One of the most valuable outcomes from a simulation is soft skills practice. 

Ask any employer what new graduates are missing, and you’ll hear the same answer again and again: soft skills. They’ve got the technical know-how, the Excel formulas, the data analysis, the theory, but many stumble when it comes to communicating clearly, collaborating on a team, or adapting when things don’t go according to plan. 

Business simulations don’t teach soft skills in a step-by-step way. But they require them! And when students engage deeply with a simulation, they get a controlled, challenging environment to practice the very skills they’ll carry into their careers. 

Soft skills are personal attributes and interpersonal abilities (often called “people skills”) that shape how well someone works with others and performs on the job. Unlike hard skills, which are technical and job-specific, soft skills transfer across industries and roles. Whether you’re running a startup, managing a project, or climbing the corporate ladder, these skills are the foundation for success. 

1. Communication: Teammates have to make their case to each other and to their instructor as they justify their decisions. Explaining why your team adjusted its pricing strategy or expanded into a new market builds clarity and confidence. It might seem obvious but most businesses struggle with communication. Our simulations provide students a regular, periodic opportunity to practice communicating their thoughts and ideas.   

2. Teamwork: If students learn nothing else, they will learn what it takes to function as a team (both positively and negatively). Simulations make that unavoidable. The workload is often too much for one person, so dividing responsibilities and trusting your teammates becomes essential. Collaboration often means better outcomes. 

3. Adaptability: Students face uncertainty in our simulations. Market share drops. Competitors launch new products. Customer preferences shift overnight. These force students to pivot quickly and adjust their strategies. Adaptability is the difference between surviving and winning. 

4. Problem-Solving: Every decision round presents a new challenge. Should you increase marketing spend or hold steady? Adjust your price? Invest in new technology or double down on operations? Students sharpen their ability to analyze information, weigh trade-offs, and take action.

5. Leadership: Ever been on a team where no one wants to make the call? Simulations surface leadership moments fast! Each team has a leader responsible for finalizing decisions, but true leadership isn’t about titles. It’s about guiding discussions, building consensus, and standing by the plan when the pressure rises.

6. Work Ethic: Winning teams aren’t just lucky (most of the time!), they need to put in the hours. Students quickly discover that success requires digging into the materials, running the numbers, and showing up for their team. And just as important, they learn what happens when someone doesn’t pull their weight.

7. Time Management: Simulations are fun. Sometimes too fun. Students can easily spend hours analyzing every line of data. Time management becomes critical, balancing the need for deep analysis with the reality of other classes, projects, and life commitments. 

While simulations create the environment for soft skills to grow, instructors can amplify the experience by: 

Want to make soft skills even more visible? Try these classroom ideas: 

Business simulations aren’t just about numbers and strategy. They’re about people and how they work, lead, and adapt together. By engaging in simulations, students don’t just understand business concepts better; they get to practice the skills that will make them more effective in the workplace, long after the simulation ends. 

Author: Tim Sams
Director of Marketing for Interpretive Simulations.

Business simulations are often associated with live classrooms involving group decisions, instructor guidance, and real-time discussions. But what happens when they are used in asynchronous online courses, where students don’t meet live and instructors aren’t walking through the results with them in real time?

At the University of the Cumberlands, Professors Maeghen  Kuhn and Stephanie Thacker are proving it can work, and work well.

Kuhn and Thacker teach fully asynchronous business courses, meaning students work through materials independently, on their own schedule, without live sessions. In that environment, simulations like BizCafe, HRManagement, and CountryManager offer a hands-on learning opportunity where students make decisions, see the outcomes, and reflect on what happened. And all of this happens without real-time instructor input or group work.

“We run on eight-week terms, totally asynchronous, all folders open,” Kuhn explains. It’s backed by a thoughtful approach to course design.

“You have to evaluate all the content in the course,” Kuhn says. “To decide where you want [the simulation], when you want it, and how much. It’s all different puzzle pieces… what assignment do I prepare this with? Do I want them doing a reflection? A huge project at the end? Weekly quizzes?”

The point, she says, is not to just add more content but to integrate the simulation meaningfully.

In a synchronous classroom, students might rely on live feedback or peer discussion to gauge how they’re doing. In an asynchronous simulation-based course, instructors need to build in other ways to help students process what’s happening and why.

That’s where feedback and reflection come in.

Thacker explains: “I always tell my students, it is a learning opportunity. This is where you’re going to learn more by failing in this safe space… I go in and give detailed feedback, these are some things that you need to be looking at for the next rounds.”

The instructors aren’t grading students on how well they “performed” in the simulation, but on what they learn from it.

“We assess on what they learn in the simulation,” says Kuhn, “not how they did in the simulation. We grade based on completion of the simulation and then reflecting upon what they do.”

Reflection is key and it’s one of the most important ways to keep students engaged in an asynchronous course.

As Thacker puts it: “Completion does not mean I sat down for 20 minutes and clicked through and made decisions and that was it… You have to actually put in the work, put in the effort.”

