Executive Decision

The Business Management Game

3M Company – 1971 – 2-6 Players

Executive Decision is another of the 3M company’s business simulation games. In it, the players represent the heads of large corporations. On each turn, the players make bids for quantities of “raw materials” (Standard, Fine and Extra Fine) and determine how many units of each “product” (A, B and C) they intend to produce. The price they pay for raw materials and the amount they receive for their products fluctuates according to rules of supply and demand. After a predetermined number of turns the game ends and the player who has made the most profit wins.

As a business simulation the game is quite abstract and simplified. Different products require different combinations of raw materials but the number of types of raw materials and possible products are limited. The only factor which affects price is supply and demand and the only influences there are the players themselves. No outside influences or competition exist. By leaving out the question of customer acceptance (for example) the game model is simplified but as any business knows it is possible to produce a product that no one wants to buy even with no competition. The game is a fairly interesting economic simulation as it is but the simplifications made make it less realistic than it would like you to believe.