Management Game

IIM Calcutta has done a lot of changes in its curriculum this year. A number of new courses have been added; some courses have been done away with; some courses have a new syllabus and one of the major changes is in the introduction of Management Game in the first year.

The concept – Management game involves running a company by a group of individuals in changing scenarios and conditions. This game was always played in the 6th term till now but with the new curriculum in place, it will be played in both 1st and the 6th term. The underlying logic being to check if 2 years of MBA has added value :D

The Game – We 300 of us were divided into 5 sections of 60 students each. Each section had to compete within them. Now these 60 students were divided into 8 teams of 7-8 people. Every section had 4 regions and in each region only 2 firms operated initially.

Every team had to appoint a CEO first. In my team, owing to my age ;) ;) I was offered this position but I quietly declined the same and took up the COO role instead. Other posts were CTO, CFO et al.

Initially, the game rules were simple. We were operating in one region and it was a controlled regime, i.e., a lot of Government control existed. We were given the balance sheet of the company and all the relevant details. Oh, forgot to mention, it was an oil firm which everyone was working on.

We were operating in quarter 1 and had to strategise to increase bottom line, market share, build capacity for future use, control inventory etc. Since all of us were quite raw, we applied very basic instincts and worked on a very limited knowledge.

Moving ahead in every quarter, the ground rules kept changing. The control regime was removed, we could enter other regions, other firms could enter our region, we could raise equity, build new plants or warehouses etc etc.

We were supposed to strategise for every quarter and rules kept changing in the next quarter. So, basically we had to plan knowing the known and anticipating the unknown.

In the end, we finished third in our section of eight. Pretty decent performance, we thought :)

It was really good to work with people whom I had not got a chance to interact as we were put in a group by the college and was not a self selected group. Putting in opinions, defending them, changing strategies mid-way, arguing out one’s thought really gave a feel of the management working!

Really looking forward to play a similar game after like one-and-a-half-years when everyone will have the concepts in the place; it will be a war to watch out for :)