business simulation for startup education 'game design
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BUSINESS SIMULATION FOR STARTUP EDUCATION
“GAME DESIGN, OPERATIONS AND
FINANCIAL PLANS”
BY
MR. RATANA RATANAKUL
AN INDEPENDENT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
(GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP) INTERNATIONAL MASTER IN
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND ACCOUNTANCY
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2015
COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
BUSINESS SIMULATION FOR STARTUP EDUCATION
“GAME DESIGN, OPERATIONS
AND FINANCIAL PLANS”
BY
MR. RATANA RATANAKUL
AN INDEPENDENT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
(GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP) INTERNATIONAL MASTER
IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND ACCOUNTANCY
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2015
COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
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Independent Study Title BUSINESS SIMULATION FOR STARTUP
EDUCATION
“GAME DESIGN, OPERATIONS AND
FINANCIAL PLANS”
Author Mr. Ratana Ratanakul
Degree Master of Business Administration
(Global Entrepreneurship)
Major Field/Faculty/University International Master in Business Administration
Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy
Thammasat University
Independent Study Advisor James Edward Rubesch, Ph.D.
Academic Years 2015
ABSTRACT
BizCat is a hybrid product-service provider with a purpose to provide
business and startup-specific knowledge to entrepreneur-to-bes through gamified
learning experience. The process is to have a group of customers learning about the
topics they would like to know by playing our original multi-player board games. The
first topic we provide learning as a game is related to “opportunity selection” which is
crucial for entrepreneurs in both their startup decision-making or even along their
business life cycle as a competing firm. We also plan to commercialize our products
as official board games that everyone who is interested in learning the topics through
games can buy. We are inventing more business games along with those activities
specified as we have a goal to become the center of business and startup education
through gamified solution.
Keywords: Simulation Game, Startup, Business Education, Gamification, Game-
based learning, Board game
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and
deep regards to my advisor Dr. James Edward Rubesch for his guidance and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this independent study. I would also like to
thank the committee members, especially Assistant Professor Patnaree Srisuphaolarn,
for all the useful advices, suggestions, comments and feedback. The help and
guidance will always be cherished and remembered.
I would like to thank my team member for helping each other out on the
days we were lost and being there when a support is needed.
I would also like to acknowledge all the current and prospect customers
who help shared and provide all the information necessary to make this study
possible.
Last but not least, I would like to express thanks to my parents, family,
and friends for their constant encouragement without which this paper would not be
possible.
Mr. Ratana Ratanakul
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2
LIST OF TABLES 6
LIST OF FIGURES 7
CHAPTER 1 ORGANIZATION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 About BizCat 2
1.3 Mission 2
1.4 Vision 2
1.5 Assumptions/Hypothesis 3
1.6 Team Members 3
CHAPTER 2 GAME DESIGN 4
2.1 Theories of Effective Learning 4
2.2 Application of gamification technique in education 5
2.3 Game design 8
2.3.1 Planning Stage 9
2.3.2 Design Development Stage 10
2.4 Criteria for well-designed gamification 11
2.5 Game Development 12
2.5.1 Game Objectives 12
2.5.2 Game Mechanism 12
2.5.3 Game Attributes 13
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2.5.4 Learning Outcomes 13
CHAPTER 3 GAME TESTING 14
3.1 Before the Game Development 14
3.2 Tools for data collection 14
3.2.1 Pre and Post Questionnaire 14
3.2.2 Exploration Tracking 15
3.2.3 RETAIN evaluation rubric 15
3.2.4 Feedback Survey 15
3.3 Internal Game Testing 15
3.4 Small Group Game Testing 16
3.5 Full session Testing at University of Thai Chamber of Commerce 16
3.6 Full Paid Session at Ma.D Hub for Social Entrepreneurs 17
3.7 Further Experimentation at Millenium Hotel 18
3.8 An additional experimentation at PTT Co. 18
CHAPTER 4 MARKETING PLANS 19
4.1 Market Trend 19
4.2 Competition 20
4.3 Competitive Advantages 20
4.4 Target Customers 21
4.5 Marketing Strategy 21
CHAPTER 5 FINANCIALPLAN 23
5.1 Operation Work Flow 23
5.2 Revenue Generation 25
5.2.1 Revenues from service sales 25
5.2.2 Revenues from product sales 28
5.3 Expenses 29
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5.4 Financial Projection 31
5.5 Cash Flows 34
5.6 Balance Sheet 34
5.7 Financial Ratios and Summary 35
5.7.1 Inventory Turnover and Days of Inventory 36
5.7.2 Operating Income to sales 36
5.7.3 Gross Profit Margin 37
5.7.4 Net Profit Margin 37
5.7.5 Net Present Value (NPV) 38
5.7.6 Return on Assets (RoA) and Return on Equity (RoE) 38
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 40
REFERENCES 41
APPENDICES 42
APPENDIX A OCEAN GAME PRE AND POST QUESTIONNAIRE 43
APPENDIX B EXPLORATION TRACKING 45
APPENDIX C SESSION FEEDBACK 47
APPENDIX D RETAIN RUBRIC 49
BIOGRAPHY 50
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LIST OF TABLES
Tables Page
2.1 Application of Game-based learning using Bloom’s Taxonomy 6
2.2 Application of Game Based Learning using Kolb’s Cycle 8
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
2.1 Six Levels in the Cognitive Domain of the Bloom’s Taxonomy 4
2.2 Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning 5
2.3 LM-GM Model for Serious Game 7
2.4 Game Design Process Phases 9
2.5 Dynamics, mechanisms and aesthetics applied to the ‘Ocean Game.’ 11
4.1 Worldwide simulation-based Five Year Growth rates by region 19
5.1 Operation Workflow 24
5.2 Total revenue received per session from the workshop 27
5.3 Total revenue received per quarter with drill-down figures 27
5.4 Total Revenue from board game sales 29
5.5 Total revenue for overall BizCat’s products and services 29
5.6 Cost Structure for workshop (5 years) 30
5.7 Cost producing 1 board game box set 31
5.8 COGS for board game production (5 years) 31
5.9 Annual projected Income Statement for 2016 - 2020 (5 years) 33
5.10 Cash Flow from operation (5 years) 34
5.11 Balance Sheet for 2016 - 2020 (5 years) 35
5.12 Inventory turnover and days of inventory (5 years) 36
5.13 Operating Income to sales for 2016 – 2020 (5 years) 37
5.14 Gross profit margin for 2016 – 2020 (5 years) 37
5.15 Net profit margin for 2016 – 2020 (5 years) 37
5.16 Net Present Value calculation for 2016 – 2020 (5 years) 38
5.17 RoA / RoE calculation for 2016 – 2020 (5 years) 38
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CHAPTER 1
ORGANIZATION
1.1 Background
Entrepreneurs have been known to drive the economic growth of the
country. Entrepreneurship creates job opportunities and innovation which allows the
country to sustain competitiveness in the times of increasing globalization and
increases the chance firm survival. The trend of entrepreneurship is increasing as
secure employment is no longer a guarantee. According to Global Entrepreneur
Monitor 2014, nascent entrepreneur rate in Thailand is quite high and decision to
startup is opportunity driven (nascent entrepreneur refers to the rate of individuals
involved in setting a business that has not yet received salaries, wages and payments).
