Algo No Cuadra

A 90-minute, 4-round Express simulation in the learner's own chair as a purchasing manager and second signatory whom a colleague and friend asks, one evening, to approve by noon tomorrow a success-fee "commercial support" contract that feels off: asking three questions and meeting in the morning rather than promising the signature, accusing in writing or asking for a covering email; checking the company registry, the contract and its deliverable and the company's own third-party policy rather than taking his word or rewording the request so it passes; not approving, said face to face and recorded with the reason, rather than letting the deadline pass, passing it up or signing; reporting through the internal compliance channel rather than keeping it between friends, a word with the boss or going to the customer first; holding the relationship with the colleague and giving the general manager facts; handing the inquiry everything, never deleting a message; and writing a complete, accurate statement, then proposing a rule that catches the next request.

Nuria Pajares Bayon (fictional) is the purchasing manager of Envases Duraton, a fictional Valladolid maker of food packaging; the fee is 63,000 euros, 3 percent of the first year of the fictional customer Alimentaria Campos Goticos's tender, and the consultancy turns out to be run by the sister of the customer's purchasing director.

You decide what you answer tonight and what you check, what you do with the approval and who you tell, how you handle the colleague and the general manager and what you hand the compliance officer, and what you write in your statement and do from there.

Scored on how clearly you see the facts, the chance that it ends clean, the margin the company keeps, your time and energy, your relationship with the colleague and your credibility in the company, and open risk; three shortcuts (signing once the facts are known, deleting the messages, a statement that moves your objection earlier) come back and cap the score. Spanish primary, English included.

An intermediate simulation for participants who already know the core concepts of the subject, designed for master's and MBA programmes.