UNIBO The Laboratory for Enterprise Simulation

Prof. Daniele Gualdi
Università degli Studi di Bologna
Docente del corso di Simulimpresa
Bologna 15 aprile 2014
DepliantENG17_10_2012
erting
The Laboratory for Enterprise
Simulation in Forlì and the performance
of Perting Ltd
FF
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2001 -2014
Project “Collaborative Reformation of Curricula on
Resilience Management with Intelligent Systems in Open
Source and Augmented Reality”. (RESINT)
540096-LLP-1-2013-1-IT-ERASMUS-EKA
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In October 2001, with the creation of Perting
Ltd Simulated Enterprise was launched the
activity of Simulated Enterprise Laboratory in
connection to the course of Business
Management (Prof. Massimo Bianchi),
Simulimpresa was created to
overcome the limits of the
traditional teacher-student
dialectic and to try to anchor
knowledge by engaging
students in more active roles
It is required to learn not only knowledge, but
know-how and practical skills. It is important
to develop the ability to work in groups,
problem solving, effectively communication,
and the ability to orientate in increasingly
complex contexts which are constantly
changing and characterized by great
unpredictability.
Our goal is the development of
skills that are directly targeted at
rapid and easy integration into
the job world
It is a shared opinion that it is necessary to widen
the sphere of students’ knowledge and skills by
introducing a new type of learning in University
career. This could accompany the traditional
methods founded upon frontal lecturing, in order
to encourage a more active and participative role
for students.
We believe that learning is much more
effective when it occurs in situations
that simulate reality, that reproduce it
and force students to deal with
problems. Students can rely on the
knowledge they have acquired in
traditional courses, apply
methodologies, and make responsible
management choices.
The Practice firm course aims at
providing direct knowledge of how a
company works through a realistic
reproduction of its management,
administrative and organizational
methods and procedures.
The aim is to increase students’ skills and
knowledge as well as to consolidate their
knowledge of business subjects already
dealt with in other courses.
In this way we can move from a merely
theoretical learning approach to a more
practical and active one.
In the simulation of a business, students are
required to actively participate in the
company activities. They are required to be
responsible for them by playing a central role
in all the aspects relating to the company
management:
•accounting and drawing up of a balance sheet;
•organization;
•administrative and fiscal duties;
• internal and international trade management;
•financing, investments, relations with banks;
• application of Information, Comunication
Technology
•to allow students to experience the working
climate within a company in order to reduce the
gap between theory and practice,
• to improve students’ behavioural skills,
•to help students become more aware of their skills
and roles,
• to allow students to apply the knowledge
acquired, and to develop new skills that could be
used later on in their university career
What is the goal of an experimental
enterprise?
To realize an immediate link between theoretical knowledge
received during studies and its applied practice founded on
action–oriented learning, where knowledge and know how
represent the basis of the learning process.
Didactical goals
Practical experience
 Interdisciplinary skills
 Company culture
 Self achievement
 Personal training
 Facing responsabilities
How to create an experimental enterprise?
In a classroom-laboratory that reproduces the main
managerial functions, students carry on operative
management with scheduled activities, bureaucratics
burdens and legal constraints and fiscal duties.
The phases of an experimental enterprise
founding
Virtual business of goods and services
Accounting management
Annual accounts and budget
Close down
Main organizational functions
Foreign
affairs
Marketing
Staff accounting
and human
resources
Accounting
There are also social organs as :
Company meeting
Board of directors
Board of advisors
Job rotation
Foreign
Affairs
Marketing
Accounting
Staff accounting
