Bocconi promotes and recruits using "sim games"

Bocconi University, Italy's leading executive education institution in economics and management, continues to capitalize on market trends by developing and using simulation games (sim games) to strengthen its image and attract new students. Leveraging the appeal of mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), computers, and especially video games, Bocconi has introduced two new sim games which aim to teach management and business tools. At Economix, the third edition of sim game In the game launched this month, players compete to successfully manage a luxury hotel; and in Fashion Empire, launched last September, players manage a virtual fashion house.

Andrea Sironi, Dean of International Business, explains that the reason for this approach is "to attract bright, young students from around the world who are interested in business and economics. We have found that the edutainment (educational entertainment) and marketing are among the most effective tools for connecting with this segment of the population."

Unleash your inner Business Tycoon with Economix

Bocconi's most recent initiative, Economix, is a sim game An online competition where students from around the world in their penultimate or final year of studies compete to manage a luxury hotel in a simulated four-year economic crisis. Players progress through decision-making sessions in which they must analyze global market scenarios, strategic competitive and marketing plans, as well as production, R&D, logistics, and finance. The goal is to maximize the value of their hotel's shares. Online registration is open until October 28, 2007, and the game will run from October 30 to November 29, 2007. While the lessons are simulated, the incentives are real: the top 120 players will be invited to the Bocconi campus in Milan to participate in the Economix Workshop and benefit from lectures by renowned speakers, group projects, company visits, and cultural activities. http://www.unibocconi.it/economix/

Does the Devil wear Prada or Dolce & Gabbana? With Fashion Empire, you decide.

Last September, Bocconi launched Fashion Empire, a sim game for mobile phones developed by the Italian company Impressionware, under the supervision of the fashion experts from Bocconi, the professors of the Master in Fashion, Experience and Design Management (MAFED). In this sim gameIn this game, players manage a fashion house for a virtual year. After deciding which European capital to base their operations on (Milan, London, or Paris), players must interpret market information and style trends while designing, purchasing, distributing, and managing retail outlets. Seeking to maximize the global visibility of this initiative, Bocconi has collaborated with The Times newspaper. The game is available on both websites. http://www.unibocconi.eu/fashionempire

The world applauds the Ice Cream Empire

In 2006, Bocconi's marketing department developed the first sim gameICE (Ice Cream Empire), a mobile game where players managed an ice cream stand. Following in the footsteps of Thomas Edison, who started selling sweets on trains, and Steve Jobs, whose first office was a garage, ICE players began humbly and could only achieve success by making smart decisions about location, equipment, staff, prices, and recipes. The final economic outcomes could even be submitted to the rankings of... Ice Cream Stock ExchangeICE was initially targeted at high school students, but it was later confirmed that the average age of players was actually between 18 and 35. In its first year, the game attracted around 18,000 players in more than 160 countries. http://www.unibocconi.it/engice/1.htm