The MarketPlace Business Simulation - How to Win EDITED 5-31-09

The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 - Fires of Heaven Guild ...http://www.fohguild.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e... Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board > Fires of Heaven Related Forums > Other Games User Name Password Today's Posts Remember Me? The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 ForumSpy Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Share 02-11-2008, 11:56 PM LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes #1 (permalink) Frieza_Prexus Fighter of the Nightman The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 Ok people, Originally I put this post up to get help with the game. My team (Actually me, the guy who did most of the hard work) kicked ass in the spring of 2008 at University of Houston Clear Lake. Since then, nearly a dozen people have emailed me, PM'd me, and so on asking for help on their simulations. Most seem to find this thread via Googling. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Houston, Tx. Posts: 234 +13 Internets What this post contains is the various pieces of advice I've since given out. Also, I've attached a number of reports and presentations that were used in this class. The formatting is a bit sloppy, I'll be cleaning it up as time permits 1 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 Instead. The "best" ad may only have 3-4 selling points instead of all 9 or 10 (I forget how many you can have) We always did a new ad every quarter with 2-3 smaller ads in less circulation to "test" new ideas. 2 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 . take advantage of promotions like crazy. Also. You only need to put each small ad out once in each market.. CostCutterAd2. This made it easy to keep track of them. but always try to at least improve something if you can.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. We found it best to sell the same computer to each market. if you haven't already bought your marketing data. IE Don't make two different workhorses for two different regions. or rather we could have done it better.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . Inno 1. This way you might stumble upon the "best" ad. Someone must crunch the numbers on every single ad and product your opponent offers.. Undercut their prices. Marketing Data First. But without the big picture you will lose. This game is less about optimizing each little tweak and more about a massive macro strategy. So what we did wrong was we didn't do enough experimenting. Brands You cannot win by focusing on a single segment. CostCutterAd1. You must dominate all others. feel free to do both of course. Hit all of them with extreme prejudice. Also. Making a different one for each segment didn't do too well as it was costly.. Don't bother with a cost benefit analysis. we named our brands and ads very simply. Just remember that your opponents will see your new ad's rating and copy it.. Also. always ALWAYS buy the best. Sell the same brand for each segment to each region. always buy every piece of research you can. This can get vicious and you want to do the hurting Advertising We made a mistake here. In the computer game I'd have paid every cent we had for near perfect market info. http://www. Even if you don't immediately plan to go into that market it can help you understand your opponents ratings and scores. and create many small ads (as many as you can reasonably afford). That said. IE: Workhorse 1 or WH 1. Local ads you can change for a regions product we didn't find that too useful. In real life it would be necessary because real life statistics are messy. You want to use regional advertising ASAP.fohguild. Don't be afraid to copy. Opponents Always read and interpret everything your opponents do. Just because the traveler might have better margins doesn't mean you cant hit the cost cutter. traveler 2.Fires of Heaven Guild . circulate your main ad a lot. fohguild. only half the rebates are claimed saving you money. When it comes time for internal promotions abuse the hell out of them. in some cases. So 4 people doing traveler is like having 1 other person in each other brand as well. Around quarter 4/5 we said screw it and 3 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .. At most hire 10 sales reps (this is a general rule there can be exceptions). Every quarter you need a price drop if possible. http://www. Do not be afraid to spend money. Regions We went after a few choice cities and then went to the less appealing ones because we thought our competitors were going to fight over the best. You MUST achieve the maximum as quickly as possible. You typically want your ad appearing I think at least 3 times a week in each of the big 3 magazines/publications for that segment. It is difficult to get the Mercedes market without heavy R&D and it will eat into your economies of scale. Pricing The prices you get in your data are the maximum the customers are willing to pay.Fires of Heaven Guild .. You will see in the compustar report how we did it. Also. You just need to look closely at the data. Never just drop prices.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 .. we bought almost everything in our game. R&D Buy the best things as soon as you can. As you can see.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. NEVER use general sales people. Also. we used our innovator to double as a Mercedes. Your costs drop dramatically. Selling & Promotions Never. Always use a rebate and then next quarter go below that. Speaking of Economies of Scale. There should be a section on ad frequency in my attached reports. will be over 10. If you are feeling smart.We had enough R&D so that our innovator could easily double as a Mercedes. Always always be the cheapest.. The sooner you get those economies of scale the sooner you can discount your opponents into the dirt. Don't be afraid to spend money. Remember that salespeople assigned to a certain brand will spend about 25% of their time selling other brands. We were wrong. Rebates are best to use first because they are a special promotion and that helps. If you rebate and then don't drop prices they perceive it as a price increase. you can optimize the right sales person number and that. We normally put 3-5 reps on our best segment and spread the rest between the other brands in descending order of usefulness. these are extremely important. You only need 1-2 customer