However, many of them fail or people did not have the knowledge and motivation to
continue them.
After some exploration, we found that majority of people wanted to
startup a business but many have not been able to due to factors like lacking the
know-how, no good idea and fear of failure. Entrepreneurs have the needs to learn the
know-hows in an engaging environment and are looking for skills that would help
them startup and run the business.
Game-based learning has been proven to have high potential for learning
support since it uses human’s natural desires to motivate learning. Well-designed
game can create optimal learning experience for players and provide realism. Skills
from these games usually are analysis, interpretation and problem solving. These
skills are related to educational objectives which are why games are often used for
education and in increasing productivity by boosting motivation.
One form of game that can make learning more compelling and increases
motivation is the method of gamification. Gamification is the use of game design
elements in non-game context in order to positively impact performance, productivity
and engagement of participants. Gamification enhances the player’s experience,
allows interactivity between users and may help player acquire certain skills.
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Teaching entrepreneurs using gamification technique thus allow the entrepreneurs to
acquire skills they need to run the business in an engaging manner.
1.2 About BizCat
BizCat offers a training class for entrepreneur-to-bes that have interest in
starting up their own business and are looking for the opportunities and step by step
guidance to startup a business. Our method of teaching is through the use interactive
simulation game as we hope to enhance the engagement and learning experience of
the participants. We plan to offer varieties of games with learning outcomes centered
on idea generation and validation with the aim of teaching skills that could
specifically be adopted by entrepreneurs.
Our first game is called ‘Ocean Game’ and will teach the aspect of
opportunity analysis. Opportunity analysis is defined as knowledge about opportunity
selection and the understanding of the market structure and analyzing the market trend
and direction based on Porter’s five forces and product life cycle.
1.3 Mission
Our mission is to help young adult entrepreneurs start a business and
understand the fundamental knowledge about opportunity analysis and the startup
process.
1.4 Vision
We simulate the learning about the process of starting up a business and
motivate entrepreneurs through the use of interactive simulation game.
Each year, we aim to assist 1000 young adults who are interested in starting up
a business by providing business knowledge and motivating them through interactive
simulation game that encourages experiential learning.
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We started initially with the topic of opportunity analysis and selection.
1.5 Assumptions/Hypothesis
1. An effective approach to learning is by doing.
2. Startup simulation game is effective in teaching young adults about
opportunity analysis.
3. Startup simulation game increases the engagement and makes the
learning fun.
4. Players’ knowledge and experience about the opportunity analysis will
be enhanced after the game session.
5. The simulation game help players understand about the marketplace
research.
6. The knowledge from the simulation game can be transferred and
applied to their work or projects.
1.6 Team Members
Mr. Ratana Ratanakul will be responsible for Game Design, Operations
and Financial Plans. With background in computer engineering and work experiences
as IT consultant, he is capable of developing the game platform and mechanics of
operations as well using his consulting experiences to provide support to the startups
and advice about the steps to be taken.
Ms. Sunit Kukreja will be responsible for Product Background Research
and Marketing Plans. With prior experiences in marketing, health promotion and
article writings, she will be able to contribute to product background research,
Marketing strategies, contents of the platform and the teaching materials.
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CHAPTER 2
GAME DESIGN
2.1 Theories of Effective Learning
In order to successfully transfer business knowledge to the players who
play the simulation game that we were going to develop, we researched for existing
educational theories and practices that the educators have been using to transfer
knowledge to the students. Theories of effective learning used by educators suggest
that learning is most effective when it is active, experiential, has real world
connection and delivers rapid response (Catalano, Luccini, & Mortara 2014).
Educators are now focusing on trying to make the teaching practical. Existing tools
for such teaching include case studies, simulations, and business games.
Theories used to evaluate learning such as Bloom’s Taxonomy and Kolb’s
learning cycle all suggest that the best practices for learning are when the learning is
situated, the cognitive load is minimized, the learners are engaged constructively and
the learning task is facilitated. Moreover, there must be some form of flexibility,
exploitability and evaluation for the learning. In other words, the learning can be
applied to a new context.
Figure 2.1 Six Levels in the Cognitive Domain of the Bloom’s Taxonomy
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According to Kolb (1991), after learning through experiences, reflection is
needed from the trainers or facilitators to reflect the decisions made during the game
and their consequences on the real-life situations. This prepares learners as if they
have been through the real-life situations without much of risk.
Figure 2.2 Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning
2.2 Application of gamification technique in education
Gamification occurs when game mechanics are used in non-game
contexts to influence behavior, improve motivation and enhance engagement. Our
products fall into Serious Game /Simulation category of a gamification technique. A
serious game is a game with purpose. It has all the elements of a real game, will look
and feel like a real game, but has some defined purpose and specific objectives that
the designers want to convey which does not need to be realistic like the real world.
This kind of games help the learner get the knowledge with the feeling of playing
games. Simulation games are slightly different, but still fit into the same category.
Rather than being a game with defined purpose, they are designed to simulate
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problems found in everyday world, for example, driving simulation which puts the
player in the same environment as the outside world but instead happens inside the
game where no life risking activities involved.
According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, Simulations moves learning from
recalling facts to the application and retention of knowledge. In the game context,
participants learn by doing and are later asked to demonstrate how they can apply
what they learned. The table below summarizes the learning goal of the 6 thinking
skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy and the application of serious games in meeting these
goals.
Table 2.1 Application of Game-based learning using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Learning Goal Mechanics
Remembering Games are good for memory retention because it uses images,
animations and scenarios that trigger the players’ feelings.
Understanding Games may not be very efficient in making the players understand the
context especially if compared with other educational tools which can
provide in depth knowledge.
Applying Games are efficient for using acquired knowledge into practice and in
a new context.
Analyzing Games provide real-time feedback useful for evaluating and devising
the strategy to boost the performance.
Evaluating It is difficult to understand the reasoning behind the player’s choices
and its effects; hence, guidance from the facilitator is necessary during
the player’s assessment and self-reflection.
Creating Creativity is quite limited when learning through serious games.
Nevertheless, complex simulations could help player come up with
new solutions and see other outcomes that the designers may have left
out.
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Bloom’s theory and the digital taxonomy of Anderson and Krathwohl
(2001) can be used to link commonly found game mechanics to learning mechanism
(Arnab et. al 2015). The figure below of the LM-GM model focuses on task-centered
learning indicating that games can be seen as a continuous learning tool where players
can learn and gain knowledge as they continue moving to the next level.
Figure 2.3 LM-GM Model for Serious Game
In serious games, game play supports experiential learning. Therefore, it
makes sense to assume that the game mechanics can meet the learning goals and that
knowledge and skill can be acquired through the use of game.
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Table 2.2 Application of Game-based learning using Kolb’s Cycle
2.3 Game design
According to Marczewski’s Gamification Framework (2014), the process
of gamification requires two stages which are Planning/Concepting phase and Design
development phase.
Learning Stage Mechanics
Concrete experience
(feeling)
Serious games allow players to experience realistic
scenarios and make decisions. The interactions with
users often enhance the play experience.
Reflective Observation
(Watching)
Games provide varieties of information and this
information must be observed by the players during the
game. Hence, presentation must be clear and precise so
that result interpretation can be easily done.
Abstract conceptualization
(thinking)
The abstraction process is usually difficult in games
because players are too focused on how to win or
complete the task on time rather than thinking about
the date provided. Therefore, wrap-up and facilitator’s
guidance is needed alongside with the use of other
theoretical tools such as books.
Active Experimentation
(doing)
Games are definitely designed for active learning or
learn by doing. Drawback of this approach includes
lack of theory based knowledge, poor abstraction
capabilities and ignorance of long term goals.
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Figure 2.4 Game Design Process Phases
Planning/Concepting phase focuses on defining the objective of
gamification, purpose of gamification, the target users and how the interested topic is
gamified. Then test the concept and game mechanics until refined before going to the
next steps. Design development then comes into play when other attributes of the
games are realized and prepared. Several versions of prototypes with analytics are
then created to test with users/customers in order to validate user experiences and
game balances. The game will be refined based on feedback until balance between
game play and learning outcomes are met, then the production version will be
released.
2.3.1 Planning Stage
In application to our game, we intend to gamify the process of idea
generation and idea validation with first game focusing on opportunity and market
selection. We are applying the technique of gamification because it increase
engagement, motivation and allow for quick mastery of new skills. Next we have to
think about who are the users and how is our topic gamified. There are 4 types of
users (Bartle 1996): Killers/ Enjoyers, Achievers/ Farmers, Explorer/ self-seeker, and
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Socializer/ Networker. Killers/Enjoyers are motivated by scores and leaderboards.
Achievers/Farmers are motivated by clear goals. Explorer/ Self-seekers are motivated
by discoveries. Socializers/Networkers are motivated by friends and teams.
Understanding different types of users, allow the developer to add in
the appropriate mechanism to the game. Our game plan is to focus on the enjoyers and
farmers so achievement and leader board will be one the main mechanism of our
game. However this does not mean that we do not consider the other two types of
players. After determining the target group, we choose how we want to gamify and
what would we want the end product to be. Our end product is simulation game so we
must add game elements that would motivate the specific type of users.
2.3.2 Design Development Stage
At this stage, the game is designed by adding the game design
elements of self-expression, reward system, status ranking and competition. These are
the elements of human desires that foster personal motivation. When gamifying, there
are three aspects to be considered: the mechanics of the game, the dynamics and the
aesthetics. Mechanics are the components of the game at the level of data
representation and algorithms. Dynamics describe the behavior of the player’s actions
after seeing the game mechanics. Aesthetics describe the emotional response when the
players are interacting with the system. As mentioned each types of players responses
to different kinds of dynamics, different mechanisms must be used. In this game, we
used achievement systems, leaderboards, mentoring, negotiating action, wheel of
fortune, challenges by random external factors, price war and some customization
such as an action to create the barrier of entry.
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Figure 2.5 Dynamics, mechanisms and aesthetics applied to the ‘Ocean Game.’
After adding the analytics, the game will go through user tests in
order to gain feedback and the game will be refined until solution can be released.
2.4 Criteria for well-designed gamification
Well-designed gamification activities consist of clear educational
objectives and learning outcomes. Pre-requisites must be identified and contents and
game instructions must be clear, relevant and accurate. Good games offer a challenge
and mastery through winning and the employment of pleasing color schemes in the
layout. Moreover the instruction and rules of game play must be clear, concise and
easy to understand (Caufield, et. al, 2012).
We have designed our game to fit the criteria mentioned above. Our game
has educational objectives, clear learning outcomes and identified prerequisite skills
as specified in the section below. We offered the challenge and mastery through the
use of achievements and application of external factors that may change the game and
result in a new winner. The feedback is offered through the use of leader board and
the design is simple with the use of color schemes for each industry and stage.
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Calculations are transparent to the players. The instructions are provided one by one
using visual aid as guidance. At the end of the game, wrap ups are delivered to
strengthen the knowledge and the learning outcome. Contents of the teaching were
adapted from textbook and the game encourages the players to engage in all the
actions in various phases so engagement is definitely fostered.
2.5 Game Development
The first startup simulation game we developed is called ‘Ocean Game.’
The game will deliver the skills of opportunity analysis and selection while trying to
stay competitive in the marketplace.
2.5.1 Game Objectives
The objective of this simulation game is to aid the players in
identifying opportunities in the market place. Players will be able to identify the
characteristics of different types of product such as common, fad, high barrier, and
niche products. This will be a helpful experience for the entrepreneurs that they could
apply in how to find an interesting businesses to get in and how to be competitive in
the market including how to stay competitive and what competing strategies deliver
which results. Porter’s five forces will be used as a model for the players to reflect on
with references to their actions taken and their consequences during the game.
2.5.2 Game Mechanism
“Ocean Game” is a turn-based multi-player game that introduces a
simulated business environment where various types of industries are born, growing
or even decline, as same as the real world marketplace. Players then are given limited
resources to begin their decision of choosing business to start. Each business has its
own life cycle and characteristics so the players need to observe the changes occurred
to each industry that they are interested in, together with the forecasts, and form up
their decisions to start businesses.
