The bread/flour/grain trading game: Bidding in and designing auction events

Strategic sourcing and more specifically, e-procurement have become part of standard industry practice in recent years with the use of forward and reverse auction events. Training materials and games to teach participants to bid in and design such events, however, has been limited. In this paper we describe a Bread/Flour/Grain trading game we developed for instructors to use with student groups. We also provide accompanying materials and suggestions for running and debriefing of the game. The game imparts design and bidding experience, which students can then apply to real world auction events. It is appropriate for group sizes ranging from six to sixty.