A BUSINESS LAW SIMULATION GAME: AMY CHEN v. EAST ASIA IMPORT COMPANY

• Published date: 01 December 2002
• Author: Robert C. Bird
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2002.tb00095.x
• Date: 01 December 2002

A BUSINESS

LAW

SIMULATION

GAME:

AMY

CHEN

v.

EAST ASIA IMPORT

COMPANY

Robert

C.

Bird‘

Simulation games are one

of

the most effective and widely used

instructional

tools

used

in

business teaching.’

A

simulation game’

is

a

sequential decision making exercise structured around

a

model

in

which

participants assume

a

role in managing

a

task.3 The activity involves

two

or more decision-makers

who

seek

an

objective within

a

limiting

c~ntext.~ In sum,

it

is

a simplified situation that contains

a

sufficient

illusion

of

reality to induce real-world responses by

its

participant^.^

*

Assistant Professor

of

Legal Studies, Seton Hall University.

This

teaching case was

selected for presentation at the

2000

Master Teacher Symposium of the Academy

of

Legal

Studies in Business.

Thanks

for comments and support go

to

Dawn Swink, David Fuller,

and the three anonymous reviewers. All

errors

and omissions

are

my own.

For

a

detailed analysis

of

the characteristics, benefits, and challenges

of

simulation

games, see Robert

C.

Bird,

Integrating simulation Games into Business Law Teaching,

19

J.

LEGAL

STUD.

EDUC.

203

(2001).

Others call them “games,”

”simulation games,”

or

use the terms interchangeably. This article will refer

to

the above

variously named activities as “simulation games,” encompassing both terms.

See, e.g.,

Jennifer

L.

Rosato,

All

I

Ever Needed to Know About Teaching Law School

I

Learned

Teaching Kindergarten: Introducing Gaming Techniyues into the Law

School

Classroom,

45

J.

LEGAL

EDUC.

568,

570 (1995)

(circumventing technical distinctions between

simulations and

games).

John

R.

Carson,

Business Games:

A

Technique

for

Teaching Decssion-Making,

49

MANAGEMENT

ACCOUNTING

31,31(1967),

reprinted in,

ROBERT

G.

GRAHAM

&

CLIFFORD

F.

GRAY,

BUSINESS

GAMES

HANDBOOK39 (1969).

CLARKC.

ABT,

SERIOUS

GAMES

6

(1970).

Bernard Keys

&

Joseph

Wolfe,

The Role ofMunagement Games and Simulations in

Education

&

Research,

16

J.

MGMT.

307,307 (1990).

See

also

Edward

A.

Parson,

What Can

You

Learn From a Game?,

in

RICHARD

J.

ZECKHAUSER ET AL., WISE CHOICES:

DECISIONS,

Some scholars call these activities “simulations.”