Business Management and Computing Research Colloquium (BMCRC) 2016, Raub, Malaysia, 25 May 2016 ISBN 978-967-14020-0-9 ©BMCRC2016 18 Smart Trader: A Simulation Game in Accumulating Wealth Nor Aziah Abd Kadir Faculty of Business Management UiTM Cawangan Pahang Kampus Raub 27600 Raub, Pahang, Malaysia aziahkadir@pahang.uitm.edu.my Khalid Mat Pardi Academy of Language Studies UiTM Cawangan Pahang Kampus Raub 27600 Raub, Pahang, Malaysia khalidmp@pahang.uitm.edu.my Nurul Afzan Najid Faculty of Accountancy UiTM Cawangan Pahang Kampus Raub 27600 Raub, Pahang, Malaysia nurulafzan@pahang.uitm.edu.my Abstract — Production is a process of transforming resources into goods and services that have exchange value. It is a very tough topic where students need to identify the best production processes, determine the significant selling price of the product and services and plan the competitive strategies in order to be efficient and gain more profit. Students may conclude to misunderstand the concept and not confident in making business decision. Too many theories and concepts may hurt students’ concentration and contribute to complexity in their study. The introduction of Smart Trader game in class as an interactive learning style may help students a lot compare to the conventional method such as having lecture and reading textbooks. In this game, students are divided into three groups. Each group has been given an envelope consists of different set of resources. They need to produce paper boxes and sell them to the trader to get the best selling price. At this stage, students need to determine the cost of production, set mark-up price and sell the product to a local market trader with agreed selling price. Students also have to prepare the financial statement as a document to disclose the financial activities and position of a business. Using an experimental approach, this paper compares the performance of students when they learn through the game and lecture. The result shows that students can increase their understanding in production theory and achieve higher grade when game is applied in the class compare to traditional method of learning. Keywords — accumulation wealth; costing; production; simulation game; trade I. INTRODUCTION Production is a common topic discussed in the economics and accounting subjects. Students often hold misconception and confusion about this topic as it relates to the business trade activities. Too many formulas, concepts and theories need to be memorized in this topic. Since the process of learning all these seems too complex, lecturers need to find an alternative way to make it easier and more interesting for the students. In many business courses, simulation games are becoming a popular choice of pedagogical technique. Yet, research is beginning to consider how these simulation games could affect student's performance. The objective of this paper is to identify the effectiveness of the innovative learning style using a simulation game as proposed the ‘Smart Trader Game’ compared to the conventional method such as having lecture and reading textbooks. The traditional class format, based on lectures and problem sets are inadequate in meeting the learning needs of current students [1]. Other previous researchers [2] also opined that, there should be a paradigm shift in collegiate teaching where teacher-centered learning environment seems ineffective for teaching accounting subject. Hence, they implied that learning-centered approach should be practiced as a way to encourage students to have a better learning experience in class, achieve good results and able to produce significant and lasting change. Furthermore, every student should be treated as an individual since they have different levels of motivation, commitment, ability, and learning styles or approaches. Because of that they receive and process information differently [3]. Therefore, educational practitioners need to find alternatives for the teaching and learning process, so that it can be delivered effectively. The best learning styles which suit students’ characteristics may increase their motivation and lead to better learning experience. The closest alternative that can be referred to this situation is by adopting the ‘learning through play’ environment during the teaching and learning process. This is because everybody does understand the language of ‘play’ regardless of age, ethnic, economic or social background [4]. Therefore, games can be a suitable medium for students to explore and collect information in a fun and interactive ways. The Smart Trader Game has been proposed to create an active and innovative learning as an alternative to the conventional learning style. This Smart Trader Game is an improvisation of the Trade Game [5] where in this version the element of costing is included. The game introduced was easy