Mihail Motzev, professor of business, presented his paper “Simulation Games for Training and Education in Logistics” at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria, for the 10th annual International Conference on Logistics in a Changing World. The paper presents a new role-playing simulation game for use in corporate and academic environments that will sharpen business skills and encourage students to think outside the box. Motzev presented his paper followed by a question-and-answer session over Skype from College Place to a live audience in Bulgaria.

“The game I presented is about the current training I use to teach operations management here. Students work in teams like real-life businesses trying to design and introduce new products to the market,” says Motzev. “Our students like it! This prepares them better for real-life business. The major goal is to teach them teamwork. They need to learn how to work with others to build teams and communicate.”

Motzev teaches quantitative methods and information systems at WWU. He is no stranger to the University of National and World Economy, which is the largest university of economics in Bulgaria with a distinguished 96-year history. Motzev received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the university and began teaching there in 1989 as an assistant professor. In 1997 he became a professor in the business logistics department where he stayed until 2002.

Motzev has written and presented more than 100 peer reviewed papers. Since 2006, he has been a part of the advisory council to the North American division of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (iSAGA). In July, he will travel to the iSAGA world conference in the Netherlands to present his next paper. For his contributions to the field, he received the WWU President’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship.

Posted March 28, 2017