service reps in a city depending on how much that particular city values service. or Email me at: jason(delete me I'm paranoid about spambots)juren AT comcast DOT net Good luck. If a random person offered you $5 for nothing would you take it? I sure as hell would. Summary Ok. we got a B minus on our reports if I remember. Below are the reports we used in our class. Fortunately for you. If anyone has any questions please feel free to post them. remember that EACH GAME IS DIFFERENT! We did not play with factories enabled. Notice we bought no R&D for the Q8 to Q9 decision set. 4 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . conditions. Quote: Originally Posted by Original Post Long story short. They were thrown together mostly by myself and a hard working young lady at the midnight hour... Just because a city will only give you a "little" profit. I assume everyone here knows what plagiarism is. you only need to splurge until the quarter 9 decisions. but it's still a game nonetheless. but admittedly they're very rough. and other things all of which can be used "creatively" if one knows about them. Yeah. This pulled our score down. That means there are rules. Finally. that's all I've got for now. Yes. In this game you need to take every little bit. Who cares if your decisions would have tanked the company? You just won the game. Also. Expand. but I wouldn't appreciate it getting an email from a professor asking me to take this down because some jackass decided to cut and paste..Fires of Heaven Guild .fohguild. If we had bought some & done more sales contests/promotions we would have had an even higher score. Final Score Your final score is based off the balanced score card. They've got a lot of good info. (Almost we left a few unopened unfortunately).org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. Expand. I doubt this will be the case. Think back to your economics classes where you want to hit that point just before where a unit's contribution margin becomes 0. opened as many offices as we could afford. in real life you cannot keep dropping prices and sending your sales persons to Aruba. that isn't a good reason to stay out. my MBA program is making us play MarketPlace.. http://www. It's pretty complex. Expand. well. That changes things considerably. PM me. Your investment in the future counts here. Quite frankly.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . I'd appreciate any advice.327 02-12-2008.. 02-12-2008.. 6188 views) CompuStar. 06:12 AM #2 (permalink) Sharmai 2011 Scion xB Nvm the whole thing is web based. Probably not as hard to learn and beat as Civ III on Demi-God though) my grade is based partially upon how well I beat the other teams. If it was downloadable I'd bet I could figure out and exploit its weakness in short order.MarketingPlan..5 KB.Fires of Heaven Guild .. __________________ Condoms/abortion/sex ed is cheaper than state paid welfare/daycare/support which is cheaper than prisons. Reason: The voices made me do it. but it's 5 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 . While I'm giving the program the respect it deserves as a learning tool. Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 7. 02-12-2008 at 06:14 AM.S. 5876 views) Last edited by Frieza_Prexus.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e.doc (274. It's pretty complex.. Ugh.doc (755. -Someone smarter than me Last edited by Sharmai.. (I just read the 57 page how to play guide. 06-28-2011 at 09:28 AM. For anyone interested here's a link to the games site: Marketplace business game: changing corporate culture Attached Files CompuStar Final Report to Headquarters Game 3 Team 1.5 KB. 07:48 AM #3 (permalink) Quote: Lyrical Registered User Originally Posted by Frieza_Prexus Long story short. my MBA program is making us play MarketPlace.. I'm entering my first quarter decisions Friday. P.fohguild. http://www.. I aim to get an A by beating the everliving shit out of those 40 something go back to school for my degree guys. So if anyone has played it. (I just read the 57 page how to play guide. I have tons of advice from seeing that the winning teams did. Probably not as hard to learn and beat as Civ III on Demi-God though) my grade is based partially upon how well I beat the other teams..S. conditions.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. It would help if you could tell me whether or not your simulation was close to the one we did. That means there are rules. etc.956 Quite frankly.. I might have advice. 02-12-2008. In our program. and other things all of which can be used "creatively" if one knows about them. Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 4. make up the properties of our own products. if I knew which simulation you guys were running. We were competing with four or five other corporations in the same industry. Ugh. I aim to get an A by beating the everliving shit out of those 40 something go back to school for my degree guys. still a game nonetheless. 08:48 AM #5 (permalink) 6 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 . We could control R&D budgets. While I'm giving the program the respect it deserves as a learning tool. P. We competed to see who could get the best financial outcome.Fires of Heaven Guild . each team had its own corporation. For anyone interested here's a link to the games site: Marketplace business game: changing corporate culture We did this in our program. 08:01 AM #4 (permalink) nustabut EVERQUEST BRANDS simulation? Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 131 -12 Internets 02-12-2008.. I'm entering my first quarter decisions Friday. So if anyones played it I'd appreciate any advice. If so. http://www..fohguild.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . position and re-position ourselves across the multi-dimensional scale. As a matter of fact. and avoiding adding new products that just "me too" products will pay dividends. In our simulation we're responsible for rolling out a brand of new computers and expanding into new markets with the focus being on marketing/advertising.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. 12:36 PM #6 (permalink) Frieza_Prexus Fighter of the Nightman I'm doing the micro computer scenario. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Houston. But I think you will find that those that branch out into new products early. Our simulations are different.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 ..Fires of Heaven Guild . Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 529 -4 Internets 02-12-2008. my group has to make the decisions for the current quarter in class later today. I think the professor dumbed it down a bit. 07:13 PM #7 (permalink) Quote: Lyrical Registered User Originally Posted by Frieza_Prexus I'm doing the micro computer scenario. http://www. as I don't believe we have the full set of tools. spend enough R&D dollars to have good quality and specs that customers want. those that struck out and did innovative things early in the first round got so far ahead of everyone else that 7 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 . Loftish v2 Registered User We're using this in my 200-level Marketing class.. Tx.. When we did our simulation.fohguild. Posts: 234 +13 Internets 02-12-2008.. we were too far behind. Computopia 2.S.. C. Our final brand ratings were as follows: Cost Cutter: 91 (the margins for this segment sucks ass but we owned it so easy few milion every quarter) Innovator/mercedes: 99/78 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Houston. Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 4.662 Game 3 2.444 Game 3 10. CompuStar 315. but you do NOT have to build factories. By the time we figured out the levers to the simulation.. That option was disabled.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . Tx.137 +61 Internets Man.fohguild. My team was CompuStar and we beat the hell out of the other teams in our game and I won the overall competition for Spring 2008 at University of Houston Clear Lake.833 Game 2 6.854 Game 1 8. sell . 1.Fires of Heaven Guild . VIA International Solutions 222.362 Game 2 12.019 Game 1 3. Omega 6.000 Game 3 We sold 4 brands.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e.231 Game 1 11. MicroChip 36.780 Game 1 5. WorldLink 20. 04-25-2008. 01:32 PM #9 (permalink) Frieza_Prexus Fighter of the Nightman My team (and by team I mean me the guy who did all the work) has just finished the microcomputer scenario. LifeBOOK PC 5.. http://www. Orange 1. Below are our balanced score card totals after 8 quarters. Posts: 234 +13 Internets 8 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .672 Game 2 7.193 Game 2 9.. 10:27 PM #8 (permalink) Soriak Legendary Join Date: May 2002 Location: NYC Posts: 7. Ours was the one where you have to design. and advertise the comps. Our innovator doubled as mercedes brand. this sounds like a fun game.X 8.591 Game 3 4.956 we couldn't catch up... 02-12-2008. AgilitY 0. looks like the only way to buy it is if you have a code from an instructor though. Endeavor Technologies 1. Apex Technologies 0. .713. Our ads were something we could never really fix. With Cost Cutter sucking and traveler pwning. all but 5 components. but if anyone has any questions on how to win I'll be happy to help out....Fires of Heaven Guild . http://www. 9 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .fohguild. They were all between 78 and 88. Q8 revenues: $135.298 I know each game is different.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e.072.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 .700 Cumulative net profit for division as of end of Q8: $74. WorkHorse: 94 Traveler: 100 We bought a ton of R&D. . http://www.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 ..Fires of Heaven Guild .. 04:57 PM #10 (permalink) 10 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e.fohguild.. Attached Images 04-25-2008. They took like 97% market share. 05-31-2009.. We had one of the competing team just throw out several thousand adds compared to everyone elses hundred or so and take insane losses. It was stupid.The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . Join Date: Apr 2003 11 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 .fohguild. 04-25-2008 at 05:54 PM. Loftish v2 Registered User I just completed this earlier this semester in a marketing class. Also.. Hated the damn thing.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e... but because of how the game goes. Last edited by Kheldin. Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 529 -4 Internets 04-25-2008. the game was pretty enjoyable for a wholly academic simulation. Ex. can you edit the thread title to reflect what I edited the initial post to? I changed it but the forum won't display: "The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 7/31/09" Last edited by Frieza_Prexus. 07-31-2009 at 11:38 AM. if a mod sees this. As soon as one firm gets ahead. they are nigh but untouchable. and not worry about any downsides.. Ours was more oriented towards the marketing side of things. http://www. I don't think we spent money on R&D.. 05:25 PM #12 (permalink) Frieza_Prexus Fighter of the Nightman Bump so everyone that needs to see it can find it easily. they could still do that Cap. The problem with the marketplace thing is that there's no downside to sucking. and the other 5 teams fought for the other 3%. Overall. Had to do Capstone Business Simulation (Business Games at Management Simulations) for strategic management and that was a lot more complex/interesting/welldone. 05:49 PM #11 (permalink) Kheldin The Brewmaster Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta Posts: 565 +2 Internets We had to do this game for our marketing class junior year.Fires of Heaven Guild . Tx.. http://www. FoH.org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e. Posts: 234 +13 Internets 09-13-2011. Location: Houston. 05:16 PM #13 (permalink) Gilgamel FoH Fantasy Champ Hah.fohguild. I Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Rocky Top Posts: 9.. the nurturing mother to us all. __________________ Just an earthbound misfit.810 +24 Internets Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board > Fires of Heaven Related Forums > Other Games > The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 « Previous Thread | Next Thread » Posting Rules You You You You may may may may not not not not post new threads post replies post attachments edit your posts BB code is On Smilies are On [IMG] code is On 12 of 13 6/19/2012 5:00 . solver of any and all possible life problems...Fires of Heaven Guild .The MarketPlace: Business simulation:How To Win EDITED 5/31/09 . Who'd have thought googling for l33t infoz would lead me to FoH. I'm actually doing this now. Archive . Contact Us .org/forums/other-games/33070-marketplace-business-simulation-how-win-e.8.0 Copyright ©2000 .2012...Fires of Heaven Guild Web Site . The time now is 09:54 PM.. 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