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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND CHESS IN A BOTH LEARNING
PROCESS: AN APPROACH ACROSS LEARNING PATHS♦
Justo DE JORGE-MORENO
*
Department Economics and Business, Faculty of Economic, Business and Tourism, University of Alcalá,
Plaza de la Victoria s/n, Madrid, Spain
Received 31 March 2020; accepted 07 May 2020
Abstract. Purpose– In this work, a reexive experiential learning process is collected, which relates
concepts the strategic management and learning the game of chess in a ipped classroom and blend-
ing learning process for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 courses.
Research methodology– e method followed has been the initial approach of the learning curves
and the time series of the analysis of learning patterns in the game of chess. Also, for the study of
the relationship between the game of chess and its analogy with strategic management, we used a
questionnaire, and we apply cluster and network analysis.
Findings – e main results reveal the existence of dierent learning patterns (linear, quadratic,
random walk), associated with the various skills of the students. Likewise, dierent learning groups
have been identied concerning the times and learning levels by activities. e underlying idea is
the motivation that the game of chess exerts on students to foster greater understanding.
Research limitations– e limitations are related to the size of the classroom and the dierent initial
levels of chess knowledge, which have been a real challenge to carry out this work. Finally, the com-
bination of activities, between chess and strategic management knowledge is complicated to handle,
requiring large doses of planning. ese limitations are perhaps challenging to solve, although pos-
sible help could be associated with more teachers being involved in the process.
Practical implications– e simultaneous learning of chess with the consequent increase of cognitive
skills and Strategic Management concepts could intensify the motivation of the student and generate
a virtuous circle that drives both areas.
Originality/Value– is new experience in Spain contributes to lling a perhaps signicant gap in
the literature. In parallel, the practice of chess in the classroom has corroborated a level of com-
mitment and motivation of students in the knowledge of the concepts of strategic management.
e results achieved could suggest the incorporation of chess practice as a motivating factor in
management subjects.
Keywords: chess, strategic management, individual dierences, learning path, university education.
JEL Classication: A22, M19, I23.
Business, Management and Education
ISSN 2029-7491 / eISSN 2029-6169
2020 Volume 18 Issue 2: 226–246
https://doi.org/10.3846/bme.2020.12369
♦ is work has been presented in the XI Meeting of Innovation in University Teaching “Turning the teaching and learning
processes upside down: Reverse Classroom and Other Challenges of Higher Education”. University of Alcalá, May 2019.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 227
Introduction
On 13 March 2012, the European Parliament promoted chess as a pedagogical tool in the
education system. In Spain, this action is reected in the Congress of Deputies in 2015. ere
is abundant literature that demonstrates, as Kazemi etal. (2012) mention, the inuence of
chess on the development of mathematical skills or problem-solving, the increase of intel-
ligence or creativity Milat (1997). In this sense, Graber (2009) mentions the importance of
deep and long-term thinking, which is associated with chess and business. is would reduce
the short-sightedness of short-term prots, reduce investment in R&D and employee training
costs, among other things. Cannice, (2013, p. 25) points out that many strategic and general
concepts can be easily understood on a supercial level, but alternatively teaching methods
can be used to include these concepts to students better. In this sense, as mentioned by John-
son and Proctor (2017), how skills and abilities are acquired and maintained, as well as the
factors aecting qualied performance, are issues of high interest to both academia and the
professional world. Although there are no conclusive results on which the best pedagogical
methods for the acquisition of skills and abilities are, some authors, such as Farashahi and
Tajeddin (2018), have recently demonstrated that students perceive the simulation method
as the most eective compared to the case studies or lectures method.
In this work, a process of reexive experiential learning is collected, which relates con-
cepts in the context of strategic management and the teaching of the game of chess simul-
taneously. erefore, as mentioned (Osgerby etal., 2018) in line with the constructivist hy-
pothesis, students accumulate their knowledge through continuous active cognitive processes
that adapt to changing circumstances. Within the consideration of the constructivist method,
from which students acquire competences and construct knowledge as opposed to memoir-
istic learning, this work initially relies on the pedagogical model of the “ipped classroom”
(hereinaer FL), which refers to an inverted classroom, made known by Lage etal. (2000).
