A Large-Scale Game Test of Early-Determined Game Finishes

Abstract

Teach and Patel (2007) reported that teams playing CAPSTONE (Smith, n.d.) arrived at their final financial standings early in the game. A recent replication effort could not repeat their results. The effort, however, obtained mixed results when applied to a large game. This paper examines the same large game under conditions that recognize the longer decision time horizons and investment costs associated with such games. Under these considerations the early-determined finishes thesis for first and last place firms was not supported on either a cumulative or round-by-round profits basis.