Once a player start a business, his or her choices of actions will be
widen as they will be given more variety of strategic actions they can do with any of
their own business to increase their market share, cut down competitors, or even
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subjugate opponents’ growth. At the end of each turn which demonstrates the end of
business year, there will be changes in numbers that allow players to plan their short-
term or long-term strategies for the rest of the games.
Unexpected elements are included in the game once every few turns
in order to keep the participants active. A change in some plans or strategies is
expected when the unexpected situations come into play like the real-world.
Game is conducted until the specified number of rounds/turns is
reached. The players then calculate all the incomes and assets they have created
during the game through given means to find the best players. All of them then share
the experiences and their strategies taken to reflect on what they learned from the
game play. Then a proper reflection is given by the facilitators/trainers in order to
reflect those actions to theories and knowledge, preparing the players for the real-life
situations that they are going to face in the upcoming future.
2.5.3 Game Attributes
1. Number of groups: 10 or more
2. Number of players: 30 - 60
3. Pre-requisite: Basic Understanding of the business environment
4. Duration: 60 minutes
2.5.4 Learning Outcomes
At the end of the game, participants should be able to:
1. Understand the nature of the marketplace
2. Identify five forces and their effects on the industry
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CHAPTER 3
GAME TESTING
3.1 Before the Game Development
We launched an online survey to ask about the needs of our target group.
This survey asked about if whether they would like to start up business their own
business, what are the challenges they are facing and what topic would they like to
learn about. The results of this survey was that all of the participants (50) want to
startup a business but the majority of them have not yet started because they felt that
they had no good ideas, they do not know what to do and that they had fear of failure.
Our target is interested in learning about understanding market needs, idea
generation, idea validation and leadership. Moreover, we also asked them about their
thoughts on learning through games and their perceptions were that simulation games
would be more engaging and stimulating to learn and that it would be effective in
allowing entrepreneurs to be able to define possible factors that might come into play
when starting up a business. Upon receiving this information, we then started
developing the game.
3.2 Tools for data collection
In order to measure the successful implementation of gamification in
training, we used three tools for data collection.
3.2.1 Pre and Post Questionnaire
We developed a pre and post questionnaire to measure the knowledge
and the learning outcomes delivered by the game. The questionnaire consists of total ten
questions in a multiple choice format. Same set of questions will be distributed before and
after the gaming session so the results could be compared.
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3.2.2 Exploration Tracking
We developed a pre and post questionnaire to investigate the
exploration behavior of the participants which is one of the learning outcome
delivered by the game. The questionnaire consists of six questions in a multiple
choice format. Same set of questions will be distributed before the gaming session and
two weeks later, we will track the results to see the changes after learning the business
knowledge taught in the session.
3.2.3 RETAIN evaluation rubric
RETAIN evaluation rubric will be used to measure the effectiveness
of the game. The rubric consists of 6 key aspects and the participants are asked to
identify which level (0-3) our game is in. The rubric is provided to the participants
after the session.
3.2.4 Feedback Survey
In this survey, participants will be asked about the satisfaction with
the game and workshop and their feedback about the game. This survey is used to
measure the learning experience and level of satisfaction with our services. Feedback
from the survey will help us to further refine our product until the final solution can
be met.
3.3 Internal Game Testing
We found that the calculations took long time making the game pace
slow and the gameplay was too difficult to understand and game concepts were
difficult to be grabbed by players with no prior knowledge. Moreover, the game
lacked the elements of fun because there were no interactions between the players.
We refined the game by making changes to the moderator control sheet
and added functions to make the calculations more efficient for the moderator and
reduce the waiting time for the players. We also improved the gameplay experience
by altering the rules of the game to be clearer.
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3.4 Small Group Game Testing
After understanding the flaws of the game from the internal testing, we
refined the games and conducted another testing session with volunteers from
Thammasat University. There were 12 participants in this session. Objective of this
session was to verify the game flow and effectiveness of our gamified game. We used
RETAIN evaluation rubric as a guideline to measure our game’s effectiveness.
From this testing, we found that the calculations still took long thus
making the participants bored at times. Elements of fun need to be added for better
game flow and engagement. Moreover, the game should lead the used to combine
their prior knowledge with what they had just learned and there should be more
challenge levels. We used this feedback to refine our game further by adding the
mechanism of achievement and competition. This would increase the level of
challenge and increase interactions between the players. Moreover, we improved
money calculation by introducing the use of chips and real paper chunks which might
also allow for better game and status visualization.
3.5 Full session Testing at University of Thai Chamber of Commerce
After refining the game based on the feedback, we conducted a full
session consisting of lecture, simulation and personal coaching at the University of
Thai Chamber of Commerce. The workshop consists of 12 participants from various
educational backgrounds voluntarily. We asked the participants to do pre-test and
post-test about the learning deliverables we provide through gaming session in order
to see the effectiveness of the learning through our game and to use the feedback to
continually improve our product / service.
It was a success that the rating for the gaming session was way above our
expectations and more than 90% of the participants are willing to join our next
session. Not to be too optimistic, we would consider that the “Fun” and “Motivating”
parts of the game have reached its acceptable level as a good game. The topic to be
focused on is its deliverables whether the participants have learned enough from the
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game without further deliberation or not. We found out that more than 90% of the
participants’ scores have increased, however, we also spotted that the challenge the
participants got is about language barrier. The test was written in English so some
students could not understand the questions correctly, thus answered in the wrong
direction. We will take this finding into improving our survey and quiz system to have
both Thai and English languages.
3.6 Full Paid Session at Ma.D Hub for Social Entrepreneurs
On 31st January 2016, we organized a full paid session at Ma.D Co-
working space, one of the well-known learning hubs and co-working spaces in
Bangkok area, aiming to observe the target group of people that actually pay for our
services – 500 baht per person. After announcing and advertising the event through
brochures and social network, we eventually got 28 paid participants. During the
event, we provided lectures, game simulation, reflection session, and group discussion
and presentation.
We observed that the group of people that have willingness to pay consists
mostly of working people aged 20-35 who are looking to startup their own business or
expanding their family business. This led us to a new hypothesis about our target
customer. We had them going through game simulation to gain experience about
opportunity analysis and selection followed by a wrap-up session to reflect what they
had learned from the simulation game.
We would like to measure their understanding about the topic we taught them
through the game, so according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, we tested the application of
knowledge. Participants were then divided into groups of 4-5 members. Each group
was responsible for designing a business solution for the specific theme given by the
moderator and presenting them to investors. As they ideated and discussed, we
noticed that all groups did researches for the product and the market on the internet to
find more statistics or information that would be beneficial to them even though we
did not tell them to do so.
