Corporate Success Stories
More than 100 000 people from various cultures and backgrounds around the world have used Cesim business simulation games to increase the collaboration and knowledge retention of your students. Join other leading higher education institutions in combining theory with practice, and transform your courses into engaging team exercises.
Country: Finland
Customer in Brief
Huhtamaki is one of the world’s largest packaging companies and one of the few truly global players. Their focus and expertise is in paper, plastic, films and molded fiber. The company offers products from stock, custom designs as well as total packaging systems and solutions. Huhtamaki has operations in 36 countries, over 15,000 employees and net sales exceeding. 2,1 billion. The parent company, Huhtamäki Oyj, is incorporated in Finland, with a listing on the Helsinki Exchanges since 1961.
Challenge
One of the key challenges facing a multinational manufacturing company like Huhtamaki is the intra-company cooperation, i.e., the ability to fully utilise the company resources and opportunities across the geographical borders. In practice it is often difficult to act according to what is best for the whole group when the responsibility for the manager’s own P&L is much more tangible. Huhtamaki’s International Leadership Program (ILP) is designed to overcome some of these barriers. Through demonstrating the group-level perspective and giving the participants opportunities to network with their colleagues globally ILP not only gives practical tools for managing the business units, but also develops future executives. The program has been implemented 11 times and more than 200 senior managers have completed the program.
Cesim Use
Cesim designed and developed a customised simulation that lets the participants experience the decision-making challenges both on the SBU-level and on the corporate level. During the simulation the managers are faced with the sometimes conflicting task of managing their business unit P&L and at the same time aiming for the most optimal corporate level operations and sales portfolio.
This simulation workshop is currently used at one of the modules in Huhtamaki's ILP program and at other selected management training initiatives as a 1,5 day intensive course. Cesim provides the whole package of services, including simulation, training facilitation, and training equipment.
Customer Experience
"ILP is a very important and highly visible development program inside our group. Participants are experienced senior managers from all over the world who expect 150% return on their time. With pleasure I can state that Cesim has met our high expectations throughout the cooperation by continuously delivering excellent service and demonstrating strong commitment to our specific needs.”
Hannele Salminen, Group Vice President, Human Resources
Participants Comments
"Useful and exciting way of simulating business environment. Tailored simulation program reflected well our business and I found it also useful training for my daily work.”
"This was the best business simulation I have participated in, and am looking forward to using it in the States.”
"We need to distribute this training tool widely in the business. I am going to see if we can get our group a session this fall.”
"This was an excellent module for our group. It represents clearly what we are challenged with today. In my opinion, this is something that should be driven outside of ILP as well.”
Written in co-operation with Huhtamäki Oyj
Country: Finland
Customer in Brief
YLE is Finland's national public service broadcasting company. YLE operates five national television channels and thirteen radio channels and services complemented by 25 regional radio programmes.
In 2003 YLE's share of daily television viewing was 44% and YLE's share of daily radio listening was 51%. YLE's operations are financed mainly by television fee (EUR 186.60 per year), and programming carries no advertising. The company is 99.9% state-owned and supervised by an Administrative Council appointed by Parliament, and operates under the Act on Yleisradio Oy.
Challenge
From the financial point of view the near-term objective of YLE is to turn the operating cash flow from negative to positive. However, in the process the main purpose of the company public remit-cannot be sacrificed.
The understanding of the situation as well as tools for managing the situation needed to be delivered to the senior and middle management at a rapid schedule. The task was particularly interesting because many of the key people have background on the creative side of the operations.
Cesim Use
Cesim designed and developed a public broadcasting services simulation to be first used as part of YLE’s strategic seminars for top and senior managers. Later the solution was also expanded to middle managers and producers.
A crucial factor in being able to deliver the results was that the people needed to understand the relationships between programming, production, purchases, and resource management. Only this would lead to more efficient coordination of functions and finally to best practices mode of operations.
In the simulation the main objectives are to obtain a large share of audience, high programme quality and audience satisfaction, and moreover to offer sufficient genre coverage for all the different audiences. Fulfilling the objectives under the financial limitations is challenging and requires profound thinking of the whole business process.
Customer Experience
"During my career I have participated in different business simulations in Oxford, BBC, and other. The pinnacle of all has been Cesim’s tailor-made simulation for Yle. It is well-fitted to our current situation at Yle and it gives great opportunities to develop team-work.”
Juhani Wiio, Head of Corporate Development, YLE
Chairman of the Training Steering Committee
European Broadcasting Union
Participants Comments
"Simulation gave me new angle for the television program planning from the financial point of view and it encouraged me to look deeper into financial decision making.”
"The game gave me practical examples how all different functions are connected to each other and how they reflect immediately to our company’s cost structure. "
"Simulation-training was fun and it clarified, quite deliberately, how economic factors influences everyday operations in the company.”
Written in co-operation with YLE