La Molleindustria

With the management game ‘To Build a Better Mousetrap’, Molleindustria inspires critical thinking about employment law and working conditions in the capitalist system. The title is an ironic corruption of a quote from 19th century American writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” has featured in numerous management lectures about contemporary capitalism. In the game you are the CEO of a manufacturing company and you have to find a balance between profit margins and satisfied employees. You are allowed to fire or even jail overly recalcitrant employees. In the spirit of innovation you can maximize profits by replacing your employees with computers and machines. But then large groups of rebellious ex-employees, hungry and desperate, swarm the gates of your business. What now? Is this reality?

www.molleindustria.org/to-build-a-better-mousetrap