The Kaplan Business Challenge (KBC)
- Course Details
- About The Course
- For The Future Business World
- The Game
- Bespoke Training
- Brochure
The Kaplan Business Challenge (KBC) is contextualised specifically for Accounting and Finance Professionals with the goal of building effective accountants for the future. With the KBC, professional accountants can be well-equipped with the right skills to make key decisions involving sales strategy, supply chain management and leadership, with the view of improving the performance and financial position of one’s company.
- SIMULATIVE LEARNING
The Kaplan Business Challenge is a truly holistic learning experience, integrating strategic, operational, planning, forecasting, risk management, and financial reporting aspects of running a business. The simulation through the Professional Services and Manufacturing & Supply Chain versions represent a flexible development intervention on its own, or it can be embedded in a more comprehensive development programme.
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES VERSION
The professional services version of the Kaplan Business Challenge lets participants learn and implement key drivers of commercial success, such as resource planning and utilisation, as the teams compete to deliver services on time. It serves as a representation of the service industry as a whole so that accounting and finance professionals working within this landscape can find relevance within this environment.
- MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY CHAIN VERSION
Our manufacturing simulation takes the context of a global, capital-intensive business faced with a complex supply chain and uncertain market. Teams need to manage the competing expectations of strategic suppliers, customers and finance providers, as well as deal with the internal tensions between the different functions within their business. This version resonates well with organisations at every point within the vertical channel of the supply chain. Accounting and finance professionals from a wide spectrum of industries such as the FMCG, Energy, Shipping and Logistics should find a high level of relevancy with this version of the KBC.
Participants are split into teams, each team adopting the role of the newly appointed board of directors of a struggling manufacturing company. Each team’s mission: to turn the company around and deliver value to the shareholders!
The teams are competing, fighting for market share one moment, perhaps forming alliances the next – just like the real world! Each team will experience the full spectrum of business life. They must look at the big picture – establishing the company’s mission, strategy, and objectives – but also the detailed operational issues dealing with sales and marketing, production, staff, supply chain, and financing. The KBC is totally interactive: the decisions made by one team will affect what happens to the others. It also provides the opportunity for negotiation with customers, suppliers, and banks – again, just like the real world. The KBC emphasises the importance of financial data. Every quarter, teams prepare financial statements: a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Their performance will be partly assessed by an examination of this financial information, looking at key performance indicators and comparing the teams.
Finally, to conclude the game, each team must deliver a presentation to the shareholders who appointed them. The presentation is a summation of what they did, why they did it, and ultimately, how successful they were. All team members will be expected to contribute to this process.
We also offer customised versions of the Kaplan Business Challenge, allowing organisations to address their own critical priorities while still retaining common core themes of commercial leadership and essential finance. It can be used as a stand-alone event, or as part of an on-boarding or manager training programme.
The KBC can be customised to the specific roles of the participants in mind, extended to non-finance job functions or even to the senior management teams within your organisation.
There is also the flexibility of organising the KBC at your premises, a hotel or conference centre, or any of Kaplan’s worldwide locations.
Delivering Outcomes
Participants in the Kaplan Business Challenge will develop their commercial understanding, outlook, and behaviour by learning to:
- Understand financial statements and key performance indicators
- Explore team dynamics in a competitive business situation
- Instil a real-life understanding of cash management
- Improve commercial confidence and financial dexterity
- Demonstrate and anticipate the commercial impact of successful business decision-making
- Think strategically and deal with commercial ambiguity
- Deal with business risk and change
- Heighten commercial awareness and strategic thinking
- Provide an insight into financial information and presenting numbers with impact
- Communicate a coherent plan to stakeholders and understand the importance of meeting commitments
Download the brochure here.