TEACHING OF SIMULATION AT BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Many business decisions can be ably supported by applications of simulation models of various types, including system dynamics, discrete event, agent based, and Monte Carlo. Many decisions involving large capital investments are made only after the proposed systems have been simulated and the expected return on investment verified using simulation. The applicability of simulation to business decisions would suggest that leading business schools would include teaching of simulation software in their curriculum. While business schools use business simulations extensively in their classes, there appears to be limited interest in teaching how to build such simulations. This paper reports on a survey of teaching of simulation software at leading business school. The prevalence of teaching some simulation types over others and the reasons provided are discussed. Simulation community may want to consider the trends at business schools and the need to influence them.