Over the remaining 5 weeks of the semester IBA & MGT semester 3 will, from time to time, in their International Business course be involved in a ‘game’ that reflects real life; namely, Any Gains in Trade? Key factors are cost of labor, quantity of goods produced, consumption rates, interest rates, exchange rates, and profit required. The students will, in 3 groups, represent 3 widely different countries as follows:
– SnowLand to represent an advanced nation in the Arctic circle with a midnight sun, with its own currency “Dot”, at the current prevailing exchange rate of Do 129.35/US$1. SnowLand is a parliamentary republic, a socialist country with a socialist economy under the influence of Scandinavian law.
– HiLand to represent a sub-tropical country in the circle of the tropic of Capricorn, with its own currency “Ace”, at the current prevailing exchange rate of Ac 300/US$1. HiLand is a parliamentary republic, a socialist country with a mixed economy system combining socialism & capitalism.
– RainLand to represent a populous country in the world in the circle of the tropic of Cancer, with its own currency “Zip”, at the prevailing exchange rate of Zi 6.65/US$1. RainLand is a communist country with a mixed economy system combining communism & capitalism.
Each country produces chair (to represent a wide range of furniture products), palm oil (to represent a wide range of agricultural products), and clothes (to represent a wide range of textile & garments).
With those same 3 products,
(1) students need to set their selling prices with their own specific details on production costs (wages, shipping/handling charges, conversion rate, consumption rate, interest rate, exchange rate, inflation rate & expatriate premium)
(2) once the selling prices are set, the 3 countries need to start trading (exports and/or imports among nations)
(3) selling prices are noted and their trading balances are noted to evaluate which of the countries are successfully securing the highest revenue or the lowest costs.
In the first session of trading on Thursday, October 19, students must present the details of their assigned country’s specifics, including the flags, the structure, and national anthem. Students definitely enjoyed the first sessions, under the close watchful eyes of Dr. Samuel Prasetya, as the course facilitator, and they cannot wait for the next round of sessions until the end of semester. To successfully participating in this game, additional assistance from IBA & MGT semester 5 are also recruited. Some have been recruited to act as the country’s Advisor, Ministers, Vice President or even President.
The aim is to either generate the maximum amount of revenue, or minimize the costs of production. Every week, there are challenges that students must endure, such as; changes in fiscal/monetary policy, which students must learn the domino effect of the policy and be able to re-calculate their selling prices, including additional products available for sale, such as; tourism destinations, migrations of residents across countries, expertise in design, expertise in mass-production, expertise in quality assurance, and availability of airlines (MiE/SaP).
