Investofin, the finance club of JIMS, organised the Strategic Simulator 3.0 on Monday, 31 August 2026 for students of the PGDM programs in general, International Business, and Retail Management.
The Objective of the event was to provide students real time experience with stock market dynamics.
Experience of the event:
12 teams registered to participate in the competition. Each team consisted of 5 members. Firstly, the teams were asked to buy stationery with the corpus of 2000 rupees given to them and then create a distinct logo for their team of (4*4) cm. The top 3 teams were awarded chocolates.
Then the competition was divided into 3 rounds. All the registered teams went through Round 1. There were 4 simulations in Round 1, each with 3 products and a timer to complete the simulation. New products were added in every round. Just like in the stock market, with each simulation, the prices of the products changed.
The top 8 teams with the highest scores moved to Round 2. After that, 2 more teams were eliminated at the end of Round 2. The top 6 teams went into Round 3. The top 3 were chosen after elimination at the end of Round 3.
Before the commencement of each subsequent round, teams were required to use the virtual money earned in the previous round to purchase the stationery resources needed to make the products. Each round consisted of 4 simulations, with the difficulty, time constraints and strategic decision-making demands increasing as the competition progressed. Teams had to strategically manage their resources, respond to changing product prices and maximise their returns to qualify for the next round.
Key Learnings:
Working Capital and Cash Flow Management: Participants learned how to manage liquidity under strict constraints. By allocating an initial ?2,000 corpus to buy raw materials (stationery) and reinvesting the virtual money earned across rounds, teams learned the importance of maintaining cash reserves to sustain ongoing operations without running out of funds.
Operational Quality Control and Risk Mitigation: Teams learned that speed must not come at the expense of accuracy. Strict product dimensions, team logo branding requirements, and jury-quality checks meant that non-compliant products were disqualified, teaching participants how quality control directly reduces operational losses and wasted resources.
Agility and Decision-Making in Dynamic Markets: As product prices fluctuated across simulations, participants experienced real-time market shifts. They had to decide strategically whether to buy and build immediately or wait for favourable market conditions, helping them understand inventory holding risks and market adaptability.