The general management business game for universities and business schools
MARGA makes management tangible!
MARGA for Students is an open online business game competition: each team competes directly with teams from other degree programs and universities. Teams from different universities and degree courses (with up to six students per team) manage their own virtual company, develop strategies and implement them operationally.
Over a total of seven periods, the aim is to develop products, position them on the market and sell them. Learning videos with live Q&A sessions after each game period and the Online Course “Financial Basics” create a theoretical basis and provide a link to the content of the business game. MARGA for Students is available in English and German.
Are you interested
in our MARGA
business game?
Book a free online meeting now. We are always there for you personally and will be happy to consult you.
A selection of our customers
The program at
a glance
Target group: Students (first degree, i.e. bachelor and master degree) of business and economics, etc.
Next date winter term: October 28 – December 19, 2024
Next date summer term: April 28 – June 18 2025, registration deadline April, 2025
Total workload: approx. 45 hours (flexible planning) over a period of 8 weeks
Price: 740 € per Team (up to six persons).
Implementation: MARGA offers a full-service package including organization and communication (no licence); the program runs online in German and Englisch
Technology: Online access via standard browser (no additional software installation required)
Your option: The learning content can be questioned in a final oral or written exam. We will provide you with possible questions and answers.
Award: In 2024, MARGA for Students was awarded the Comenius EduMedia Seal and the Comenius EduMedia Medal.
Learning objectives
Students steer their own virtual company and put their managerial knowledge and skills into practice.
- Deepen and apply managerial topics
- Align all company divisions and functions
- Make substantial corporate decisions and discover the role of managers
- Develop entrepreneurial thinking and acting
- Discover management as team work
Our trial offer: New customers can register their first team free of charge.
Learning contents
From targets via corporate strategy to sustainable returns: Students manage the whole corporate process. Thus, MARGA offers a unique knowledge transfer to entrepreneurial thinking and acting.
- Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion
- Competitive strategies: Cost Leadership, Differentiation, Focus (Niche)
- Portfolio Management: Cash cows, Dogs, Question marks, Stars
- Production planning and capacity management
- Investment planning
- HR management
- Procurement and logistics
- Make-or-buy decisions
- Internal and external financing, equity and debt financing
- Management of receiveables and accounts payable
- Value-based Management
- Financial reports: Balance sheet, Income statement, Cashflow statement, Segment reporting
- Cost accounting: Full costing, Direct costing
- KPIs – Profitability, Liquidity, Financing, Asset structure
- Foreign currency/Hedging
- Organization and interaction in a team
- Self-organization
- Communication skills
- Virtual teamwork
- Project management
The competition in 2 minutes
What our customers say
What I particularly appreciate about ‘MARGA for Students’ is the comprehensive service. I divided my students into teams and registered them for the competition. From then on, MARGA did the technical set-up and handled communication with the participants. At the submission deadlines, I was always informed about the current content focus and the ranking of my teams. My students received exemplary support from MARGA and learned a lot from a different event format and the broader perspective outside the university.
Prof. Dr. Jochen Zimmermann
Dean of the Department of Economics,
University of Bremen
What we enjoyed most about MARGA was the unique opportunity to put our knowledge about management to the test without taking real risks. To understand the impact of decisions on different figures and economic interrelations was the foundation to react flexible and preciously on changing market conditions.
Nils Kohrn
Participant, Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster
MARGA has enabled us to develop a well-rounded understanding of the synergetic links between business operations within a company. What we liked most was the opportunity to simulate the company‘s decision-making process without taking the real-life risks.
Participating team
RISEBA University of Applied Sciences,
Latvia
It was exciting to see how the companies developed completely differently within their respective market environments from an identical starting position. This made the students very aware of the dependence of entrepreneurial success on the respective decisions of people in a specific industry and the dynamics of competition. Successful management was experienced as a team task. The learning objectives were all achieved. Many thanks to the whole Marga team. I also found the personal time commitment and your willingness to help very impressive. One hour before the final submission, an individual Q&A session was held again at the request of one of the teams. Great!
Prof. Dr. Bernd Wieberneit
Professorship for Investment and Asset Management of Real Estate
Hochschule RheinMain
Your benefits with MARGA
High flexibility
Participation is exclusively online and can take place regardless of location and time. There are fixed deadlines for the individual decision-making periods in the simulation. In between, the students are completely flexible in their working hours.
Learning by Doing
The students learn independently by actively leading their own virtual company. Learned contents are applied and repeated over several periods which leads to a sustainable learning effect.
Game-based Learning
The participants develop a feeling for the interaction of the various corporate divisions and functions in a playful manner. The competitive nature of the business game ensures interactive and motivated learning.
Real scenario
The MARGA business simulation uses current scenarios which are closely related to real economic events and developments.
Individual tutoring
MARGA experts provide support during the self-directed online phases for content-related and organizational questions on two days of the week.
Strong partners
With ESMT Berlin and Handelsblatt Media Group, we have two strong partners at our side who stand for scientific content and economic topicality.
Customized business games
We develop flexible programs for you in the following formats: face-to-face, online or blended learning. In doing so, we are guided by your organizational framework.
Standard adaptions
The aim is to address company-specific topics and special features in the program or to set content priorities. We take learning content from the business simulation and establish a concrete link to your degree program.
Individual adaptions
If you would like to make further adjustments to the simulation, we will be happy to develop a business game with an individual scenario, specific market environment or individual key figure systems.
Download further information
Time schedule winter term 2024/25
PDF 128 KBTime schedule summer term 2025
JPEG 505 KBFactsheet MARGA for Students
PDF 4 MB
Registration MARGA for Students
Conditions:
- The participation fee per team is 740 euros plus VAT.
- Each team consists of up to six people.
- New customers can register their first team for the program free of charge.
