For a second consecutive year, students from BGE-PSZK (Department of Finance and Accounting of Budapest Business School and University) and from the Belgian HoGent University took part in an English-language business simulation course in Budapest, Hungary. The 35 participants formed a diverse group with different nationalities (Belgium, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Georgia, China, Holland, Mongolia, Germany, Lebanon and Ethiopia, to name a few) and who spoke twelve different native tongues.
The course, which took place from 14 to 19 April 2018, was organized on the Belgian side by Joeri Bruselle and Sven D'Hondt, and by Andrea Madarasiné, Dr. Szirmai and Dr. Judit Sági on the Hungarian side. Cesim was represented by our partner Monika Csapo and the simulation used was Cesim Global Challenge, our Strategy and International Business Simulation Game.
"The main idea of this setting was to let them cooperate and make decisions in an international context. All of the students were bachelor students with a solid finance background. The game itself was challenging as it did not only cover finance but also marketing, logistics, and other fields. By putting their minds together all of the teams achieved to have a profitable organisation", explains instructor Sven D'Hondt.
Besides the simulation course, the participants enjoy leisure activities in Budapest. The program provided the students with interesting challenges to develop their business and management skills, but also offering them the opportunity to improve their teamwork, grow closer together and expand their professional and personal network.
This was the second edition of the course, which is organized yearly. Due to its success in 2017 and 2018, the organizers are looking forward to future editions.
Migel Smolders, one of the participants, has to say the following about the course: "The Cesim business game offers a very interesting and stimulating approach towards exerting knowledge and competences and apply them towards a very competitive environment. During each round of the business game, every team developed their capability of strategic thinking. This created an environment where each team had to be innovative in forming a sustainable yet profitable market approach. The game was not only about numbers, every team had to work towards creating synergy between the team members. This often required leadership and empowerment to bring up the best in each team member. I would recommend this business game to everyone with a passion for strategy, business and even leadership".
Another participant, Nguyen Tri Dung, describes his experience as follows: "First of all, I really enjoyed the game because of the challenges. I have never played any simulation game, but after the competition I think that these games could teach us as much as real life lessons. I gained a lot of experiences which I can also apply on my further studies. All in all, I'd like to recommend this simulation game to everyone, it's really enjoyable and you can get a good opportunity to meet other people around the World."