Subsequently, as Artero Escartin and Domeneque Claver (2018) mention, it was Berg-
mann and Sams (2012), who consolidated the “inverted classroom” or “reverse classroom”
methodology according to Talbert (2012). e objective of this is based on considering the
student in the central core of the learning process, through the promotion of self-learning,
interaction with the teacher, in the planning of activities, which includes the preparation of
an appropriate environment, the use of multimedia media and an appropriate and accepted
evaluation system. Some authors such as González-Fernández and Huerta (2019) indicate
that this methodology relates concepts of lessons learned and blended learning whose contri-
bution is related to the development of skills related to self-disciplined teams. Likewise, they
consider that students develop text-mindedness, and the development of spatial and visual
skills, being the process of learning by solving problems, factors that dene them.
In general, the teaching-learning process is related to Information Technologies, and to
the application of games in this process. As mentioned by Fernández-Mesa etal. (2016),
gamication is related to the incorporation of elements of the game, in our case chess, to a
non-ludic computer program with the aim of increasing their motivation (Dominguez etal.,
2013).
228 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
During the process of knowledge of chess, the students carry out a group research project,
in the relationship of the subject of strategic management of the company. e students carry
out a proactive process of learning by doing, with the tutoring of the teacher and specic
masterclasses, for conceptual or methodological explanations. As a consequence with this
process (understanding and/or application a particular concept or methods), and in line with
(VanSchenkhof etal., 2018) the experiential learning is an appropriate methodology, because
of that combine experiences, perception, cognition and behaviour (Kolb, 1984).
On the one hand, it seeks to take advantage of the process of reective learning in
the classroom, as proposed by Hedberg (2009). Authors as Minocha etal. (2017) make
an exciting development of an experiential process, where they try to argue that much
of business school practice and pedagogy is still rooted in content rather than context,
where priority is given to academic knowledge in favour of practice intelligence. In this
work we are also interested in addressing and developing the concept of Practice Intel-
ligence, as mentioned by Minocha etal. (2017) is dened as the capability of managers to
analyses, make sense of, reect upon and shape a response to complex problem contexts
and includes the aspects as; problem-solving, the relevance of creativity, imagination in
the approach of future scenarios.
On the other hand, and in line with Howard (2014), Cannice (2013), among others,
implementing a process of experiential learning, where the practice of the game of chess,
with strategic deductive and inductive approaches, the discovery of new knowledge and its
linkage with those related to strategic management make up the development structure and
the mechanisms of discussion and analysis. e contribution of this work focuses on the
simultaneous learning process of chess and the concepts of the strategic management eld in
an experiential learning process, employing the methodologies mentioned in courses 2017/18
and 2018/19 in the only subject of the fourth year of the business administration career. Ex-
cept for error, this is the rst experience carried out in Spain in the university context. e
simultaneous learning of chess with the consequent increase of cognitive skills and Strategic
Management concepts could intensify the motivation of the student and generate a virtuous
circle that drives both areas.
To determine the results achieved from the pedagogical innovation carried out, the con-
cept of the learning curve is used. According to Howard (2014) the validity and generality
of this law is debatable and subject to dierent considerations both in the eld of psychology
and economics. Learning, in this context, refers to the functional relationship between the
time required to improve the performance of an activity and the repetition activity Wright’s,
(1936). As mentioned by Grosse etal. (2015) learning (or experience) curves assume that
performance (output) improves as a task is repetitively performed, which is attributed to ex-
perience that is accumulated by the individual or group performing the task. ese authors
make an in-depth study of the works that use learning curves in the last three decades.
e work is organised as follows: the material and methods are set out in the following
section. e third section deals with the leading results. Finally, the fourth section presents
the main conclusions.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 229
1. Material and methods
1.1. Participants
e learning process has been carried out with 121 students from the fourth year of the
Business Administration and Management studies in the morning and aernoon shis, in
the subject of strategic management.
e learning process has been carried out in academic years 2017/18 and 2018/19, in
the career of Business Administration in the subject of fourth-year strategic management, as
mentioned. Table1 shows the composition of students per year and the percentage of them
who said whether they play chess.
Table1. Characteristics of the sample (source: own elaboration)
Course Nº of students Play chess
2017/18 64 (55% female, 45% male) 52.0%
2018/19 57 (53% female, 47% male) 47.4%
In order to know the level of chess knowledge of the students, dierent ways were used;
1) a small questionnaire was carried out, where among other things, the students were asked
if they knew how to play chess 2) the students who answered yes were suggested to download
the app Chess Live (https://chess-live.uptodown.com/android) and to be classied in one of
the six existing levels.
e information or process data has been collected by direct measurement from question-
naires and exercises provided to students during the four months from late January to early
May 2018 and 2019. e characteristics of the student sample tested are shown in Table2.
