Tag: Beer Game



How does the bullwhip effect impact business? Fifteen Kansas City companies learned  via their participation in the largest ever “Beer Game” competition. Olin Business School’s Executive MBA program in Kansas City partnered with KC SmartPort and Boulevard Brewing for the second annual “Beer Game” competition, which tested the teams’ supply chain management skills.

Beer Game Team 2Professor Panos Kouvelis, Emerson Distinguished Professor of Operations and Manufacturing Management at Washington University’s Olin Business School, led the competition with representatives from American Eagle Outfitters, Bartlett & West, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, candid marketing + communications, Demdaco, Hallmark, Newmark Grubb Zimmer, Scarbrough, Sprint, Storage Solutions, U.S. Engineering, the United States Army, and UPS. Additionally, the Kansas City Economic Development Council and the Franklin County Development Council fielded teams from their constituents.

The “Beer Game” is an interactive and experiential learning simulation, allowing participants to experience typical supply chain problems by producing and delivering units of beer via a game format.Beer Game KC 1

“Companies make supply chain tradeoffs daily, and most of the time they are invisible to consumers,” Kouvelis said. “But when we do feel these tradeoffs, they can cause great pain. Small changes in the market create a rather chaotic environment in the supply chain with erratic orders, frequent inventory shortages, and profit loss. “Beer Game” participants experience this bullwhip phenomenon — a real-life situation that both manufacturing and service firms must effectively manage.”

IMG_6392“To meet global demands and remain competitive and opportunistic, businesses need access to the latest information on supply chain management,” said Chris Gutierrez, president of Kansas City SmartPort. “Mastering supply chain management is critical for a wide range of industries based in Kansas City, including engineering, IT, operations-logistics, procurement, and research and development. The ‘Beer Game’ is a unique and entertaining way for business people who are charged with managing numerous parts of the supply chain to gain invaluable strategies from Professor Kouvelis – a global leader in supply chain management.”

Following the “Beer Game” competition where the team from Newmark Grubb and Zimmer took home the gold, participants mingled and networked over Boulevard Beer.

Aligned with its Kansas City-based Executive MBA program, Olin Business School routinely partners with local groups, such as KC SmartPort, to share research-driven knowledge on topics such as entrepreneurship, design thinking and innovation, and leadership. The sixth Kansas City cohort is now forming with classes beginning in April.