Professional Services
Dynamics of service firms

This Microworld shows how staff capacity and experience develop through a hierarchy of high-performing professionals. Managed well, this business can grow and thrive. Managed badly, key professionals and clients will leave, leading to failure.

This game focuses on the special people-challenges faced by professional service organizations, issues that also confront service departments within other companies. Teams gain valuable insights into important issues common to many service-based situations, such as:

  • driving growth in staff resources through several seniority levels, balancing recruitment, promotion and turnover
  • matching growth in client numbers to the firm's capacity to serve them
  • managing the growth of critical intangible resources, such as reputation and knowledge

The team take the role of the senior partner group in a large consulting firm, running over a very long time-scale. The business starts with 40 partners in total, 130 managers and 230 junior consultants. It has 60 clients and financial reserves of £40 million.

The simulation runs for 30 years, although useful challenges can look at shorter periods within that longer time-frame. Decisions take the form of key choices by the senior partners to steer the business for each year. They concern hiring, promotion, client-growth and knowledge-building.

Objectives

The partners themselves own the firm, so the general objective is to grow number of clients and project work, and do so profitably, so that the partners can share in the financial surplus generated each year (rather different from an investor-owned business). Objectives may also be chosen for other items, such as the annual bonus paid to each partner, or the quality and reputation the firm enjoys for its work.

Video introductions

Play Video
Video: A short introduction to the game interface, with audio (1.5 mins)

Play Video
Video: Longer introduction to the game interface, with audio (6 mins)

Professional Services + 'Screenshot'

Based on a management consultancy firm this game focuses on the special people-challenges faced by professional service organizations, issues that also confront service departments within other companies.

Teams gain valuable insights into important issues common to many service-based situations.

Play a demo

Play demo Create a game as a guest and see the reports etc that are available. Access is limited and games run for a few periods only.

Next steps

Pricing Pricing
For information on our academic and executive pricing and terms
Request Evaluation Evaluation access
Teachers can request access to full game and inspection documentation for evaluation

More resources

How it works - the process of evaluating and setting up an event, illustrative teaching schedules and suggestions for assessing student performance.