Table2. Characteristics of the student sample (source: own elaboration)
2017/18 2018/19
Population 83 78
Sample size 64(79.5%) 57(70.3%)
Sampling error 5.90% 6.78%
Condence interval 95% p = q = 0.5 p = q = 0.5
Analysis unit Student 4th strategic
management
Student 4th strategic
management
Geographical scope University of Alcala
(Madrid-Spain)
University of Alcala
(Madrid-Spain)
Type of sampling Convenience Convenience
Measuring instrument Anonymous survey Anonymous survey
Date of realisation may-2018 may-2019
230 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
e duration of the activities in the classroom is interrupted since they are two days a
week (plus the student’s activity outside the classroom) and continued during the term. e
type of learning is a motor learning and cognitive learning. Motor learning, since learning
is a chance, resulting from practise or a novel experience, in the capability for responding
Adams (1971). Cognitive learning, since students learning both by himself and by the group.
1.2. Materials
As Cannice (2013) mentions, it is dicult to decide when and how to carry out the simulta-
neous teaching of chess and SM. e strategic management subject is taught two days a week
in 1.5 and 3-hour classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (morning and aernoon) respectively
(not including tutorial classes). e time devoted to chess (average 18.75 hours/week in and
out of the classroom and DE = 7.30) the classes were compatible with the activities of the
subject. e students were free to choose the layout of the activities, which included tutor-
ing by the teacher and quality control of the work. e material provided to the students
consisted of movement and play comprehension exercises that are detailed in Table3 and the
Appendix. e students were provided with pieces and boards by groups (most frequently in
the academic year 2017/18), and they also used chess soware such as www.chess.com (most
oen in the academic year 2018/19). In the exercises to be developed, they were asked about
the time of the activities (in 2017/18), degree of understanding and the group to which they
belonged. Later, the questionnaires were collected with the keys that they chose. At the end
of each class (or in the following week’s class), the exercises were corrected. Table 3 shows
the 51 activities carried out (column 1). Activity 0 corresponds to a previous introduction
to chess; its history (including chess and cinema, chess and mathematics), the board and
movements of pieces through a website created by the author of this work.
e activities were composed of sub-activities (2 or 3). ese activities were delivered
on paper, with which the board and practice pieces were made available to the student.
Students recorded the time spent per activity, as well as the degree of understanding of the
activity. e grouping of activities is based around eight levels of diculty. e denition of
the activities is structured from the basic knowledge of movements and pieces, the openings,
the intermediate development, and the endings. e last column shows the resources used.
Regarding the average degree of comprehension of the activities between 0 and 100%, it was
80.40%, distributed according to levels; #1 = 90.8%; #2 =77.3%; #3 = 75.7%; #4=89.4%; #5 =
88.8%; #6 = 81.2%; #7 = 70.7; #8 = 68.9.
1.3. Methodology
1.3.1. Methodology of the analysis of learning patterns in the game of chess (2017/18)
e method followed has been the initial approach of the learning curves, however, and
given the heterogeneity of game levels observed since the beginning of the experiment and
the dierent possible learning patterns, an automatic detection process is used (lower val-
ue of the Akaike information criterion) of the time series by activity with both Statgraph-
ics and Gretl soware, which in addition to including the usual learning curves (power,
exponential, logarithmic or quadratic) allows detecting other models such as ARIMA.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 231
Table3. Description of activities in 2017/18 and resources used 2017/18 and 2018/19 (source: own
elaboration)
Vari a b l e
Number of
sub-activities
Learning
levels
Mean (time in
min.)
Standard deviation
Min
Max
Denition of the
activity Used resources
Activity_0 Presentation* 1)https://justodejorge.
wixsite.com/
justodejorge
Activity_1 2 1 0.56 2.56 0 20 Chess board_I 2) Boards and
physical pieces
provided
Activity_2 2 1 0.70 1.43 0 10 Chess board_II
Activity_3 2 1 2.10 2.41 0 15 Box names
(algebraic notation)
3) Exercises and
games on paper
Activity_4 2 1 0.48 1.04 0 5 Movements of the
pieces_1
Activity_5 2 1 0.56 1.23 0 5 Movements of the
pieces_2
Activity_6 2 1 0.65 1.40 0 5 Movements of the
pieces_3
Activity_7 2 1 0.59 1.24 0 5 Movements of the
pieces_4
Activity_8 2 1 0.72 1.55 0 8 Movements of the
pieces_5
Activity_9 2 2 5.82 4.32 0.3 20 Tactical and
strategic gameplay
1) Exercises and
games on paper
Activity_10 1 2 5.61 4.84 0.1 20 Fast checkmate
study_I
2) Projection of
the results by
transparencies
Activity_11 1 2 7.68 5.64 0.1 20 Fast checkmate
study_II
3) www.jinchess.com/
chessboard/composer
Activity_12 1 2 7.31 5.04 0.1 20 Concept of sacrice
and combinations
4) Chess_diagram_
maker.html www.
