Gamification Methods for Teaching Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Abstract

In the recent decades Gamification has been getting more popular at teaching methods in supply chain management (SCM). Many universities and companies are using SCM simulators as a tool for increasing perception of real Supply Chain (SC) whereas being experienced in SCM will hang on passing long time and energy. Making changes in supply chain and applying innovative ideas for educational purposes is risky and costly and somehow impossible but with a proper SCM simulator students would experience very similar behavior of a real SC by applying what they have learned about SCM. They can see the effects of their decisions on any part of SC, they will learn how to build a successful team work in group team players and the competition between groups will be a great memorable lesson. The aim of this study is to make a comparison between 4 famous simulation games (named; Electronic Beer Game, Supply Chain Game, The Fresh Connection TFC, SCM Globe Game) to find different skills to teach SCM and logistics scientific subjects and their strengths and weaknesses. In this study we are going to perform an exploratory research on previous related lectures and famous SCM simulation games and their abilities to teach SCM and in parallel random sample interviews from students and some company employees have arranged to find out players views and impressions about games and their perception of SCM subjects. Result of this research the user friendly parts and the weaknesses parts will be evaluated by ranking the characteristic of the games in a criteria table and final comparison and conclusion will be discussed.