{"id":5119,"date":"2022-12-20T16:31:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T16:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emruocco.com\/?p=5119"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:44:13","slug":"vincere-il-business-game-globus-cosa-ho-imparato-dal-pensare-in-modo-diverso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emruocco.com\/en\/vincere-il-business-game-globus-cosa-ho-imparato-dal-pensare-in-modo-diverso\/","title":{"rendered":"Winning the Globus Business Game: What I Learned from Thinking Differently"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Winning the Globus Business Game: What I Learned from Thinking Differently<\/h2>

How an online course and a \u201clateral\u201d approach put us among the top teams in the world<\/h2>

Academic Year 2022\u20132023 \u2013 Master's Degree in Management and Service Design, University of Milan-Bicocca<\/em><\/p><\/header>

During the master's degree in Service Management and Design<\/strong> at the University of Milan-Bicocca,
academic year 2022\u20132023<\/strong>, one of the courses included a
management simulation business game<\/strong>: Globus<\/strong>.<\/p>

The goal was simple to explain, but not to achieve: compete in groups against the rest of the class and
manage a virtual company by making strategic decisions about pricing, investments, marketing, production, and so on.
At the end of the game, the score would decide the best teams.<\/p>

My group has won the business game<\/strong> within the course and, for a few weeks,
we were also among the teams with the most points in the world<\/strong> in the general Globus ranking.<\/p>

What I am interested in telling here is not so much the details of individual business choices,
but the method<\/strong> which brought us to this result.<\/p>

The starting point: same guide, same tools\u2026 different results<\/h3>

All groups had:<\/p>

  • the same official guide<\/strong> of Globus provided by the professor,<\/li>
  • the same time available,<\/li>
  • the same basic information about how the game works.<\/li><\/ul>

    The guide explained the rules, the general logic, but it certainly didn't indicate the "best strategy"\u201c<\/strong>.
    It was meant to give a clear picture, not to tell you how to win.<\/p>

    In practice, most groups started playing using:<\/p>

    • only the official manual,<\/li>
    • a little intuition,<\/li>
    • trial and error.<\/li><\/ul>

      I, however, decided to take a further step.<\/p>

      \"\"<\/p>

      Lateral thinking: if the goal is to win, it's not enough to "follow the manual"\u201c<\/h3>

      As soon as the business game was presented, I asked myself a very simple question:<\/p>

      \u201cIf my goal is truly to win, does it make sense to limit myself to using only the basic material that everyone else has?\u201d<\/em><\/p>

      The answer, for me, was no.<\/p>

      So I did something that, as I understood later,
      no one else on the course had done it<\/strong>:<\/p>

      • I bought a specific course on Udemy: \u201cHow to Win Globus\u201d<\/strong>;<\/li>
      • I searched online for guides, articles and advice from those who had already played and won Globus;<\/li>
      • I studied strategies, typical errors and less obvious dynamics of the game.<\/li><\/ul>

        There are no \u201cmagic tricks\u201d to win, but there are people who have
        already faced the same problem<\/strong>, they analyzed it and drew strategies from it
        better than those that can be improvised in a few days.<\/p>

        This choice was a clear exercise of lateral thinking<\/strong>:<\/p>

        • instead of competing only on the \u201cofficial\u201d ground,<\/li>
        • I decided to move the game to another level: that of access to additional knowledge.<\/li><\/ul>

          \"\"<\/p>

          From study to practice: initial investment and cumulative benefit<\/h3>

          Thanks to this extra study, we understood much earlier than the others<\/strong>:<\/p>

          • which were the really important indicators,<\/li>
          • where it made sense to invest aggressively right away,<\/li>
          • What mistakes to avoid in the first decisions, which are often decisive for the progress of the game.<\/li><\/ul>

            This allowed us to:<\/p>

            • make decisions more aware from the beginning<\/strong>,<\/li>
            • Do bold investments<\/strong> in the early stages of the game,<\/li>
            • build a cumulative advantage<\/strong> which, round after round, became more and more evident.<\/li><\/ul>

              While other groups were still trying to \u201cfigure out\u201d the game as they went,
              we already had a much clearer map of the territory.<\/p>

              The result?<\/p>

              • Victory<\/strong> within the course,<\/li>
              • positioning among the top teams in the world<\/strong> on Globus for a few weeks.<\/li><\/ul>

                What this experience taught me<\/h3>

                This experience has become for me a very concrete example of some principles that I also apply in my work.<\/p>

                1. Lateral thinking: moving the problem to another level<\/h4>

                If everyone uses the same information, the same tools and the same approach,
                it's difficult to create a real competitive advantage<\/strong>.<\/p>

                Instead of asking myself \u201chow can I use the manual better?\u201d, I asked myself:<\/p>

                \u201cWho has already played this game? What can I learn from their experience?\u201d<\/em><\/p>

                Thinking laterally means:<\/p>

                • look for non-obvious sources,<\/li>
                • look outside the \u201cstandard\u201d perimeter,<\/li>
                • allow yourself to do things that others wouldn't even think of (like buying a course dedicated to a single business game).<\/li><\/ul>

                  2. Stand out from the crowd (even if it sounds exaggerated)<\/h4>

                  Let's face it: buying a course \u201cHow to Win Globus\u201d<\/em> it may seem excessive
                  for a simple university project. But that's precisely the point.<\/p>

                  Many times, what makes the difference is the willingness to go the extra mile<\/strong>:<\/p>

                  • invest time and money in targeted training,<\/li>
                  • to study harder than what is "enough" to get a good grade,<\/li>
                  • be willing to go beyond the logic of the bare minimum.<\/li><\/ul>

                    Often those who achieve results well above average are precisely those who accept appearing a little "strange"\u2019
                    or \u201ctoo serious\u201d for the context.<\/p>

                    3. Investing in knowledge generates enormous returns<\/h4>

                    The cost of the course and the time spent studying was tiny<\/strong> compared to the benefit:<\/p>

                    • victory in the business game,<\/li>
                    • a concrete experience to tell about my journey,<\/li>
                    • a practical example of how investing in skills<\/strong> bring measurable results.<\/li><\/ul>

                      This same logic is what I apply in my work today:
                      I always prefer to learn tools, methods and strategies well, rather than improvise.<\/p>

                      \"\"<\/p>

                      From business game to real life<\/h3>

                      Globus, in itself, is "just" a simulation game. But the way we approached it is exactly the way
                      where I see real projects:<\/p>

                      • start from one deep understanding<\/strong> of the context,<\/li>
                      • look for advanced knowledge<\/strong> even outside the standard channels,<\/li>
                      • make strong initial decisions, which create advantage over time,<\/li>
                      • don't stop at "everyone does it that way.".<\/li><\/ul>

                        For me, this business game was not just an extra mark on my transcript, but an important confirmation:<\/p>


                        If your goal is to really get to the top, it's not enough to play like everyone else.
                        We must have the courage to seek different paths, study more deeply and invest seriously in the strategy.
                        <\/em><\/p>

                        And it is exactly this approach that I bring into my projects and consultancy today.
                        and collaborations with my clients.<\/p><\/section>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        Vincere il business game Globus: cosa ho imparato dal pensare in modo diverso Come un corso online e un approccio \u201claterale\u201d ci hanno portato tra le prime squadre al mondo Anno accademico 2022\u20132023 \u2013 Laurea magistrale in Management e Design dei Servizi, Universit\u00e0 di Milano-Bicocca Durante la laurea magistrale in Management e Design dei Servizi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-lateral-thinking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t