svg_experimenten.
deds.nl/chessboard/
Activity_13 2 2 8.25 7.05 0.1 30 Strategy and vision
of the game_I
5) Boards and
physical pieces
provided
Activity_14 3 2 3.43 2.37 0.1 15 Strategy and vision
of the game_II
6) www.chessgame.
com
Activity_15 3 2 4.05 2.86 0.2 12 Openings and
development_I
Activity_16 3 2 5.73 3.99 1.5 25 Openings and
development_II
232 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
Vari a b l e
Number of
sub-activities
Learning
levels
Mean (time in
min.)
Standard deviation
Min
Max
Denition of the
activity Used resources
Activity_17 3 2 7.36 5.15 0.3 25 Openings and
development_III
Activity_18 3 2 5.95 4.09 0.3 20 Intermediate game
movements_I
Activity_19 3 2 7.21 5.16 0.2 25 Intermediate game
movements_II
Activity_20 3 3 7.72 4.90 1.3 20 Intermediate game
movements_III
Activity_21 3 3 10.39 8.11 2 45 Intermediate game
movements_IV
Activity_22 3 3 6.12 4.52 1 20 Intermediate game
movements_V
Activity_23 3 3 6.11 5.22 1 25 Intermediate game
movements_VI
Activity_24 3 3 5.81 4.50 1.2 25 Intermediate game
movements_VII
Activity_25 3 3 4.91 2,74 0.5 13 Intermediate game
movements_VIII
Activity_26 3 4 3.64 2.5 0.5 10 Final game
moves_I
Activity_27 3 4 3.79 2.5 1 10 Final game
moves_II
Activity_28 3 4 4.39 3.4 0.3 15 Final game
moves_III
Activity_29 3 4 3.48 2.5 0.4 10 Final game
moves_IV
Activity_30 3 4 4.39 2.5 1 10 Final game
moves_V
Activity_31 3 5 3.59 2.2 1 10 Final game
moves_VI
Activity_32 3 5 3.96 2.5 1 10 Final game
moves_VII
Activity_33 3 5 3.99 3 1 15 Final game
moves_VIII
Activity_34 3 5 4.36 2.4 5 10 Final game
moves_IX
Continue Table 3
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 233
Vari a b l e
Number of
sub-activities
Learning
levels
Mean (time in
min.)
Standard deviation
Min
Max
Denition of the
activity Used resources
Activity_35 3 5 4.67 3.1 1 15 Final game
moves_X
Activity_36 3 6 6.02 5.7 1 27 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_37 3 6 4.29 3.1 1 20 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_38 3 6 4.23 2.5 0.3 10 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_39 3 6 4.25 4.7 0.4 20 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_40 3 6 9.24 5.4 2 20 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_41 3 6 12.64 6.8 2 25 Checkmate in
1 move
Activity_42 2 7 11.8 11 2 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_43 2 7 16.45 16 1 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_44 2 7 18.09 18 3 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_45 2 7 19.71 17 3 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_46 2 7 18.28 17 4 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_47 2 7 18.81 17 2 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_48 2 8 18.89 19 3 60 Checkmate in
2 move
Activity_49 2 8 21.28 20 1.5 60 Checkmate in
3 move
Activity_50 2 8 24.73 21 5 60 Checkmate in
3 move
Activity_51 2 8 19.13 18 1.5 60 Checkmate in
3 move
End of Table 3
234 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
In addition, the methodological proposal of (Box & Jenkins, 1973) has been considered. e
analyses and results that will be presented in the following section have been carried out
fundamentally on an individual basis per student and per group according to three levels; i)
25th percentile, middle and 75th percentile level.
1.3.2. Methodology of the analysis of the relationship between the game of chess and its
analogy with strategic management (2017/18 and 2018/19).
With the aim of capturing the relationship between the game of chess and the strategic man-
agement, a questionnaire was carried out in 2017/18 with two groups of questions, the rst
group of twenty questions (see Table5) that pose analogies with the strategic management
and the second group of three additional issues related to the feasibility of interrelating the
game of chess with the strategic management, with business management in a broad sense
and with continuity of the teaching of chess in future courses. Each question in the rst group
could contain two or more proposals and the possibility of the student, including a dierent
one. A ve-position Likert scale was used to show the student’s degree of agreement. In the
academic year 2018/19, the analogies were to be interpreted by the students and therefore,
only the le column of Table 5 (chess side analogy) was provided, and they had to com-
plete it with their interpretation of the concepts explained in the subject (SM side analogy).