and
human r.
What is the experimental
enterprise network EUROPEN ?
MORE THAN 400 EXPERIMENTAL
COMPANIES IN ITALY
MORE THAN 5000 EXPERIMENTAL
ENTERPRISES IN THE WORLD
WIDE NETWORK EUROPEN
Italian Network Simulimpresa
 Professional Schools
 Tecnical and accounting schools
 Business companies
 Universities
 Chambers of Commerce
 Employers unions
Network EUROPEN
• Non
profit association
(fonded in 27.10.1997)
•World wide network
•More than 5000 experimental
companies in 40 Countries
The extention of EUROPEN
North America: Canada, USA
South America: Argentina, Brasile
Western Europe : Austria, Belgio, Danimarca,
Finlandia, Francia, Germania, Grecia, Irlanda, Italia,
Olanda, Norvegia, Portogallo, Spagna, Svezia,
Svizzera, Regno Unito
Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Rep. Ceca, Ungheria,
Lettonia, Lituania, Polonia, Romania, Russia, Rep.
Slovacca, Ucraina, Slovenia
Asia /Pacific: Australia, Cina, Giappone, Vietnam
Africa: Senegal, Marocco, Tunisia
The network ties
Siberian Business Consulting
2004 – RUSSIA (Novosibirsk)
Consulting Services
TEMPUS project “Life Long Learning
Siberian Structure Development”
Women Magazine
2005 – BOSNIA (Sarajevo)
Publishing sector
L.R. project “Social Work and Long Life
Learning for weak categories in Bosnia ”
Prov. Forlì - Cesena
KK Personal Robe
2004 – ALBANIA (Shkoder)
Textile sector
L.R. project “Education to European
Managerial Culture”
Prov. Forlì-Cesena
Exotica Siberian Tourism
Smile Guard
2004 – RUSSIA (Novosibirsk)
Tourism Sector
TEMPUS project “Life Long Learning
Siberian Structure Development”
2007 – KAZAKHSTAN (Almaty)
Services
TEMPUS Project “Implementing
ECTS at Kazakhstan University”
Elbasan Renaissance Tour
AIPO’S - AIVO
NoRisk s.r.l.
2009 – ALBANIA (Elbasan)
Cultural – Tourism sector
L.R. Project “ Start up of professional
Education in Elbasan with particular
regard to weak categories”
2010 – ITALY (Forlì) - RUSSIA (Astrakhan)
Project MIUR “ Exploratory seminar on
the models and methodologies for the
entrepreneurial and touristic development of low
Volga. Interuniversity international cooperation”
2006 – ITALY (Parma)
Consulting Services
Simulated Enterprise Program
Europen Network
New start ups
University American College Skopje
University of Prishtina - School of Economics, Kosova
TEMPUS CHTMBAL - Network for Post Graduate
Masters and PhD in Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Management in Balkan Countries.
TEMPUS DOCSMES - Regional Joint Doctoral
Programme in Entrepreneurship and SME
management for Western Balkan Countries
ALSO IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD OF
SECOND LIFE
Previous researches
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Gualdi D. (2001), L’impresa simulata, Paramond ed., Torino
Bianchi M. (2003), Il progetto della Università di Bologna per lo sviluppo delle P.M.I. in Albania. 2 Relazione alla conferenza internazionale: università:
Ieri, Oggi, Domani, Tirana 13-15 Novembre 2003, Ambasciata d’Italia in Tirana, Crui-Conferenza Rettori Università Italiane, Krush-Conferenza Rettori
Università Albanesi, Accademia delle scienze di Albania.
Bianchi M. ( 2004), I Progetti dell’Università di Bologna ed il ruolo del Porto di Durres per lo sviluppo del Corridoio 8. Intervento al Convegno “ Il
Corridoio 8 – Una sfida per la costruzione di un “sistema di reti”di sviluppo nell’Area Balcanica”, Ambasciata D’ Italia In Tirana, Accademia delle
scienze di Albania.
Bianchi M. (2004), La simulazione d’impresa negli interventi di sviluppo dei paesi in transizione. 5° Workshop dei Docenti Ricercatori di
Organizzazione Aziendale, Roma 5-6 Febbraio 2004
Tampieri L. (2005), La Perting s.r.l impresa simulata e i progetti di sviluppo imprenditoriale nei Paesi in Transizione; in M. Bianchi, L. Tampieri “Life
Long Learning and Managerial development in transition countries (Cases on strategy, management and performance control)”; Il Ponte Vecchio ed.,
Cesena.
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2007), Clustering e networking nella creazione di nuove forme organizzative. I risultati del laboratorio di Simulazione d’impresa
nei progetti di sviluppo dei Paesi in Transizione, in Atti del Convegno “Relazioni di lavoro e forme organizzative: nuovi modelli progettuali”, VIII
Workshop dei Docenti e dei Ricercatori di Organizzazione Aziendale (8-9 Febbraio 2007).
