What challenges does supply chain management face in an era of massive resource shortages, skyrocketing raw material prices, and increasing supply risks? Economists and environmental scientists have long been advocating for a shift towards a circular, resource-efficient economic model. Students specializing in “Supply Chain Innovations” are delving into this topic and many other questions. Alongside the course “SI.2 Sustainable Supply Chain Management,” they have been using the business simulation The Blue Connection (TBC). Read more.
In this simulation, students manage their own virtual company, the e-bike manufacturer The Blue Connection. They form a management team consisting of departments such as Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance, and Sales. The scenario is as follows: due to the increased demand from customers for sustainable products, the e-bike manufacturer must convert its linear value chain into a circular one. Participants experience the transformation from a linear (“Take – Make – Consume – Dispose”) to a circular supply chain, learning about the strategic and tactical decisions a company must make. Various circular economy strategies, such as maintenance, repair, refurbishment, component remanufacturing, and recycling, are applied.
“Circularity offers new opportunities for developing a more sustainable economic growth model and is gaining importance worldwide. In this course, students learn how to lead and build a sustainable business by incorporating circular economy concepts into their corporate strategy. Individual decisions have a much larger impact on the entire process than one might think. Everything in the supply chain is interconnected, like a large clockwork,” says Andrea Walbert, Managing Partner of PMI, faculty lecturer, and seminar leader. “The simulation game ‘The Blue Connection’ enables participants to set up a circular business model and forecast both the monetary and sustainable impacts for the future. Regular result evaluations show the teams the correlations and impacts of their decisions on their company and all involved processes.”
This semester, all teams once again succeeded in improving the operating results of “their” company while establishing a circular supply chain. Importantly, all student teams compete over two days, with the team having the best circular economy strategy, highest Return-on-Investment (ROI), and Return-on-Material (ROM) emerging victorious.
“It was impressive to see how quickly the students grasped the complex interrelationships of the circular economy and developed innovative solutions. This simulation clearly demonstrated the importance of sustainable business models for the future.”
Next week, the one-day event “Young Professionals Challenge” will take place in Hamburg. Teams from various companies will compete to learn, measure their skills, and network.