To distinguish the relationship, a network analysis was applied. Besides, three additional
questions were included, relating to their level of satisfaction with the experience with the
association between chess and SM. In order to obtain the information from the surveys, a
descriptive analysis of means and a cluster analysis was carried out, which will be described
in the following section.
2. Results
2.1. Results of learning patterns in the game of chess
Table3 showed some characteristics of the activities carried out, including time by activity
(see also Appendix). Figure 1 shows the evolution of the meantime, 25th and 75th percentile.
As can be seen, the time spent on activities 40 to 51 is increasing, the most sophisticated
levels (6 to 8). Growth between activities 9 to 13 and 18 to 21 is also marked).
A higher level of detail of the time used is shown in Figure 2, where three groups can be
seen. e group#1 with the least time is made up of 15% of the sample (10 students), groups
#2 and #3; 59% (38 students) and 26% (16 students) respectively. For simplicity, only the
times of some students have been shown in the gure; the rest oscillate between the maxi-
mum and minimum values of each group. In the case of group #3, the times are even higher
than the 60 minutes that the Y-axis picks up.
In more detail, the violin graphs of the times of some activities in Figure 3 clearly show
the existence of dierent groups when analysing the exterior part of the charts (Kernel dis-
tributions). For example, the two or three modes in levels 5, 6 and 8.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 235
Figure 1. Times per activity (2017/18) (source: own elaboration)
Figure 2. Times by activity according to groups (2017/18) (source: own elaboration)
236 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
Figure 3. Violin graphs of the times of the selected activities and levels. (2017/18)
(source: own elaboration)
Table4 shows the results of the estimations of the learning trajectories for the whole
group in their average values, 25th and 75th percentile, and in an individualised way for
nine students as an example, according to their belonging to the previously established time
groups.
e classication of the models estimated in Table4, and shown in Figure 4, represent in
a similar way to the absent ones; exponential smoothing, ARIMA, random walk and linear
or quadratic models.
Table4. Group and individual learning trajectories (2017/18) (source: own elaboration)
Función Components RSME AIC
Classroom
Mean random walk 2.09 1.47
25th random walk 1.32 0.55
75th ARIMA (1,1,2) AR (1) –0.88(–5.40)**
MA(–0.82)** –MA(2) –5.43(–
4.16)**
4.11 1.48
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 237
Función Components RSME AIC
Students
Group #1
Student #1 Cuadratic function –0.803 +0.504 t– 0.007 t22.64 2.01
Student #2 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.562 1.48 0.82
Student #3 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.434 1.96 1.38
Student #4 Lineal function 0.534275 + 0.0829955 t 1.86 1.32
Student #5 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.51 1.48 0.82
Student #6 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.24 3.59 2.59
Student #7 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.65 1.41 0.73
Group #2
Student #8 ARIMA (1,1,1) AR (1) 0.44(3.31)** MA(1)
1.00(102.1)**
6.41 3.79
Student #9 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.37 3.99 2.81
Student #10 ARIMA (1,0,2) AR (1) 1.05(57.6)**MA(1)
0.42(3.15)**MA(2) 0.40(3.05)**
3.66 2.71
Student #11 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.58 3.46 2.52
Student #12 ARIMA (1,1,2) AR (1) –0.65(–3.26)**MA(1)
–0.31(-98.01)**1.81)MA(2)
0.61(5.66)**
4.81 3.26
Student #13 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.59 4.26 3.67
Group #3
Student #14 random walk 3.45 3.45
Student #15 random walk 8.4 4.25
Student #17 simple
exponential
smoothing
α = 0.69 7.66 4.11
Student #16 ARIMA (2,1,2) AR (1) 0.008(0.07) AR(2)
–0.66(–5.91)** MA(1) –0.02(–
27.9) MA(2) –1.05(–27.9)**
4.83 3.3
Note: ** p < 0.01; *p <0 .05 RSME = Root Mean Squared Error; AIC = Akaike Information criterium.
