If you teach marketing or train executives, you’ve probably noticed it: circularity has become a core strategy question, not just a CSR talking point.
In our recent Teaching Circularity in Marketing panel discussion, three leading educators shared how they make this shift real for their learners, using hands-on simulations that turn sustainability into practical decisions, trade-offs, and measurable results.
The tools they use:
StratX Simulations are used by more than 500 business schools and 40 Fortune 500 companies in over 80 countries.
Simulations make sustainability tangible. They place learners in realistic, data-driven markets where every choice affects brand performance, costs, and reputation. This allows participants to feel the impact of their decisions and understand how to balance growth with responsibility. For educators, it turns circularity from an abstract concept into a business strategy challenge.
From concept to mindset shift
At SKEMA Business School, Lecturer Laurence Nahmias uses Circular Markstrat during the induction week for Master’s students: over 120 future marketers, all diving into their first team-based strategic challenge. The goal isn’t just to teach marketing frameworks, but to help students understand how sustainability and business growth work hand in hand.
“Markstrat was already the perfect team-building exercise and a marketing refresher. In Circular Markstrat, it becomes even more powerful as it fosters self-reflection and a real shift in mindset.” — Laurence Nahmias
Her course design reflects SKEMA’s broader mission to prepare global, adaptable, and responsible leaders. Through the simulation, students experience the same pressure and complexity they’ll face in real organizations, developing not just analytical skills, but also resilience, collaboration, and systems thinking.
What works for Laurence:
Student reactions:
“Everything felt so real. We were making decisions as if it were truly our company.”
“The business game was very educational, especially with the circular dimension.”
In this clip, Laurence shares student reactions including how the simulation creates an “aha moment” when students realize that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand.
Marketing Professor Sandrine Macé brings Circular Markstrat to Master’s and Executive programs across Europe, Lebanon, and Vietnam at ESCP Business School. Her students experience firsthand how circularity influences business outcomes, forcing them to navigate evolving regulations and rethink innovation.
🎥 Watch: 00:20:45 – 00:22:05
Here, Sandrine tells a compelling story about a student team blindsided by an unexpected eco-tax and how that moment became a lasting lesson about innovation, adaptability, and anticipating regulation.
Three powerful classroom lessons
“Authenticity must come from real product innovation.” — Student quote shared by Sandrine Macé
“Eco-tax hits us faster than our next R&D.” — Student team, ESCP Vietnam
What works for Sandrine:
Here, Sandrine tells a compelling story about a student team blindsided by an unexpected penalty for one of their products and how that moment became a lasting lesson about greenwashing.
At INSEAD, Professor Wolfgang Ulaga integrates CircularPRO into the Transition to General Management program, a two-week executive “mini-MBA.” The simulation runs over two rounds and mirrors the fast-paced, high-stakes environment executives face in their own organizations. It helps senior leaders from diverse professional backgounds and countries connect profitability, marketing, and sustainability in a practical, data-driven way.
At the start of each session, many executives arrive a bit skeptical. Marketing, to them, can seem abstract compared to finance or operations. To overcome this, Wolfgang begins with what he calls a “starting challenge” — asking teams to assess their market, articulate a positioning strategy, and decide where they’ll focus their first product improvements.
This exercise immediately brings energy into the room. It shows participants that marketing is not about intuition but about making confident, evidence-based choices under pressure.
“Some think marketing is fluffy. The simulation lets us make fact-based, data-based decisions.” — Wolfgang Ulaga
“When the results come out, you can feel the excitement in the room. They debate, they challenge, they realize that marketing decisions are not soft at all — they’re data-driven.” — Wolfgang Ulaga
He also notes how the experience fosters leadership alignment across functions:
“It’s fascinating to see how different functional leaders approach decisions. The marketing head, the CFO, the operations lead — they all have to align on what ‘value’ means in a circular economy. That’s where the leadership learning happens.” — Wolfgang Ulaga
“We really got hooked. We’d love to do another run.” — Executive participant
What works for Wolfgang:
Begin with a starting challenge to push teams to make quick, confident decisions.
Share a short tutorial video before class to maximize discussion time.
Challenge teams early to define their market strategy and priorities.
Use the one-product-change rule to teach focus and sequencing.
Conduct deep debriefs to link outcomes to segmentation, pricing, and sustainability.
Encourage reflection on how short-term choices affect long-term business value.
The debrief is often the most animated moment of the program, as executives connect their decisions to real business outcomes and leave with a new appreciation for how sustainable strategy drives measurable growth.
In this clip, Wolfgang shares what happens when teams see their results for the first time: the moment when skepticism turns into engagement. The atmosphere shifts as participants get immersed into the decisions.
💬 Book a 20-minute demo of Circular Markstrat or CircularPRO to see how experiential learning can transform the way you teach circularity