Tampieri L. (2009), Simulazione in Second Life e business virtuale nello start up d’impresa del sistema moda CLUEB – Bologna
Tampieri L. (2009), The enterprise simulation in Second Life. The case of Perting Ltd, in Proceedings S. Newell; E. Whitley; N. Pouloudi; J. Wareham;
L. Mathiassen (Eds) Information Systems in a globalising world: challenges, ethics and practices; Università di Verona-Facoltà di Economia; 8 - 10 June
2009 Verona, Italy, pp.1-12; www.ecis2009.it
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2010), “La Simulazione della creazione d’impresa attraverso la stabilizzazione dei rapporti clienti e fornitori”. Intervento al XI
WOA Workshop dei Docenti e dei Ricercatori di Organizzazione Aziendale “Creatività, Incertezza e razionalità Organizzative”, 17-18 Giugno 2010,
Bologna
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2010), “Second Life and Enterprise Simulation in SMEs’ start up of fashion sector. The cases of ETNI, KK Personal Robe and
NFP. Intervento al VII conference of the italian chapter of AIS “information technology and innovation trends in organizations, 8-9 Ottobre, Napoli.
Tampieri L. (2010), The simulation by Second Life of SMEs start up. The case of New Fashion Perspectives, in D’Atri A., De Marco M., Braccini A.M.,
Cabiddu F., (Eds), Management of the Interconnected World, Physica-Verlag, Springer, Heidelberg. pp. 267-274.
Tampieri L. (2011) Second Life and enterprise simulation in SME’s start up of fashion sector: the cases ETNI, KK Personal Robe and NFP, in D’Atri A.,
Ferrara M., George J.F., Spagnoletti P (eds), Information Technology and Innovation trends in organizations, Physica-Verlag, Springer (pp. 523-530).
Tampieri L. (2011) The enterprise simulation in small business start up. The case of cooperation projects between Italy and Albania. 3^ Workshop I
processi innovativi nelle piccole imprese. La sfida altre la crisi. Urbino 16-17 Settembre 2011, pp.1-21.
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2012) Simulated Management in the start up of new Public Organizations. The case of AIVO, Agency for the Governance of
the Volga River. Paper submitted to RUC Sunrise Conference, October29-31 2012.
Tampieri L. (2012) Second Life as Educational Space for the Simulation of Enterprises’ Start Up and for Managerial Culture Development, in Nada
Bates-Brkljac (Ed) Virtual Reality, ISBN: 978-1-61470-246-7, NOVA Science Publisher, NY, USA, Chapter 1 (pp. 1-49).
Bianchi M., Gualdi D., Tampieri L. (2013) The Laboratory for Enterprise Simulation in Forlì and the performance of Perting Ltd. 2001 - 2012. In S.
Santoro (Ed) Skills and tools to the cultural heritage and cultural tourism management. Edizioni D’Errico, pp. 291 – 298.
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2013) Simulated Management in the start up of new Public Organizations, Journal of US-China Public Administration, May
2013, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 475-487.
Bianchi M., Tampieri L. (2013) Effects of Networking Activities by Internet on the Creation of a Business Network: Experimental Results of Simulimpresa
Laboratory. In P. Spagnoletti (eds) Organizational Change and Information Systems. Working and Living Together in New Ways. Springer Berlin
Heidelberg, pp.119-128.
Tampieri L. (2014) The Network of ties in practice firms for the education to entrepreneurship. The case of Perting Ltd. In Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Journal (ISSN: 1877-0428) (in progress of publication).
Semester dates and module
structure Simulimpresa Course
The module is intended to be taught
during the autumn semester
(October – December). The module
is structured in 7 weeks and usually
6 hours per week for a total of 40
hours.
Module credits:
6 ECTs
Simulimpresa
Laboratory is
waiting for You !
http://perting.poloforli.unibo.it
Perting srl
virtual enteprise
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Perting S.r.l. is the virtual enteprise introduced in
Economic Faculty of Forlì since 2001
Perting was the first practice firm in Italian
University
Perting operates in the informatics sector : trade
goods and provides services, like: personel
administration, accounting and enterprise
organization
Perting’s Departments
Administrative
 Commercial
 Consulting
 International projects