End of Table 4
238 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
Figure 4. Learning paths (2017/18) (source: own elaboration)
2.2. Results of the relationship between the game of chess and its analogy with the SM
Course 2017/18
To determine the relationship between the game of chess and the analogy with the business
world, through the strategic management, and under the methodology set out in section 2.3,
Table5, the results are shown. e fourth column shows the average values and the mode
of the grade according to the proposed analogy. In the h column, the analogy is sorted
according to the values in the fourth column. In general, high values of the degree of the
agreement are observed, the global average is 3.97(SD = 0.41), being the maximum aver-
age and mode value of 4.62(5), corresponding to item 9.1 relating to the movements of the
queen and the bishop in their diagonals and the analogy with the optimisation of resources.
e minimum value is in item 6.3, with 3.02(3) mean and mode respectively, related to the
tactical process of destruction of the opponent’s defense and control of squares and diagonals
and its analogy with the reduction of the eld of activity (product-market). erefore, a wide
range of analogies between chess and strategic management are internalised by the students.
ese associations were previously discussed with the students throughout the classes.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 239
Table5. Strategies of the chess game and its analogy with the strategic management (2017/18) (source:
own elaboration)
Item Questions Analogies with SM Mean
(Mode) Order Nº
1e analogy of the chess
board and its pieces, and
how to tactically deploy
resources is related to the
SM in terms of
1.1 Resources and capabilities of the rm
1.2 Understanding the environment
4.20(4)
3.88(4)
18
30
2e moves made by the
pieces in chess are related
to the strategic manage-
ment, in terms of ….
2.1 How managers deploy their resources
2.2 How CEO’s manage HR, technology
4.08(5)
3.72(4)
3
35
3In chess they move white
pieces rst, then black. If
both players had a per-
fect game. White’s pieces
advantage in moving rst
gives it the victory.
3.1 e leader rm in innovation is the
most competitive
3.2 Concept of creative destruction
4.05(4)
3. 23(3)
22
48
4In the rst moves you try
to dominate the center
of the board, if you play
with the white pieces. If
you dominate the center,
you control the board.
4.1 Leader rm dominate the sector
4.2 Following companies could dominate
the sector
4.46(5)
3.35(3)
9
47
5e double attack in-
volves the simultaneous
execution of two or more
simultaneous attacks
that the opponent can-
not counteract at the
same time, usually due to
weaknesses, this is related
in SM to
5.1 Product and market development
(diversication)
5.2 Product and process innovation
5.3 Vertical integration processes and
investment in R&D
3.77(4)
3.74(4)
3.71(4)
33
34
37
6e destruction of the
defense is a tactical pro-
cess, it is achieved when
a rival piece is directly
eliminated, which con-
trols important lines or
squares, this is related in
SM with
6.1 Organisational restructuring
6.2 e reorientation of the activity
6.3 e reduction of the eld of activity
3.85(4)
3.57(4)
3.02(3)
32
41
50
7e diving is another of
the tactical processes in
chess. is is the immo-
bilisation of an attacked
piece that would leave, if
moved, another piece of
greater value unprotected.
If this piece is the king,
the dive is absolute and
the total immobilisation,
this is related in SM to
7.1 Launching of ctitious or simulated
signals in strategies of fusion,
internationalisation, etc. that seek wear
and tear
7.2 Presence of causal ambiguity
3.72(4)
3.42(3)
36
46
240 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
Item Questions Analogies with SM Mean
(Mode) Order Nº
8Deviation is a tactical
process that consists of
forcing a rival piece to
leave its current position,
giving our pieces access to
decisive squares or lines,
this is related in SM to.
8.1 Market counter-segmentation
8.2 Exclusive access to suppliers with
new technology
8.3 Product/process dierentiation
3.45(4)
3.97(5)
4.03(5)
45
24
23
9When you move the
Queen or your Bishops,
you consider doing it in
wide range diagonals,
to take full advantage of
the capabilities of this
resource, this is related in
strategic management to.
9.1 Optimization of resources
9.2 Limited rationality
4.62(5)
3.12(3)
1
49
10 Sometimes, incorrect
movements of the own
pieces block the king’s
movements, making it
easier for the opponent to
checkmate.
10.1 Power and inuence of stakeholders
towards management
10.2 Conict of interest and balance for
survival
3.58(3)
4.28(4)
40
11
11 Attack on discovery, it is
that when a piece moves
and discovers the action of
another that is behind it, it
can create a threat between
the two. Sometimes, it can
be a double check, this is
related in SM to
11.1 Integration of the supplier in the
value chain
11.2 Strategic alliances with other
companies by national or international
markets
3.46(3)
4.17(5)
43
19
12 In processes of open-
ing and development of
games, the disposition
and movement of pawns
is fundamental, their
capacities increase, if it
is done properly, this is
related in SM to
12.1 Coordination of activities can
provide competitive advantages
(complementarity of resources)
12.2 Leadership / ecient management
turn weak points into strong points
(weak resources into strong ones)
4.23(4)
4.25(5)
16
13
13 When a crown pawn
(reaches the other side
of the board) becomes
another piece much more
powerful, this is related
in SM to
13.1 An eective HR leader develops HR
skills
13.2 Ecient leadership / management
turn weaknesses into strengths and
strategies
3.97(4)
4.57(5)
25
3
14 By castling in chess, the
king is protected, but the
king can be a key player
in the attack.