For Kuhn and Thacker, the value of simulations in asynchronous learning is about career preparation. It goes beyond engagement.

“We try to make sure students don’t just have that background knowledge that we can look up on Google or now with AI,” says Thacker. “We want them to have that ability to apply that knowledge… because we know that’s the best way to prepare them.”

That’s especially important in asynchronous settings, where students need to take initiative and think critically without the structure of a live classroom.

Kuhn sums it up: “We do not believe in failing students because they failed the simulation, because that’s the whole point… Most likely, if you’re failing in the simulation and you try again, there’s potential that you will learn more than those that were successful each round every time.”

If you’re an instructor or course designer considering simulations for asynchronous courses, Kuhn and Thacker offer this advice: don’t treat it like a plug-and-play add-on. Simulations work best when treated as a meaningful part of the course. Designing the experience intentionally, framing it as a real-world challenge, and building in time for reflection helps students get the most out of it.

“Don’t just throw it into an already existing course,” says Kuhn. “You’re going to overwork your students, you’re going to overwork yourself, and students just aren’t going to be interested in anything.”

Thacker adds: “Try it before you buy it… You don’t get feedback until students are completing it, and then you’re trying to go through it as they’re going through, and it just doesn’t work.”

Their final word of wisdom?

“You have to be strategic about it,” says Thacker.

The 2025 edition of Foreign Market Entry & Growth features expanded content in Chapters 3 and 7, new cases and assignments, updated data, and enhanced assessment tools. We’ve also revised all instructional resources and added a comprehensive References page to support easier navigation and teaching.

Specifically, here’s a more detailed description of what’s new!

Chapter 3 now includes a new section that explores key shifts in global population trends, including:

These updates help students connect population data to strategic marketing decisions in global contexts.

The content is reinforced with new sidebars, examples, and a realistic look at how culture influences business decisions—not just theoretically, but practically.

Part 2: Internal Cultural Issues (Organizational Culture): The original chapter content—focused on the Seven Tudes and internal alignment—remains intact here, giving instructors the flexibility to approach both external and internal cultural strategy.

We’ve added several new cases and assignments to help students apply what they’re learning to practical scenarios:

These additions are ideal for instructors looking to incorporate a broader range of industries, regions, and strategic challenges.

To give instructors greater flexibility in testing and evaluation, all chapter quizzes have been expanded from 20 to 40 questions each. This makes it easier to randomize quiz content and to customize assessments across sections or semesters.

The final exam has also been updated with two new questions that reflect the new cultural content in Chapter 7A.

Several sections across the eBook have been refreshed with the most recent available data, including:

In addition, all instructional materials—including the Instructor Guide, PowerPoint decks, quizzes, and assignments—have been revised to align with the 2025 edition.

A new References page has also been added, consolidating all sources used across the chapters for easier access by both students and instructors.

Earlier in 2025, CountryManager was also updated! Those changes now include:

The simulation and eBook continue to complement one another, offering a robust experiential learning experience that brings international marketing to life.

The 2025 update to FMEG is designed to reflect where global business is headed—and to help students develop the mindset and tools needed to navigate it. Whether you’ve used FMEG before or are considering adopting it for the first time, we think you’ll find these enhancements both timely and practical.

If you’d like a walkthrough of the new content or help integrating it into your course, we’re here to support you.

When Dr. Michele Yoder, Associate Professor of Strategy at York College of Pennsylvania, starts her capstone strategy course, she knows her students are walking in with a major blind spot

“Students coming into my class have typically spent the last year or two taking classes specific to their majors. So essentially, they’re in their functional silos, and they’re really comfortable there.”

To break them out of those silos and get them thinking like real strategists, she turns to StratSim, Interpretive’s automotive industry simulation. It’s been her go-to tool for years—and with good reason.

One of the most impactful lessons her students take away from the simulation?

“Students are also often surprised what a big impact decisions made by their competitors can have on their firms. So all the data available to students about their firms sometimes lulls them into a false sense of predictability until their competitor launches a better product targeting one of their primary customers. And I think this is a really important lesson for students to experience.”

This kind of uncertainty isn’t a bug—it’s a feature. Dr. Yoder embraces the simulation’s ambiguity as a critical part of the learning process.

“Another challenge, which is intentional, is the ambiguity that students experience. And that’s a challenge I want them to face and deal with. In fact, giving them practice dealing with the ambiguity is one reason I use a simulation.”

Dr. Yoder uses StratSim in her senior undergraduate capstone strategy class, where students manage a simulated auto company across several competitive rounds.

She’s used both the Unique Start and 3+3 scenarios—and sees value in each:

“I’ve been using the Unique Start scenario as opposed to the Even Start scenario because one of the skills I want to work on with students is analyzing a firm’s strengths and weaknesses, its resources and capabilities, then making decisions about its strategy that align with the firm’s unique condition.”

As for the newer 3+3 scenario?

“We really liked the three plus three scenario. For me, I appreciated that it still gives me some uniqueness… but at the same time… gives the students a little more flexibility in their strategies from the outset.”