Administrative Department
Is composed of the following offices:
 Accounting
 Treasury and financial management
 Budgetary control
 Human Resources administration
 Executive secretary

Accounting office
Formation of accounting plan
 General accounting with software OS1
 Special accounting
 Cost accounting
 Balance sheet
 Income tax return

Treasury and financial office
Banking operation on current account, like:
 Money transfers: invoices, taxes, wages
 Receivables
 Financial planning
 Financial report

Budgetary control
Preparing 3 years business plan with
software “Cartesio”
 Preparing annual budget
 Auditing: accounting and worker
productivity

Executive secretery
Comunication with other companies
 Comunication with internal offices and
departments
 Keeping corporate books
 Director’s report

Personel Office
Labour contracts
 Pay Books
 Montly salaries
 F24 preparation: monthly payment of
employment taxes

Consulting department
It is composed by these offices:
 Accounting consulting
 Personell Consulting
 Companies organization

Accounting consulting office
Preparing Business Plan for other
companies
 Preparing annual budget
 Budgetary control
 Start up
 Company shake up

Personel and Organization
consulting office
 H-R
administration
 Redeployment of labour
 Corporate structure
Commercial department
Marketing office
 International trade office
 National trade office
 Web site office

Marketing office
Updating catalogue
 Sales promotion
 Advertising promotion
 Market research
 Customers and suppliers analisis
 Advertising promotion research

International office
 International
trade: import and
export
 Drawing up standard documents
for EU and non EU commerce:
Invoice, Packing list, CMR, DAU
WEB SITE Office
 Updating
web site
 E Commerce
 Record keeping
In the Europen net system now work more than
5000 practice firms. Trades happen among
enterprises which belong to different and
heterogeneous formative institutions, such as high
school and universities.
The question is: Is it possible and useful to create a
network among VE which trade inside Europen
network universities?
Today the level of sharing of this experience is
very limited and restricted to a few countries.
But this phenomenon could increase if
simulation experiences now living in Faculties
of Economics will put themselves in the
network, in order to develop relations and
share way of working and knowledge.
The difference between university and high
school formation requests in fact a very
different management and a more accurate
target selection.
In college case, we need to utilize a more
developed knowledge of enterprise
management with a way of working which
prefer problem solving.
In sum, we need a management much closer to
problem solving than to operational exercises.
Targets such as direction, planning, control,
marketing, finance, budget, fiscal management
need to be central in the leading process of a
virtual enterprise.
Also in the way of working and in trades of goods
or services, we need to choose instruments,
solutions and procedures very closer to the
enterprise professional reality.
This way of working can be shared among all
enterprises in the network, with a special attention
to those that don’t refer to a university. They are
the majority, and this strategy could increase the
level of their work.
We do not think to a network close only to
university enterprises: we’d prefer a narrower
relation between academicals experiences. This
argument could make a decisive improvement of
the virtual enterprise system, which could become
a point of reference for both university courses and
real external enterprises.
How to proceed?
1) Analyze and calculate the existing situations:
how many VE work in the European universities
and how many in the rest of the world?
2) Establish direct relations with professors to
create occasions of work sharing: actually we
could begin with a 20-enterprises-core working
together.
How to proceed?
3) Plan common stages in order to consolidate
relations among university VE
4) Plan a college VE meeting; a challenge on
case study; a school formation on methodology.
Italy could organize the first edition.