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3.7 Further Experimentation at Millenium Hotel
On 15th February 2016, we organized a brief session consisting of
business simulation, wrap-up and discussion part as same as the previous session to
experiment with another group of people. In this session, we suggested tools and
techniques that can be beneficial for the researching activity for them as the feedback
from the previous session stated that the participants would like to do deeper research
but they did not know the method. This time there were 27 participants joining the
session with a wider range of ages, 27 to 38.
The result affirmed the hypothesis that the business simulation with
reflection session helps motivate the participants to do research related to their
business ideas and the characteristics of the market including existing competitors.
The tools and techniques suggested during the reflection session were used to find
necessary information. One of the most interesting feedback about the simulation
itself we got from this experiment stated that there were not enough repetition of the
game’s rounds and they could not portray a clear picture of product life cycles we had
in the game.
3.8 An additional experimentation at PTT Co.
On 24th February 2016, we had a quick experiment at PTT Co. for 12
working people aged 24 to 35 who come from various backgrounds with and without
previous business education. The session was conducted exactly in the same sequence
as the previous session, however, with 12 rounds of game instead of the 7 rounds we
used before.
The result of this experimentation was measured with an application of
knowledge in business working session and 2 out of 3 groups demonstrated their
understanding in product life cycle and one of the groups did not mention this in their
presentation. With this result, we assume that the proper number of rounds in the
business simulation has a positive effect on the outcome. And we will continue using
12 rounds of game with the next groups of people to see how it affects the overall
effectiveness.
19
CHAPTER 4
MARKETING PLANS
4.1 Market Trend
The trend of game-based learning is on the rise. The global growth rate of
the worldwide game-based learning market is 6.7%%. By 2018, the revenue is
expected to be $2.4 billion dollars.
As for simulation-based learning, the annual growth rate is 18.9% with the
revenue doubling to $7.1 billion by 2018.
Figure 4.1 Worldwide Simulation-based Five Year Growth Rates by region (Adkins,
2014)
The figure above demonstrates that simulation-based learning is on the
rise especially in Latin American and Asia. This indicates an opportunity for us to use
simulation based learning in teaching in Thailand and in other countries in Asia.
20
4.2 Competition
Existing players are focused on either board games or online simulation
games designed for edutainment purposes. Current serious learning games are
developed towards online simulation games. The online simulation games used for
teaching entrepreneurship include Hot shot business, Sim Venture, and Any Business.
Other players are board games that teach some skills of specific to
entrepreneurship such as Cash Flow, Go Venture and The Settlers of Catan. The
existing players teach general business management skills, though some of them can
be applied to entrepreneurship. Hot shot business teach very general concepts of
entrepreneurship, though user friendly, there is no challenge and difficulty level. Sim
venture, however, was too focused on one aspect of entrepreneurship that the game
experience was limited and other key aspects of entrepreneurship like innovation was
not mentioned. Cash flow focuses on the concept of personal finance and the settlers
of Catan focus on negotiation. These skills though applicable to entrepreneurs, are not
specific enough for entrepreneurs who are looking for ideas to startup their own
business.
4.3 Competitive Advantages
One of our competitive advantages is that we are the first mover in the
market in Thailand. We create real-life simulation game that urges interactions
between the players and the outcome of the game are specific knowledge about the
skills that the players are looking for. The fully developed game will be patented thus
creating our business identity and sustaining our competitiveness.
Our game will offer predefined scenarios and long playability to keep the
game interesting and game can be replayed without the feeling of boredom. Challenge
levels will continuous be added to keep the game on the run. More elements of
surprise and mystery must also be added to gain their attention and make them want
to revisit the session. Overall, to compete with competitors, game must provide
concept of competition, challenge level, mystery and yet must have the aspect of
realism that the players can relate to. Interactions should be encouraged by the use of
21
competition in the same market keeping the game exciting with something new and
continuous thinking of situation interpretation and decision making.
4.4 Target Customers
Our customers are startups at the seed stage that needs support and
guidance in starting a business. We focus on young adults (ages 23-35) who are
interested in starting up a business and learning through the interactive simulation
game. We will reach out to these customers by approaching learning hubs, education
centers, advertising through social events and online advertisements.
4.5 Marketing Strategy
In order to be well-known, we must create brand reputation and market
our position. We will reach out to our prospect customers by doing publicity among
the local or regional community online and offline, social learning hubs, etc.
1. We will host events and seminars (ideally 1 session every other
month). In these events and seminars, we will invite speakers for
special topics to gain more public attention.
2. We will co-host workshop with other event or start-up promoting
activities establish ourselves amongst our target group ideally once
every other month.
3. We will establish our brand by participating in social events and other
events hosted by professional associations.
4. We will organize sessions at academic institutions/organizations such
as universities and schools (once every 6 months). These sessions aim
in raising awareness, building credibility and in emphasizing
entrepreneurial mindset.
5. We will create relationship and communicate with the target market
and build interest through the use of Facebook and blog.
Our goal is to gain 1000 active users over 12 month period. These
marketing strategies will build our brand reputation, enhance the learning experience,
22
build positive feedback, increase the engagement of the participants, expand our
customer database and generate sales. More aggressive marketing strategies such as
roadshow and booth in startup events will be launched when there are changes in the
project phase.
23
CHAPTER 5
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS
5.1 Operation Work Flow
Our operation workflow begins with launching surveys and conduct
insight interviews with potential customers regarding the problems that they have in
starting up a business and also the skills they lack or would like to know in order to
select learning deliverables that would benefit the audiences the most if being
transferred. After selecting specific topics for teaching, we gamify them with advices
from the experts in the fields including educators who use game to teach, game
designers, psychologist and professional gamers so that we get a prototype to test with
potential customers. Repetitive testing is conducted to get feedback in terms of game
play and deliverables transfer so that we are able to refine the product further. After
several simulation game testing rounds, we then put the simulation game together
with lecture and wrap-up part to form a full learning session for specific outcome of
knowledge and experience. Once the simulation session has been tested proven to
deliver the expected outcomes, full learning session consisting of lecture, simulation
and reflection will be organized as an official session where charge the participants
for a fix amount of attendance fee. Customers who are willing to join the session pay
for the price. The platforms that we conduct marketing campaigns and advertisements
to reach out for the targets are, for examples, universities, social media, co-working
spaces and online advertisements.
