Incub@game: Play the management game!

In a few weeks' time, all MUSE students and staff will be able to test their knowledge in the field of business creation and discover some of the basics of management thanks to Incubagame. A "serious game" imagined and designed by Montpellier Management 's teacher-researchers and their partners.

Natural and futuristic settings, high-resolution images and a new-generation android named Xéna as your coach... Welcome to the virtual world of Incub@game! A "seriousgame" created by Montpellier Management to introduce you in a fun way to the basics of management and business creation.

Educational and sustainable innovation

Popularized around ten years ago, serious games are educational resources offering to acquire knowledge through the experience of playing. A response from Montpellier Management to the TAKE OFF#1 call for projects launched in 2018 by MUSE to support educational innovation in the various components of the establishment and partner schools. "This is a real opportunity for Montpellier Management, and the field of business creation appeared to us to be the natural theme for tackling management in a cross-disciplinary way with an uninformed public," explains Sophie Spring teacher-researcher and Incubagame project leader.

The game is open to all MUSE students and staff, with or without a business project, and with no management prerequisites. The only requirement for logging on to the platform is an institutional e-mail address. To reach as wide an audience as possible, business creation is approached through the prism of sustainable development. It's an unavoidable requirement," explains Sophie Spring, "we're all sensitive to it today, and students even more so. It's also a way of reminding us that today's management promotes integration from the design stage, rather than ex-post correction of ecological and social damage.

A futuristic universe

As soon as they log on to Incub@game, players are welcomed by Xéna into a futuristic world made up of three areas corresponding to the main themes in business start-up: matching the company founder's profile to the company's mission, market positioning, and the legal and financial levers to be implemented. "The choice of these themes is the result of a synthesis of the different fields of expertise and knowledge of Montpellier Management' s contributors and our partners [see box]," explains Sophie Spring.

Within each area, different modules address sub-themes such as strategic positioning, marketing diagnostics, business planning and legal organization. Challenges such as building a rocket or completing a space race provide an opportunity to test knowledge through question-and-answer games, and to ask fundamental management questions. At the end of each sequence, a debriefing is held with Xéna, and at the end of the game, a scorecard enables players to visualize their strengths and areas for improvement.

A real didactic added value for neophytes, even if, as Sophie Spring points out, "it's not a training course in business creation, you don't come out of the game with any skills, we're talking more about a discovery module or an introduction to management, which may inspire some to go further.

Montpellier Management strategy

A logical extension for Montpellier Management, whose pioneering position in educational innovation has already proved its worth. "We launched e-learning courses ten years ago, and we also support the hybridization of distance and classroom teaching. In a crisis context such as the one we're going through, we see that these teaching methods can prove essential," points out Marie-Christine Lichtlé, Director of Montpellier Management.

As for entrepreneurship, it has long been one of the component's areas of expertise. "Alongside auditing-control-finance, management-strategy and marketing, it is one of the cornerstones not only of our training, but also of the research carried out in our laboratories, which is rooted in a long history of work on entrepreneurship", explains the director. This approach already heralds Montpellier Management's other major event, the forthcoming launch of I-Lab, the very first student incubator supported by the University of Montpellier.

Our partners

The design of this game is the fruit of a genuine collaboration between teacher-researchers from the various disciplines taught at Montpellier Management and all the private and institutional partners "who brought their vision to this project", emphasizes Sophie Spring, who coordinated this collective effort. Participating in Incubagame were the Banque Populaire du Sud, the Montpellier Business and Innovation Center (BIC),URSSAF Languedoc Roussillon, the Conseil Régional de l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables, Labex Entreprendre and the Centre de Recherche en Comptabilité Environnementale et Sociale(CSEAR).