On the Construction of a Multi-Stage, Multi-Person Business Game

The subject of this paper is a multi-stage, multi-person business game which will be used for executive training purposes by the American Management Association. A discussion of the basic philosophy of game play, and of the many analytical, computational, and conceptual difficulties encountered in the construction of business games, is followed by a description of the game in question, as actually constructed and played, with particular attention to four features which, it is felt, merit consideration: (1) Absence of an explicit criterion function; (2) Principle of marginal change; (3) Hidden formulas; (4) Minimal computation. The game (which, in a number of preliminary plays with top management participating, has met with a favorable reception) is outlined in some detail with a view to showing how it circumvents or overcomes a number of the obstacles described.