24
Figure 5.1 Operation Workflow
25
Before the session, customers will be asked to answer pre-test questions so
that the results could be recorded and compared to the post-test (same set of
questions) conducted after the session. The customers will then be introduced to the
session and be communicated the instructions of the simulation game. The game
commences for the duration of one hour. After the simulation, there will be wrap-up,
feedback and workshop before having them complete post-test. The workshop part is
used as a measurement to see how well the participants demonstrate their application
of knowledge and experience gained from the lecture and simulation game.
After the session, we measure the effectiveness of the simulation game by
calculating the changes between pre-test and post-test to see the results in terms of the
knowledge transferability. In addition, we also analyze the application of knowledge
done by the participants during the on-hands workshop to see how well the
participants apply the knowledge they got from the lecture to the real use.
The results are recorded and used for future reference in improving the
simulation, enhance the class experience, and also served as testimonials for further
advertisement.
For a plan to scale, the simulation game invented in the previous section
will be continually refined to an extent where it can be sold as an educational product.
Patenting and licensing will play a part as means to get revenue. The details of each
revenue stream shall be described in the next section regarding revenue streams.
5.2 Revenue Generation
As described in the previous sections that our revenues are generated
mainly on workshop sales, with a scale up plan of board game sales.
5.2.1 Revenues from service sales
For the service sales, workshops serve as main stream of revenues.
What we provide is a working session consisting of overview lecture, game session
and wrap-up discussion which altogether account for half- day duration for a session
with one game and full-day duration for a session with two or three games.
26
Before running in full scale, we plan to scale up the workshop
by gradually introducing gamified class into the target audiences and also increasing
awareness and recognition of BizCat in the group of young adults including university
students. The plan can be divided into four phases which are described below:
Phase 1: The Ocean game will be used as the game for the half-day
workshop we hold in the Q1 – Q2 of the year 2016. Workshop size will be 25 - 30
people and workshop fee of discounted price, 500 baht per person, will be collected as
an introduction for people to gamified learning experience.
Phase 2: During the Q3/2016 – Q4/2017, the second original game
will be included into the workshop to increase learning deliverables through gamified
learning and the session will be increased its length to full-day. Workshop size will be
increased by 5 - 10 people to be 35 - 40 people. The workshop fee will be increased to
1,000 baht per person.
Phase 3: From the Q1 of the year 2018 onwards, the full-day
intensive workshops will be conducted in full scale by including the third new
original game into the workshop and that will make the session containing three
games that deliver three different topics of the business knowledge for start-ups that
would help the participants understand the business environment and the nature of
startups. The objective of the intensive session is to provide major fundamental
business knowledge that is essential for people who want to start a business.
Workshop size will be increased from phase 2 to the maximum size of 50 participants
in order to maintain effectiveness and interactions in the class. The workshop fee will
be increased to 1,500 baht per person and will remain unchanged until the end of year
2018. During the entire year of 2018, we will be emphasizing on reaching out through
marketing campaigns in order to spread out the name of BizCat and also increasing
awareness for future pricing position.
Phase 4: As a result of aggressive marketing campaign during the
previous phase and all the testimonials from the previous participants and educational
institutes we have been arranging classes so far, we expect the intensive simulation
game course for start-ups will be more popular amongst target audiences and we
expect 20 – 30 percent increase in demand comparing to the demand of the year 2018.
In this phase, from January 2019 until the end of December 2020, we will increase the
27
fee from 1,500 baht to 2,000 baht per person. All of the other attributes remain the
same.
Total revenue received per session from the workshops is stated as below figures:
Figure 5.2 Total revenue received per session from the workshop
According to our plan, the frequency of the sessions held in each
period is gradually increasing from 2 sessions per quarter in the first two quarters of
2016 to the maximum 6 sessions per quarter (two sessions per month) in 2020. At the
same time, we will conduct roadshow to the universities and educational institutes to
get visibility in various target groups and be recognized and supported by the
educational centers.
Figure 5.3 Total revenue received per quarter with drilled-down figures
Referring to figure 5.3, total revenue received per quarter with drilled-
down figures, we plan to have 3 sessions per quarter with 40 participants for each
session until the end of 2017 by having the first 2 quarters of 2016 as a test run period
with 2 sessions in each quarter and 30 participants in each session. According to our
28
marketing campaign and emphasis on acquiring more prospects in 2017 and 2018, we
will be more exposed to the customers thus gain more numbers of participants in each
session, resulting in expanding class capacity from 50 to 60 in year 2019 and 2020.
The number of participants in total for year 2016 will be 300,
and will be increased to 480 in 2017. In 2018, we plan to do aggressive marketing
campaigns and roadshows, and at the same time increasing the size of participants in
each workshop as described. As a result, we will get the total number of 1,000
participants for the year 2018 as we set our goal to be. From 2019 onwards, we will
be exceeding our goal of training 1,000 entrepreneurs to be 1,200 and 1,440
respectively.
5.2.2 Revenues from product sales
We plan to patent our original board games for business education
and then commercialize them as products. Regarding our observation and analysis, we
have set up our price to match with existing board games in the same category, for
example, at the same level as Cash Flow or GoVenture – Entrepreneur board game,
excluding shipping cost. Thailand will be the first area we launch our product to, with
the advantages of being visible around educational institutes for the campaigns and
roadshows we plan to do. South-East Asia will be our next target area as we will be
shipping overseas in the future.
Total projected revenue for board game sales could be found in
Figure 5.4 Total Revenue from board game sales. Regarding the patenting process,
the registered patent is going to be pending for six months so we expect to be
completing the process within 2016, start manufacturing and managing the sales and
distribution channel to be ready for selling by the end of the first half of the year
2017.
In terms of sales for board games, we expect to sell 200 sets of
board games in the second half of 2017 and increase our sales to 500 in 2018 while
having the second board game registered for patenting process. Due to the aggressive
marketing campaigns that we will use through several communication channels
during the year 2018, we expect that the total sales of 2 board games will be
increasing to 1,000 sets in 2019 and become 2,500 sets in 2020.
29
Figure 5.4 Total Revenue from board game sales
Thus, the projected revenues from above could be concluded for the
next five years as the followings:
Figure 5.5 Total revenue for overall BizCat’s products and services
5.3 Expenses
BizCat’s expenses are accounted mainly for the workshop venue’s rental,
stationeries, advertisements and administrative overhead. We, as a two-person team,
will be speakers and running the workshop with a help from a temporary staff that we
hire to help facilitate the workshop when required. Budgets for speakers are set to be
5,000 baht for half-day workshops and 10,000 baht for full-day workshops. Marketing
cost for roadshow and online marketing during the year 2018 will be drastically
increased comparing to the other years due to our plan to aggressively increase our
awareness and spreading out our reputations and testimonials from the past up to the
date.
