Towards the creation of a business game for developing ambidextrous management skills Focusing on the overlapping structure of application-based BPM and exploration-based BPM

Horiuchi, Satoshi;Laurier, Wim
(2026) JSIM 90th Annual Conference：Development and Implementation of a Business Simulation Program to Foster Ambidextrous Capabilities — Location: Meiji University Surugadai Campus, Tokyo, Japan (27.June.2026)

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Traditional business games train learners to optimize decisions within a given market, organization, and business model. In a VUCA environment, and as cloud, low-code, and AI technologies make process and business-model transformation feasible for firms of all sizes, managers also need the capability to question and rebuild those givens. This paper draws on organizational ambidexterity and Ambidextrous BPM, which combines exploitative BPM (standardization, efficiency, continuous improvement) with exploratory BPM (new markets, value creation, business-model change). It frames the two as an overlapping, cyclical structure. In this cycle, exploration arises from problems encountered during exploitation, challenges existing assumptions through unlearning, and produces ideas that are then implemented and embedded through exploitation as the organization's new existing structure. The central problem is that learners tend to stay in exploitative mode because they rely on past success, familiar knowledge, and efficiency-oriented KPIs. The authors argue that the key educational goal is not exploration alone but the implementation of its results within the organization. The study separates game-construction research, which concerns the disturbances, information, constraints, evaluation criteria, and incentives that trigger exploration, from educational research, which concerns learning goals spanning single-loop and double-loop learning. Building on an existing chocolate-manufacturer simulation, the authors propose two provisional scenarios: a shift from dispersed to concentrated regional markets, and a transition from one-off sales to a subscription model. Each scenario requires learners both to devise a new strategy and to operationalize it. Future work includes an "exploration–implementation integrated" game design template and a systematic review of existing business games.
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Horiuchi, S., & Laurier, W. (2026). Towards the creation of a business game for developing ambidextrous management skills Focusing on the overlapping structure of application-based BPM and exploration-based BPM. Information and Management, 90, 7-11. https://doi.org/10.20627/jsimconf.90.0_7 (Original work published 2026)