EXSIM Executive Simulation
Bringing the Board of Directors and Bank & Unions Negotiations to the classroom
IESE’s Executive Simulation (EXSIM) immerses students in the full complexity of top-level management by placing them in charge of a company as its executive committee. They are responsible for the company’s performance and must report to a real corporate board. Without leaving the classroom, they also engage in realistic negotiations with bankers and trade union representatives, gaining firsthand experience in managing key external stakeholders under pressure.
EXSIM in the MBA, EMBA and MiM
EXSIM is a week-long course aimed at students who are in IESE’s MBA, EMBA or MiM program. Its primary objective is to create realistic managerial situations that allow students to gain new insights through a learning-by-doing approach. Given the students’ relative inexperience, these scenarios often lie outside their current professional experience, enabling them to learn by simulating future work conditions.
Students are organized into teams – or “companies” – that compete by making decisions in areas such as marketing, manufacturing, logistics, finance, ESG and human resources, using a web-based business simulation. Each team inherits the management of a company that has been in operation for two years. All teams start with the same financial and market conditions, but outcomes vary based on their performance and the decisions they make.
Throughout the week, each team meets with its board of directors three times. In these meetings, teams present results and forecasts as well as discussing strategies, investments, dividend policies and other management-related topics. The board members represent the company’s owners and play distinct roles (such as a minority venture capital representative, a majority family owner or an independent director). As a result, differing opinions on how to manage the company may emerge during these meetings, offering students the valuable opportunity to experience real-world managerial dynamics.
In addition to board participation, EXSIM also offers a unique opportunity for bankers and trade union representatives to take part in the simulation. Bankers engage in financial negotiations with each team, assessing their plans and negotiating terms for instruments such as mortgages, credit lines, factoring or shareholder loans. Trade union representatives participate in a two-stage negotiation process: first, a sector-wide agreement with company representatives, and then individual negotiations with each company team to define wages, working conditions, social benefits, and other labor-related agreements. These interactions provide students with a realistic and high-pressure setting to practice stakeholder management, while offering external participants a dynamic and rewarding role in the learning experience.
Would you like to get involved?
We are looking for alumni and other professionals who would like to participate in our executive simulations by taking on the role of a board member, a bank representative or a union representative. Full details about how the program works can be found below, and you can sign up by sending an email at exsimulation@iese.edu.
By participating in EXSIM, you will strengthen and deepen your ongoing relationship with IESE. Additionally, you’ll have the opportunity to share your experience and knowledge with new generations while discovering emerging talent.
Ideally, for board members, we are looking for executives who have been part of a board or have reported to one. However, functional managers with extensive experience can also fill this role.
For bank negotiations, we are looking for professionals who have worked in the risk departments of financial institutions or in commercial banking.
For union negotiations, we are looking for professionals who are part of a union or even a works council and have extensive experience in union negotiations.
EXSIM is held on campus at IESE Barcelona, IESE Madrid and IESE Munich. For this reason, the ideal candidate will live near one of these cities. However, remote connections may be considered as well since we anticipate that online participation will be necessary at times, as we saw in the pandemic.
During the EXSIM week, board members must be available on Tuesday morning as well as Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Bank negotiators and union representatives must be available on Thursday morning.
Board members
On meeting days, EXSIM boards are assigned to two teams for two one-hour board meetings (with an additional hour beforehand to analyze the teams’ performance). This means that EXSIM board members are expected to dedicate one morning and two afternoons to these activities on campus during the simulation week. Board members typically participate only once a year:
- Tuesday: 8:00/8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- Wednesday and Friday: 3:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (approximately)
Bankers and Union Representatives
On Thursday morning, teams also meet with real representatives from banks and unions. Bank representatives participate in negotiations with teams on existing and future debt, payment schedules, interest rates and short- and long-term loans, among other financial matters. Bank representatives are usually professionals from bank risk departments or from corporate financial departments where they regularly handle banking negotiations in their daily roles.
For the union representatives, there are generally two types of negotiation:
- Industry agreement: A representative from each company attempts to agree on an industry-wide framework that applies to all companies.
- Individual company negotiations: A union representative conducts multiple rounds of negotiations with each team to improve upon the base industry agreement, depending on the specific results and negotiation tactics of each company.
The Thursday agenda typically begins at 8:00/8:30 a.m. (depending on the country) with a review of the morning plan and the overall team results. Sectorial union negotiations take place from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by individual negotiations, which continue until around 1:00/2:00 p.m. Bank negotiations take place simultaneously, running in multiple rounds from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00/2:00 p.m.
After lunch, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., union and bank representatives convene in the classroom. During half-hour sessions, they provide feedback to the students on how the negotiations went, discussing key negotiation factors and answering any questions. As a result, the participation of the union and bank representatives generally lasts from 8:00/8:30 a.m. until 3:00/4:00 p.m.
The EXSIM team will provide you with detailed information and instructions, including a tutorial video, outlining the simulation’s structure, organization and expectations for participants in various external roles.
Then you can decide if you would like to join the group of over 500 people who are already part of the EXSIM family.
Send us an email at exsimulation@iese.edu and we’ll be in touch.
