Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2008
| Gary Gaeth and the University of Iowa Take the Lead in Graduate Use of Marketplace The University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Management has been a long-term friend of Marketplace. It first adopted Marketplace into its EMBA program more than 10 years ago. Gary Gaeth is the Dean of Iowa’s MBA Programs. Under his leadership, it has become a vital component of their MBA degree. In terms of statistics, 380 students are enrolled in Iowa’s MBA, Executive MBA, Professional MBA, and International Executive MBA programs. Every one of them will have the opportunity to experience the Marketplace simulation. We do not believe that any other school has this many MBA students enjoying Marketplace. According to Gary, the major value of Marketplace is in its ability to integrate everything across the different functional areas. It causes the students to realize how these things fit together. He also likes the fact that it focuses on cross-functional business problem solving. Gary said that the simulation is placed in the Sweet Spot in all of Iowa's MBA programs; just after all of the core courses have been completed. At this point, the students have seen all of the pieces, but do not yet see how they all fit together. The simulation provides a dynamic environment to explore this idea of integration. It also makes them recognize that they are not done learning about business yet. Even winning teams realize that they could have made better decisions if they had known more about corporate finance, capital investments, advertising, marketing research, negotiations, etc. Therefore, Marketplace motivates them to delve into the learning opportunities that await them in subsequent specialty courses. Gary feels that the Marketplace is a unique team experience. It is different, both from the work the students do in their own workplace and from other team projects in the MBA program. It creates a shared experience among graduates, especially the popular but stressful VC fair. When the students get back together after graduation, they invariably return to their experience, the competition, their stock price and their firm’s position in the game. This is true even across classes - the students like to talk about the competition. It is a unifying force of the MBA program. And, of course, Gary likes the numbers. In a recent alumni survey, the Graduate Program Office found that his Strategic Management course was the highest rated one in the curriculum. 87% of Iowa’s graduates felt that it had been valuable to their career success, and of these students, 50% felt that it had been extremely valuable.
Marketplace Community Newsletter, issued quarterly. www.marketplace-simulation.com |
back
to top
