Vodafone is the world's largest telecommunications company for mobile telephony. The successful and internationally oriented company distinguishes itself by a very open and informal culture which aims to stimulate, inspire and challenge people. This culture is also expressed in the Management Development trajectory and in particular in the choice to include a management simulation in the MD programme.

Since 2003 Simenco has done its bit for Vodafone's success in the Netherlands and since 2004 for Vodafone D2 in Germany too. We deliver and support a simulation-based learning programme for the Business Management Course and the Young Talent programme. The teaching objectives are:

The training lasts for 6 months, and the management simulation plays an integrating role. The simulation is offered in a blended form, where kick-off and the intermediate and final evaluations are ‘live’ events. At the end of the programme the Vodafone Business Challenge Award is handed to the best team.

The teaching goals for our part of this programme are:

• Making decisions in uncertainty.
• Knowing the implications of those decisions for the company from an operational and strategic perspective.
• Gain insight into the interdependency of 5 management disciplines: marketing & sales, operations, research and development, finance and human resources.
• Understanding the importance of teamwork for efficient decision making.

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