FAQs of HR managers about the MARGA Online Competition
Here you will find the most frequently asked questions from recruiters about the MARGA online management game competition and our answers.
FAQs of HR managers about the MARGA Online Competition – and our answers
You are working in the HR department and have questions about the MARGA Online Competition? Here are our precise answers.
The registration deadline is October 31.
The participation fee for the Online Competition is 3,890 € per team (up to six persons). Every fifth team of a company participates free of charge. Our Online Course Financial Basics is an intagral part of the progran for all registered participants. Optionally, you can add an in-house in-class kick-off event (individual prices).
You choose between the languages German and English for each team. According to this language selection, the communication with the MARGA tutors takes place (e.g. e-mails, group-specific web conferences). However, every participant has the possibility to switch between the available languages at any time in the MARGA software. For example, financial reports in different languages can be compared.
After the registration phase, we will start the test round at the beginning of November. The test round consists of two periods and ends with a transfer to the main round by a MARGA tutor via web conference. The main round consists of five periods in total and concludes with a group-specific debriefing via web conference. During the main round there will also be webinars on specific topics that the teams encounter during the business simulation. The final round for the four best teams from the main round consists of five periods in total. Four of these periods will be transmitted in a week-long rhythm and the decisions of the last two period will be made during the live final.
The teams in the Online Competition basically work self-directed. The following offers are available to support them during the test phase:
- Kick-off via web conference
- Tutorial Videos
- Quick Guide
- Service Line
- Online Support
- Tutorial Note
- Webinars
- Learning videos
- Q&A sessions
- Online Course “Financial Basics”
Management Know-how:
- Recognizing managerial coherences
- Reading financial statements
- Understanding corporate accounting
- Implementing competitive strategies
- Creating company value
Soft Skills:
- Team development and virtual collaboration
- Self-organization
- Project management
- Self-directed learning
- Moderation and communication
Just register your teams including the names and e-mail addresses of all team members until October 31. Afterwards, we will coordinate and communicate with the teams and keep you informed about the current phase of the competition and placement of your teams in the overall ranking.
Internal kick-off: The teams get to know each other in advance and you can communicate the expected workload and point out the relevance of the participation in your company.
Show presence: You are welcome to participate in all our online sessions such as kick-off, transfer to the main round or debriefing after the main round.
Show interest: Motivate your teams and optionally forward the overall ranking with a comment. The teams invest a lot of work and are happy about the appreciation of the responsible HR person.
Time Expenditure: You can allocate part of the working time for the Online Competition.
Each team consists of a maximum of six people. The compilation is up to you. If you set up several teams, we recommend heterogeneous teams with members from different functions. This promotes different perspectives and approaches. Virtual teamwork is intensively trained when you network employees from different locations. For intercontinental teams you should consider different time zones.
Should the participants have a specific professional background?
Basically, no prior economic knowledge is required. The business simulation arouses the interest to understand business coherences and to be able to use information from controlling for well-founded decisions. Teams, which consist exclusively of employees without prior economic knowledge, maybe need a more intensive starting phase, but often have the biggest learning effect.
Our newly developed Online Course “Financial Basics” conveys basic business finance and managerial accounting. The online course is an individual training which does not require any prior business knowledge.
During the application time, participants can make use of individual tutoring by experienced experts by telephone or e-mail.
The Online Course is an optimal supplement to the business simulation and especially recommendable during the test round as a preparation for the competition.
Our Board Game Seminar ‘Financial Basics’ conveys basic managerial accounting in a playful and hands-on manner.
Divided into teams, the participants are challenged to actively lead their own organization. In doing so, they literally see (and hear) how their money increases or diminishes on the board, induced through their own corporate decisions. A highly skilled trainer conducts the teams through the entire seminar and above all gives them professional input.
The seminar is especially for individual participants and takes place in English and German language at the same time. In terms of time, the seminar is coordinated with the Online Competition and takes place after the test round.
On average, the teams invest two hours per week It can be assumed that the required time is slightly higher in the beginning compared to later periods. The reason is that the use of the simulation and its software, the organization within the team and the development of a strategy for the main round takes place mainly in the beginning.
All decisions are submitted online via the MARGA software and can be changed as often as required until the respective deadline. The data on the decision day is what counts in the end.
Each team member has its individual login data to access the software. All team members can take all decisions and also overwrite data of the others – so team communication is imperative. For simplification the creation of alternative scenarios is possible.
All participating teams run through the test round and the main round. The result of the test round does not have any impact on the qualification for the final. However, the best four teams of the main round reach the final round. The most important criterion is the ranking within the own group of four companies. Thereafter, the accumulated MARGA Value Added, the central key figure in the business simulation, is crucial. We anounce the top 4 teams during a big, virtual shareholders‘ meeting after the debriefings of the main round took place.