14.1 e protection of a valuable
resource prevents appropriateness
14.2 Protecting a valuable resource
prevents substitutability, imitability and
transferability
14.3 e protection of a valuable
resource, leads to causal ambiguity
3.68(3)
3.89(5)
3.62(3)
38
29
39
Continue Table 5
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 241
Item Questions Analogies with SM Mean
(Mode) Order Nº
15 When you perform a
movement and develop-
ment of a piece, do you
think about the purpose
you are pursuing? perhaps
you are more interested in
eliminating a rival piece,
than any other option,
this is related in SM to
15.1 Vision, purpose and objectives of
the company
15.2 Strategic planning
4.25(5)
4.58(5)
14
2
16 Before making a move, the
player evaluates his oppor-
tunities and threats due to
the opponent’s positioning,
this is related in SM to
16.1 Analysis of the specic environment
of the company
16.2 Metodología de las cinco fuerzas de
Porter
4.52(5)
4.32(5)
5
10
17 Before making a move, the
player evaluates and uses
his strengths and reects
on how to cover the weak-
nesses of his positioning,
this is related in SM to
17.1 Internal rm analysis (Value chain)
17.2 Vertical and horizontal links
17.3 Coordination and optimisation
activities
4.52(5)
3.46(3)
4.14(5)
6
44
20
18 In chess, it is necessary
to study the present
in depth and evaluate
alternate moves for the
following moves, this is
related in SM to
18.1 Scenery analysis
18.2 Decision Trees
4.55(5)
4.25(5)
4
15
19 In chess the anticipation
of the opponent’s move
involves developing in-
ductive and deductive
procedures (each move
follows a plan, our plan
induces our move while
from the opponent’s move
we must try to deduce his
plan), this is related in SM
to Guerras Martín and
Navas López (2007)
19.1 Change management and strategic
thinking
19.2 Leadership
4.49(5)
3.55(3)
8
42
20 Chess players oen anal-
yse their own moves to
correct mistakes and de-
sign strategies.
20.1 Strategic implementation
20.2 Organisational adjustment and change
20.3 Knowledge management (learning
by doing, proactivity)
20.4 Evaluation and selection of
strategies
20.5 Strategic adaptation (relationship
between strategy and the company’s
mission and objectives)
20.6 Strategic feasibility (possibility of
implementing a strategy)
20.7 Strategic acceptability (consequences
of choosing a strategy)
3.97(5)
4.23(5)
4.51(5)
4.28(4)
3.94(4)
3.88(4)
3.97(4)
26
17
7
12
28
31
27
End of Table 5
242 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
Course 2018/19
In the second year of the experience analysed instead of providing the associated analogy
of chess with the strategic management, so that it would be valued by the students, it was
they who should look for such a connection, as it was commented. In order to interpret the
results of the analysis, a network analysis was applied. Figure 5 shows the network analysis
associating 69% (37) of the students who performed the analogy test (henceforth Ana#).
e le side of Figure 5 shows the network, where six Ann# have an important represen-
tation; Ana#20; Ana#4; Ana#1; Ana#3; Ana#14 and Ana#9. While Ana#8 or Ana#12 among
others has the minimum density with the association of only one student. On the right side
of Figure 5, two of the students, stu#32 and stu#5, are shown with the highest ratio in the
recognition of a total of nine analogies.
2.3. Cluster analysis 2017/18 and 2018/19
By means of cluster analysis, applying the Ward grouping method (Ward, 1963) and the
Euclidean distance squared, three groups of students have been obtained for each year. e
groups are dened according to the average values of their degree of valuation according to;
the association of chess with the strategic management, with business management in general
and the recommendation to continue using chess in future courses. Table6 and 7 show the
results of the cluster and discriminant analyses, respectively.
e average values of each group and year are usually high, for the three items, with
the exception of group #3 of course 2018/19, which shows the lowest values. Table6 shows
the high percentages of successes in the classication, 100% and 98.1% of the 2017/18 and
2018/19 courses of the students in each group according to the discriminant analysis, as well
as the values of the tests and the statistical signicance of the classication functions.
Finally, Figure 6 shows the clouds of words, wherewith greater size, those more referenced
appear, from the opinions of the students for the two courses, analysed.
