The Blue Connection is an award-winning, innovative, web-based business simulation game where teams of four step into the shoes of management of a virtual e-bike manufacturing company. Their ultimate goal is to navigate a circular transition while upholding profitability.
In this immersive experience, participants encounter a spectrum of real-life business decisions that require thoughtful trade-offs, strategic finesse, and seamless collaboration across four key departments: Finance, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Sales. They have the unique opportunity to learn by experience by immediately applying circular concepts and theories into practice.
“The Blue Connection allows participants to rapidly understand how circular business models can be applied to a real case. The competition factor add also a lot of fun and facilitates the assimilation of the different strategies.”
Jérôme Petry Attaché, Deputy Director Sustainable Technologies, LE GOUVERNEMENT DU GRAND-DUCHÉ DE LUXEMBOURG, Ministère de l’Économie“Mastering the Circular Economy book is an impressive combination of theoretical frameworks and practical tools on Circular Economy, supported by the online business game on the virtual company ‘The Blue Connection’ of Inchainge. A must have for lecturers in the field of Circular Economy and logistics!”
Hedda van Raalte Lecturer Logistics Management / Supply Chain ManagementIt’s increasingly clear that modern businesses need to transform how they operate.
The circular economy provides new business opportunities,
but it also comes with its challenges to go from linear to circular.
What does this mean and which challenges will you encounter?
The world is inhabited by more people, of which a higher share lives in cities and is getting older.
Wealth has increased globally, creating a larger middle class, which uses far more raw materials.
The result is increasing CO2 footprints and waste production. As a result, global consumption currently goes beyond the earth’s regenerative capacity.
Participants get to run their own virtual company called The Blue Connection, a manufacturer of e-bikes. Due to the increased demand for companies to transform how they operate and the new business opportunities provided by the circular economy, the e-bike manufacturer hired a new management team to transform the company’s linear value chain to a circular one. Participants will learn how to adopt a circular approach by transition away from a take-make-dispose linear production towards a circular business models.
Negotiate on sales contracts with your retailers regarding circularity, warranty and the maintenance service of your product.
Collaborate with the right Recycling Service Providers and oversee the cost and process of disassembling, reusing, refurbishing and recycling.
Manage the design of your product. Selecting appropriate suppliers to source from and deciding on the quality and recyclability of product components to buy.
Determine a buy back price to create a reverse flow of products. Manage the financial arrangement with the bank and the potential lease agreements.
The Blue Connection’s simulation software has been designed to be easy to use for anyone, on any platform from PC to tablet. There is no need to read a hefty manual before starting, because all help information is integrated in the game-screens and can be read on a need to know basis.
The Blue Connection can be easily tailored to match your learning objectives.
Tailored to perfectly fit your audience's background, experience, and learning objectives.
Face-to-face, Online or Hybrid.
They can be varied to suit your needs.
A high-performing circular value chain requires collaboration ffrom across the organization. Adopting a circular approach from a take-make-dispose linear production can be a serious challenge.
How do you adapt to the circular economy? Ideally, you’d like to experiment with different scenarios wherein people learn to overcome various obstacles and learn from best practices. This is where we come in: through our business simulation games, participants have the unique opportunity to learn by experience by immediately putting complex theories into practice.
Advantages of experiential learning: