, communication
skills, and ability to make decisions) allows students to obtain professional skills and labor market
flexibility and high affinity towards finding a work place. These skills can reduce the period of
accommodation at real work environments and can bring great benefit for future employees and
employers.
The power of the exercise firm lies in the networking determined by the conduct of market
trading on behalf of training firms (national and international) and in communication with the external
environment of the firm of exercise, namely: collaboration with the Mentor, with other operators, with
state institutions etc. The relationship with the Mentor Company does not materialize only through
sponsorship, but also through actual practical training conducted by business students in the
departments of this company. On this occasion, students are faced with real situations.
To successfully implement this new concept of teaching in school and achieve performance,
the Mentor Company should provide financial and logistic support concerning:
- Documentation and materials;
- Provide access to specific hardware equipment and software applications;
- Legislation in force;
- Real accounting records;
- Provide the environment for repetitive actions;
- Sponsor the participation of the practice firm at dedicated national and international
expositions.
These efforts are compensated through the advertising of the Mentor Company at local level, as an
example of good practices that sustain the correlation between the labor market and key competencies.

IV.
EUROPEN NETWORK
The global network of practice firms consists of more than 42 countries and thousands of such
firms. The international network of practice firms is called Europen (used in Europe) and International
PEN (used outside Europe).
Since 1997, all national networks of business practice firms were linked through international
EUROPEN / Pen international network that facilitates business transactions between firms in practice
worldwide. International Network also promotes further development of the concept of globally
business practice and creates a variety of training tools. Traditional trade with companies is an
essential component of this concept, marketing firms practice interacting in a closed economy under
specific and strict commercial principles.
Figure 3. The Web page of EUROPEN network
Advantages of deploying educational activities in practice firm:
- The activity is organized by teams;
- The work process is more important that the final result of the economic process and
for this reason the bad results or incorrect decision are valuable for the student’s
experience; all the situations can have more simulated solutions and from the
didactical point of view a virtual company or practice firm with more problems are
better for learning and understanding real-life situations;
- The learning process is more structured;
- The students have to take a greater responsibility;
- In the practice firm, participation of each member must to be comparable and the
volume of work must to be the same.
4.1 Business Strategy Games
Business Strategy Games or game simulation is the most widely distributed and used
computer game for the strategic management market and it is used in all business schools worldwide.
An example of simulation using this product the authors present the sports shoe industry, which covers
a significant geographic area and a market with a global character. Each company in the industry
network is managed by a team of student-players that compete against other teams.

Participation in a simulated company also calls for most varied decisions. The company
manages factories and players must do their work, commit workforce and ensure wages, monitor
expenditure distribution and stock control, decide on capital expenditure, leading marketing and sales
campaigns, have a proper site and present their company, make projections on sales revenue, taking
into account exchange rate fluctuations, interest rates and stock market developments.
Strategic options that companies are adopting have the most varied extensive and intensive
nature. Depending on the end result, given the high or low profits, they may choose to change prices,
higher quality services, choose a serial or limited production line, opt for an extensive network of sales
or reduce costs on advertising. The market shares of each company are based on how it has considered
each attribute of the product and the volume of competitive effort in the company's efforts comparing
to competing firms. Demand conditions, prices and wage rates vary from one geographical area to
another. All these issues are likely to create a stimulating environment for action and decision in a
virtual business environment, as close to the actual real market action.
Figure 4. Business strategy game Web page
4.2 Using modern technologies in the training firms’ activity
Information and communication technologies (ICT) caused changes in all fields of society,
including the educational process. Applications of ICT can’t be excluded from the activity of training
firms. Since the creation or acquisition of a company, participants access the Web page at ROCT
(Romanian Office for Training Companies) http://www.roct.ro/ to download information, procedures,
registration form requested to continue the company's activities, other legal process, virtual
settlements, organizing events and communicate with the Training Firms‘ Center. For networking with
other training firms from Romania or abroad, participants use electronic communication.
Applications and multimedia presentations can be a valuable marketing tool. To this aim,
students use:
• Multimedia applications to create presentations: PowerPoint, IrfanView;
• Web technologies to create dynamic Web pages;
• Applications to create catalogs of products, promotional brochures, advertising flyers,
billboards: Microsoft Office Word, Publisher, Adobe Photoshop.
To create a virtual store they use specialized software like Fshop4, Eshop-Fast, Web
technologies like HTML, PHP and dedicated applications such as Microsoft FrontPage.

Another category of software used by companies consists of economic and management
applications to automate business management, human resource and necessary reports to evaluate the
company. For this scope they use standard solutions or generalized software packages such as CIEL,
for the management of all company departments: financial- accounting, payroll, business management
(billing, ordering, inventory and statistics), fixed assets/ property, cash flow, bank records and
contracts, customers and suppliers a.s.o.
V. Conclusions
Using the training firms’ method in the educational process of learning grows significantly the
interaction between school and the industry, beneficial in both directions and simulates the chance to
apply and practice in real life circumstances. Through this exercise of imagination and action,
businesses and schools are in a process of symbiosis. Students working in those virtual companies are
responsible for themselves and their team’s actions, learn to interact with business partners, can handle
various leadership positions that will create a hierarchy among colleagues and can accumulate the
experience of success and also failures for future commercial activity. For this reason, many
companies rely on such graduates of training firms in their recruitment activities. Moreover, many
companies provide practical support to companies, providing expertise and mentoring in the
partnership agreements. These graduates can start working immediately after graduation and quickly
integrate on the labour market.
Continuity of work in practice firms support entrepreneurship and encourage the initiative of
private business start-ups, while reducing business risk. An entrepreneur educated, innovative and
creative will be able to operate and compete successfully with his business in a market economy
characterized by very rapid changes brought by technological and social changed environment.
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