Reconcilable Differences? Incorporating a Trade-Environment Simulation into a Management Course

Challenges in reconciling trade liberalization policies and efforts to protect the natural environment provide useful illustrations to underscore important concepts in management education. In particular, the three-way interactions among government, business, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) over economic and environmental trade-offs serve to reinforce the managerial complexities of resolving disputes between parties over differences in economic and social priorities. This article describes a simulation on trade-environment interactions in which student groups prepare and present arguments before a global trade (GATT/WTO) panel. The article provides instructions for conducting the simulation, actual simulation materials, and an appendix containing supplementary information on trade-environment tensions.