30
Our plan to reduce cost will be based on the agreement we could make
with the owner of the place that we use to hold workshops. If we are certain that the
location is good enough for a long-term agreement to be made, we will negotiate for a
better price.
The projected expense for BizCat workshops during 2016 – 2020 is
shown below:
Figure 5.6 Cost Structure for workshop (5 years)
On the other side, cost structure for crafting one board game set consists
of the following parts (outsourced to a factory to manage all the overhead so this cost
already included direct material and labor cost):
31
Figure 5.7 Cost structure for board game manufacturing
The projected COGS for BizCat board game during 2016 – 2020 is shown
below with 15% cost reduction for year 2018 and 5% more in 2019 and 2020 as a
benefit from economy of scales:
Figure 5.8 COGS for board game production (5 years)
Other selling and administrative costs such as patent registration will be
added into the financial projection in the next section.
5.4 Financial Projection
In total, BizCat’s financial projection can be calculated as in Figure 5.9
Annual Projected Income Statementfor 2016 – 2020 (5 years). In 2016, we plan to
patent our first game – Ocean game and produce the first batch of 300 original board
Material Amount Total cost (baht)Blank Square Mat 6 136.01Business Deck (21 cards) 2 113.40Game Box 1 150.00Dice 1 12.30Token 10 60.00Cash (100z) [25 bills] 1 9.03Cash (50z) [25 bills] 1 9.03Cash (20z) [25 bills] 1 9.03Cash (10z) [25 bills] 2 18.06Cash (5z) [25 bills] 2 18.06Cash (1z) [25 bills] 2 18.06
Total 552.98
32
game box sets to sell starting from 2017 onwards. The expected sales for the year
2017 is 200 box sets due to the fact that the game is new to the market and may not
catch much attention from the gamers and entrepreneurs. However, in the upcoming
year of 2018, aggressive marketing campaigns will be emphasized to acquire more
new customers so that the projected sales for the year 2018 is estimated progressively
as 500 box sets by the end of financial year.
The next step for the plan is to patent the second original board game
by the end of 2018 in order to be able to sell in 2019 and 2020. The third board game
will then be patented and ready to be commercialized by the beginning of year 2021
according to the plan.
33
Figure 5.9 Annual Projected Income Statement for 2016 - 2020 (5 years)
34
5.5 Cash Flows
We will not be investing in Fixed Assets since we are mainly service
provider and not a producer. All of the work that need investment in Fixed Assets will
be outsourced and the cost will be included into the cost of goods sold. Therefore, our
projected cash flows for the year 2016 – 2020 can be shown as followings:
Figure 5.10 Cash Flow from operation (5 years)
5.6 Balance Sheet
We will inject 250,000 baht as an initial investment for the workshop
to be held. By the end of Q3/2016, we should be able to use the profit from holding
workshop as investment for board game production in preparation for the sales.
35
Figure 5.11 Balance Sheet for 2016 - 2020 (5 years)
5.7 Financial Ratios and Summary
Since the policy of BizCat is to raise fund internally only through equity
injection and earnings are retained for future growth, both short-term and long-term
debt are not required. In the other words, current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash
flows to current debts ratio will not be taken into account as a result of zero debt. We
sell products and services in a pre-paid manner, so there will be no Account
Receivables incurred in our financial plan neither. However, in the upcoming future if
we are scaling up and credit trade is required, we will consider adjusting our financial
plan accordingly.
36
5.7.1 Inventory Turnover and Days of Inventory
Inventory Turnover for board game box sets is starting to take place
from year 2017 onwards with 0.57 times at the beginning and it will sell faster at 1.39
times in 2018 due to the increase of awareness and advertisement and become 2.73
times in 2020. The days of inventory are decreased over times since we need to
manufacture the product in batches which require as high number of boxes as possible
to reduce the cost for each box to the point where we get the highest margin.
Figure 5.12 Inventory turnover and days of inventory (5 years)
5.7.2 Operating Income to sales
Operating income to sales is projected to be approximately 13.07%
in 2016, and will be increasing gradually to 36.36%, 59.16%, 73.18% and 73.02%
respectively. The ratio at the end of the year 2020 is decreased from the year 2019 due
to the reason that board game sales almost take precedence over workshop sales and
will still be increasing, where the workshop sales growth is likely to maintain its sales
at this level and cease to expand for a while. However, the board game sales come
with cost of manufacturing so the percentage does not show as high as the previous
37
year. If we are to consider only the revenues, the year 2020 is still at a better position
than the year 2019.
Figure 5.13 Operating Income to sales for 2016 – 2020 (5 years)
5.7.3 Gross Profit Margin
Gross profit margin overall will be 75.09% by the end of 2020,
which gets a bit lower than the previous year due to the same factors as described in
the previous section.
Figure 5.14 Gross profit margin for 2016 – 2020 (5 years)
5.7.4 Net Profit Margin
Net profit margin is projected to be 58.42% by the end of 2020 and
the 5 years figures are shown below:
Figure 5.15 Net profit margin for 2016 – 2020
38
5.7.5 Net Present Value (NPV)
With the cost of capital of 15%, BizCat’s NPV is calculated to be
3,601,005.51 baht as shown below:
Figure 5.16 Net Present Value calculation for 2016 – 2020 (5 years)
5.7.6 Return on Assets (RoA) and Return on Equity (RoE)
The return on assets and return on equity are stated below:
Figure 5.17 RoA / RoE calculation for 2016 – 2020 (5 years)
In conclusion, during the first year of the project (2016), the return on
investment is quite low as it is still in an early stage where we rely on workshop sales
only. Moreover, the year 2016 is when we start manufacturing the first batch of board
game box sets with no revenue from product sales so we gain low profit comparing to
the rest years where we gradually keep up with the sales and profit.
Outsourcing the manufacturing of board game box sets is a wise choice
since we do not have any expertise in producing these elements and we could control
39
the cost to some extent by the use of economy of scales which has its downside as a
need to order in a big batch to get reasonable price.
40
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application of gamification in creating real life interactive simulation
game and applying it to training related to the specific entrepreneur skills such as
opportunity analysis is a new approach to training.
