The Hindu Business Line : `Bizsimulation' tool for CEO aspirants

Participants will run simulated companies for eight virtual years, taking care of the all important components such as marketing, finance, inventory management and human resources. The virtual years can be days, weeks or months. Participants can fix the time frame to suit their needs.

Hyderabad , March 7

THEY make astronauts and pilots undergo rigorous simulation exercises, giving them hands-on experience, and in the bargain, save a lot of time and resources. How about making CEO aspirants go through a similar simulation programme rigour to help them gear up for real experience?

Capstone, a dynamic simulation solution developed by the US-based Management Simulations, plans to precisely do this. It is being introduced in India through sansRisk Credit Solutions Private Limited as a low-cost content-rich simulation tool to the business houses and management institutes.

A well-accepted tool in the US, Capstone architecture is built on the premise that people learn best by doing, Mr Dharam Pal, Managing Director of sansRisk Credit Solutions, told Business Line.

Claimed to have a market share of 72 per cent in the US, the product is used by several Fortune 500 companies and universities.

"Participants will run simulated companies for eight virtual years, taking care of the all important components such as marketing, finance, inventory management and human resources. The virtual years can be days, weeks or months. Participants can fix the time frame to suit their needs," he said.

"The beauty of the product is that each of the six-member team will acquire a holistic approach towards the company as they form teams to manage simulated corporations and change their roles," he said.

"In real life, companies cannot afford to provide such kind of experience," he said.

According to him, a holistic simulation, integrates various functions of the business.

This is not all. "They need to upload their carefully chalked out business strategies at the end of each round to a professor representing the solution provider. The professor would intercept them online whenever he feels it necessary "to make their life miserable."

The simulation solution, which is delivered online, is preceded by a pre-simulation briefing session.

Mr Dharam is talking to business houses and management institutions in India to showcase the product. "We have got firm commitments from a good number of corporates and academic institutes," he said.