Published: 2017-01-31

Can a game help you learn managerial skills? Noel and his classmates are working together with Celemi, and with the support of Handelskammaren to make this happen.

Noel Laporte.

Noel Laporte is studying the Master’s in Management at Lund University School of Economics and Management. This will be the inaugural year of an annual management competition – Managerial Master – a non-profit event aimed at raising funds for scholarships for a non-EU students. 

Hi Noel! First of all – what is Managerial Master?

“It is a management championship, where companies will be playing Celemi’s business simulation games, an unique method to guide organizations towards higher performance. These games use learning experiences to recreate workplace or operational environments, making it possible to practice real-world situations without risking real-life business”.

How do you make this happen?

“It is up to our class to 'manage' event planning, logistics, finances, sales, marketing, press relations, and document all learnings. To accomplish this wide scope of responsibilities we have divided our class into functional groups of sales, finance, marketing and PR, implementation, and hand-over teams. Each group sets their own tasks holding weekly meetings to ensure priorities are set and goals are accomplished. From these groups, representatives work directly with Celemi to assist guiding and streamlining efforts.

During the first semester at the programme I have learned a tremendous deal from our diverse and intelligent classmates, a wide-range of topics covered in the course, the unique and varying perspectives of our lecturers, and through self-reflection. Everyone in the class has an academic background other than business and economics. I for example, am an international student from Palo Alto, California. As an undergraduate, I studied microbiology and immunology aiming at a career in biotechnology. After working in a stem cell research lab at Stanford University, I switched my focus to the technology sector, focusing specifically on startups and software development”.

Why should local companies participate?

“It is a fun learning and networking opportunity, while also gaining visibility among future talents and enabling you and your company to get to know the latest topics in management being taught. It will be an informal occasion to compete with industry peers from the Skåne region, but in a different type of competitive event that you perhaps are used to, with room for trial and error, creating a great team building environment.

This Managerial Master is a non-profit event aimed at raising funds for scholarships for non-EU students who want to study the Master’s in Management. And yes, we have a surprise prize for the winning team!”