BizCat aims to engage players and increase their learning experience
through the use of interactive simulation game in teaching entrepreneurs the crucial
skills of idea generation and idea validation. The goal is to motivate players’ learning
by creating the environment of competition, making the players strive for
achievements, and needs for self-expression, altruism and closure. Our first startup
simulation game, ‘Blue Ocean’ which focuses on the topic of opportunity thesis had
me us realize that there are yet many aspects of game-based learning to be considered
when teaching through the use of game. One limitation is perhaps the different
learning needs of each student and lack of depth as well as limited realism.
Overall, to compete with competitors, the simulation game must provide
concept of competition, challenge level, mystery and yet must have the aspect of
realism that the players can relate to. Interactions should be encouraged by the use of
competition in the same market keeping the game exciting with something new and
continuous thinking of situation interpretation and decision making.
41
REFERENCES
Electronic Media
1. Adkins, S. (2014). The 2013-2018 Worldwide Game-based Learning and
Simulation-based Markets Key Findings. Ambient Insight Research.
2. Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for
learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of educational
objectives: Complete edition, New York : Longman. 3. Arnab, S., Lim, T., Carvalho, M. B., Bellotti, F., de Freitas, S., Louchart, S.,
Suttie, N., Berta, R., & De Gloria, A. (2015). Mapping learning and game mechanics
for serious games analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(2), 391-
411. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12113
4. Catalano, C. E., Luccini, A. M., & Mortara, M. (2014). Best Practices for an
Effective Design and Evaluation of Serious Games. International Journal of Serious
Games, 1(1). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v1i1.8
5. Cauflied, C., Maj, S.P., Xia, J., & Veal, D. (2012). Shall We Play a Game?
Modern Applied Science, 6, (1), 2-16.
6. Kolb, Rubin and Osland (1991). Organizational Behavior: An Experiential
Approach, 5th Edition.Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
7. Singer, S., Amoros, J. E., & Moska, D. (2015). GEM 2014 Global Report (G.
E. R. Association, Trans.). London, United Kingdom: Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor.
42
APPENDICES
43
APPENDIX A
OCEAN GAME PRE TEST AND POST TEST QUESTIONNAIRE
1. List the stages in the industry life.
(A)_________________________________________
(B)__________________________________________
(C)__________________________________________
(D)__________________________________________
2. What are the characteristics of the mature market stage?
(A) New to the market, slow growth, high price and high risk
(B) Rapidly increasing demand, low competition and improving profitability
(C) Little or no growth with high barriers to entry
(D) Negative growth, high competition, and excess capacity
3. Which market stage is attractive to start business / invest in?
(A) Introduction & Development
(B) Growth
(C) Maturity
(D) Decline
4. In a pure competitive environment (price war), a firm has
(A) No control over pricing
(B) Some control over pricing
(C) A great deal of control over pricing
(D) Depends on the product
5. Why is it important to understand the marketplace of your business?
(A) To identify gap in the market and create a niche
(B) To understand what the competitors are doing and be different
(C) To understand the customer’s wants and needs
(D) All of the above.
44
6. What is/are the effect(s) of competitors in the market?
(A) Lower sales
(B) Few customers
(C) Price discrimination
(D) All of the above
7. What are the characteristics of high barrier to entry markets?
(A) Few players in the market
(B) Low profitability
(C) Easy to enter
(D Common product
8. The solution to price competition is to develop a differentiated
(A)Product and price
(B) Promotion and package
(C) Package and label
(D) Offer and delivery
9. Why is Blue Ocean more attractive than Red Ocean?
(A) Because Blue Ocean is at the maturity stage
(B) Because Blue Ocean is the market of common products
(C) Because Blue Ocean has fewer competitors
(D)Because Blue Ocean has more competitors
10. Blue Ocean Strategy
(A)Creates contested market space
(B) Makes competition relevant
(C) Creates and captures new demand
(D) Offers lower price to attract customers
45
APPENDIX B
EXPLORATION SURVEY
1. How much time do you spend in a week to search for business ideas that you
are interested in? o Less than 1 hour o 1 – 3 hours o 3 – 6 hours o More than 6 hours
2. How much time do you spend in a week to research about market and its
competition? o Less than 1 hour o 1 – 3 hours o 3 – 6 hours o More than 6 hours
3. How frequent you spend time reading and refreshing yourself with business
news? o Everyday o 3 – 5 times per week o 2 times per week o Once a week o Once in a while
4. How many people you talked to in order to gain more understanding and
insights of the most recent problem or idea you are working on? o Never o 1 – 2 people so far o 3 – 5 people so far o 6 – 8 people so far o More than 8 people so far
5. For a problem you choose to work on, how many solutions you could think
of? o Definitely one o 2 – 3 options o 4 – 5 options o More than 5
46
6. Would you like to start your own business, and when?
o Yes, I have already started! o Yes, I will be going to start within 3 months o Yes, I will start within this year o Yes, I will start in 2 years o Yes, but still don’t know when o No, I don’t want to start a business soon
47
APPENDIX C
SESSION FEEDBACK Simulation Game (Rank 1-5 with 1 being the lowest score and 5 the highest
score)
The game was fun and enjoyable. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game improved my understanding about the topic. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game made me feel more engaged and competitive. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game allowed to me to identify opportunities. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game made me comfortable in taking risks. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game allowed me to identify the mistakes I make during the game. (1) (2)
(3) (4) (5)
The game motivated me to develop new ideas. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The game motivated me to develop strategies to solve the problems I face. (1) (2)
(3) (4) (5)
The instructions of the game were clear. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The deliverables of the game were clear. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Score of the game overall… (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
What did you learn from the session today?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
How would you link and apply your learning today with real life situations?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
What did you like during the session today?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
48
What should be improved for the better understanding about the session?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Would you be interested in joining the next session? Why or why not.
( ) Yes __________________________________________________
( ) No ______________________________________________________
What topics would you like to learn about? (You can choose more than one)
( ) Marketing Analysis
( ) Idea Generation
( ) Researching
( ) Prototyping
( ) Shaping Business Model
( ) Other, please specify ______________________
Would you like to receive news and update about the future sessions?
( ) Yes
( ) No
If yes, please provide your email address.
____________________________________________________________________
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APPENDIX D
RETAIN RUBRIC
50
BIOGRAPHY
Name Mr. Ratana Ratanakul
Date of Birth June 2, 1986
Educational Attainment
Work Position
Academic Year 2007: Bachelor of
Engineering, Chulalongkorn
University, Thailand
SAP SD Consultant
PTT ICT Solutions Co., Ltd.
Work Experiences 2008 – 2014: SAP SD Analyst,
ExxonMobil Ltd.