Dr. Yoder doesn’t rely on simulation performance alone for grading. But when it comes to evaluating how teams are doing inside the sim, she keeps things practical.

“When I’m measuring their performance on the simulation, I use stock price as my primary measure because it’s correlated with a lot of the other metrics like net income. And the simulation results screen… is my go-to place for those measures.”

Her favorite tools within the sim include:

It’s not just about learning how to run a business. It’s about understanding the realities of competitive strategy—and how quickly things can change.

“I can stand in front of the class and tell them over and over again how successful businesses integrate the various functional areas, but it’s not real to them. Until they do the simulation and suddenly they have to manage several different functional areas and get them all pointed in the same direction, ideally guided by their strategy.”

If you’d like to watch this webinar where we walk through interpreting results for best student outcomes, as well as interview with Dr. Yoder, send us an email at simulations@interpretive.com

Find out more about StratSimMarketing

Find out more about StratSimManagement

Dr. Yoder is also the co-author of Teaching Methods in Business: Computer Simulations and Gaming, a practical guide for instructors. It’s a practical guide for business educators looking to boost engagement and learning outcomes through simulations, serious games, and gamification. It covers the theory behind these tools, offers a framework for selecting the right one, and provides step-by-step advice for implementation. Notably, Dr. Yoder contributes a chapter detailing how she integrates the StratSim simulation into her senior strategy course—an invaluable resource for instructors seeking real-world guidance on making simulations work in the classroom.

You can find more about it here: Computer Simulations and Gaming

So, you’ve adopted a business simulation for your course. Now what?

Running the simulation is where the magic really starts to happen. It’s when your students begin making decisions, facing consequences, analyzing outcomes—and ultimately connecting the dots between business concepts and business practice. But how do you guide them without taking the wheel? How do you know they’re on the right track?

This post walks you through best practices for running our sims (with BizCafe as a prime example) to ensure your students get the most from the experience—and you get the most from your time in the classroom.

This is easily the most common question we get from instructors: How do I interpret the results?

The simulation generates a lot of data, and the first instinct for many students (and instructors!) is to zoom in on profitability. That’s important—but it’s not the whole picture.

In BizCafe, for instance, the smarter question is: Are students making informed decisions? Are they investing in awareness and staffing? Are they balancing short-term profit with long-term growth? These are the signs of real learning.

Use the Simulation Results page to compare how teams are doing. Revenue, net income, and customer satisfaction are a solid starting point, but you can also create Weighted Scores that reflect the goals of your course. Just be sure to avoid over-emphasizing one measure (like unit sales), or you risk encouraging students to game the system instead of learning from it.

Pro Tip: Want to see whether a team is really thinking strategically? Look for alignment between their goals, their decisions, and their results over time.

This is where your role as instructor gets interesting. You’re not here to give the “right” answers (there usually isn’t just one!). Instead, think of yourself as a mentor or investor. Offer feedback, ask good questions, and nudge students to think more deeply.

A few examples of coaching without controlling:

These questions spark reflection—and reflection is where learning lives.

Also, expect to use the phrase “It depends.” a lot. Whether they’re wondering if they should hire more staff or raise prices, the answer always hinges on their environment and their strategy. Encourage them to make thoughtful trade-offs, just like they would in the real world.

Remember those learning objectives you built your course around? This is your chance to reinforce them in context.

Every decision your students make in the simulation ties into broader course themes: marketing, operations, finance, leadership. Use the simulation assignments and incident prompts to create a structure that reinforces those topics week by week. And don’t forget the instructor manual—it’s packed with ready-to-go assignments, slides, and teaching notes that align beautifully with course content.

Also, consider how you assess student learning. The simulation offers quizzes, team assignments, peer evaluations, and more to help you balance individual and team performance fairly.

The simulation is also a diagnostic tool in a limited way. When you see a team flailing—unusual income statements, wild decision swings, or stagnant customer satisfaction—it’s time for a check-in.

Hold quick strategy meetings with underperforming teams. Ask:

This isn’t just about fixing performance; it’s about giving students a second chance to reflect and improve.

Bonus Tip: Midway through the simulation, use the online peer evaluation. It helps uncover team dynamics issues before they become unmanageable.

Simulations are fun—and they should be! But if students approach them like a game without reflecting on the business concepts behind their decisions, the learning gets lost.

Encourage them to download results, study trends, and discuss strategy with their team before hitting finishing their decisions. Ask them to explain what happened—not just what they did.

Assign deliverables like a Business Plan, Forecasting Report, or Management Audit to keep them engaged in structured reflection.

The most powerful thing about business simulations like BizCafe is how they connect theory with action. Students aren’t just learning about business—they’re learning how to do it.

By interpreting results wisely, coaching strategically, tying decisions to learning outcomes, and stepping in when needed, you’ll help your students get the most out of this experience.

And of course, we’re here to help. If you ever need support running the simulation, reach out to your Interpretive contact or email us at support@interpretive.com. We’ve got your back.