Figure 5. Network analysis (source: own elaboration)
Stud#5
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 243
2017/18 2018/19
Figure 6. Word clouds (source: own elaboration)
Discussion and conclusions
e aim of this study was to describe a process of learning and deep thinking of the game
of chess and its connection with the knowledge of the subject of strategic management, with
university students in their nal year of career for the academic years 2017/18 and 2018/19.
e students learned to play chess in a ipped classroom and bleding learning process and
developed a research group work for the subject.
Figure 5. Network analysis (source: own elaboration)
Stud#5
Table6. Interrelationship questions by cluster (source: own elaboration)
Item Curso % (stud.) Group #1 Group #2 Group #3 Test
(Pvalor)
It is possible to
interrelate the game of
chess and the SM
2017/18 32.8(21) 4.61 3.93 4.71 63.5(0.00)
2018/19 51.8(28) 4.10 4.71 2.58 32.5(0.00)
It is possible to
interrelate the game
of chess and business
management in general.
2017/18 24.6(16) 4.38 3.81 4.60 5.90(0.00)
2018/19 25.9(14) 3.82 4.98 2.83 66.6(0.00)
I would recommend
the teacher to continue
with the introduction
of chess in the ST
2017/18 43.0(28) 4.71 3.62 4.67 14.1(0.00)
2018/19 22.2(12) 4.50 4.85 2.66 40.1(0.00)
Table7. Test of discriminant analysis (source: own elaboration)
Wilks lambda Test (Pvalor) % of successes
2017/18 Function#1 0.006 183.5(0.000) 100
Function#2 0.115 78.7(0.004)
2018/19 Function#1 0.154 93.4(0.000) 98.1
Function#2 0.723 16.1(0.000)
244 J. De Jorge-Moreno. Relationship between university education in strategic management and chess...
e main results reveal the existence of dierent learning groups in relation to the times
and levels of diculty by activities in 2017/18. Likewise, dierent learning patterns have been
identied; given that, as Howard (2014) mentions, there are no unique forms of learning
curves for the full range of skills and abilities of individuals. In general terms, an increase in
the level of learning in the game of chess is detected, with the predictions made by the dif-
ferent models despite the degree of diculty of the levels, especially the seventh and eighth
levels. 64% of the students would keep time constant for future activities, 12% would reduce
time, and the remaining 24% would share proportionally an increase or oscillation of time
in the above-mentioned course.
One of the main contributions of the work relates to the association of the game of chess
with the concepts of the SM. e underlying idea is the motivation that the game of chess
exerts on students to foster greater understanding. In the academic year 2017/18, analogies
were proportionate, and students evaluated the grade according to them. In spite of the results
achieved with high values on a Likert scale in that year (as shown in Table5), in the academic
year 2018/19, it was the students who had to look for this relationship in an autonomous way,
looking for a greater process of connection with the concepts. e network analysis shows a
satisfactory result where at least 69% of the students recognise between 1 and 9 analogies, and
none of them remains unrecognised. e simultaneous learning of chess with the concepts in
management could have a kind of virtuous circle by means of which the increase of cognitive
abilities could be related to the domain in the eld of management and vice versa.
is new experience in Spain contributes to lling a perhaps signicant gap in the lit-
erature. In parallel, the practice of chess in the classroom has corroborated a level of com-
mitment and motivation of students in the knowledge of the concepts of strategic manage-
ment, as well as the concept of practical intelligence, especially in terms of problem-solving,
creativity and future scenarios. e results achieved could suggest the incorporation of chess
practice as a motivating factor in management subjects.
Limitations and future research directions
Possible extensions of this work could relate to the introduction of time limit monitoring
in activities or sub-activities. Also, a dierent sequencing to that maintained in this work,
reducing the number of levels in the degree of complexity. In relation to the limitations, the
size of the classroom and the dierent initial levels of knowledge of chess, have been a real
challenge to carry out this work. Finally, the combination of activities, between chess and
the experience of strategic management are complicated to manage, requiring large doses of
planning. ese limitations are perhaps challenging to solve, although possible help could be
associated with a higher number of teachers involved in the process.
Acknowledgements
e author of this study appreciates the participation and consent to make public the results,
to the students of the courses 2017/18 and 2018/19. Also, to Rebeca de Jorge Huertas and
Milagros Huertas de Lucas for their help in the development of multimedia media and da-
tabases. Any error is the sole responsibility of the author of this work.
Business, Management and Education, 2020, 18(2): 226–246 245
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Appendix
Table A1. Example of activities