Virtual outlets - business gaming for fashion retail operations

58 - 73
Co-authored paper with Salim Jiwa and Arjun Rose, researcher’s contribution 40%.

The paper proceeds from the principle that educators in the HE sector are constantly attempting to bring management education closer to reality but that teaching has generally focuses on two models, specifically the ‘theory of business’ and ‘training in human and resource management skills’. It is argued here that these circumstances mean that the context of learning remains artificial and it is therefore difficult to reproduce the characteristics of practice in the classroom. Through modelling and electronic simulation of the fashion retail environment, Virtual Outlets creates a fashion retail pipeline enabling the game user to consider product buying, merchandising and satisfaction of the consumer proposition through a succession of business cycles. The complexities of planning and decision-making are explored through segmentation analysis, sourcing strategy and forward ordering, store allocation, space planning, pricing policy/markdowns. The game has been used in teaching programmes including management courses at Manchester Metropolitan University. Participants were observed to become quickly conversant with the workings of the game.

This paper draws on preliminary research on gaming and simulation undertaken by the present author into the evaluation of the quality of learning in gaming and simulation. The initial findings were presented at the International Simulation and Gaming Association’s conference in 2002 and published and published in this organisation’s Yearbook. The ‘Virtual Outlets’ paper was presented at the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution conference in July 2004 and subsequently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Information and Operations Management. The research was undertaken in association with Real Time Media Consultants.