THRESHOLD SOLO COMPETITOR: A MANAGEMENT SIMULATION (V 1.0) A PLAY ALONE, TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION & ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 THRESHOLD SOLO COMPETITOR: A MANAGEMENT SIMULATION (V 1.0) A PLAY ALONE, TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION & ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT Philip H. Anderson, University of St. Thomas David A. Beveridge Timothy W. Scott, Mankato State University INTRODUCTION Threshold Solo Competitor: A Management Simulation is a Windows-based computer simulation exercise. Threshold Solo Competitor simulates the workings of a small, two-product manufacturing business. It is a play-alone version of Threshold Competitor (1998), a management simulation published by Prentice Hall, that allows participants to play the game by themselves, at their own pace. Materials include installation disks, a participant’s manual, and an administrator’s manual. Threshold Solo Competitor is very user friendly, for both the administrator and the participants. The software runs in a Windows 3.1, 95, or NT environment. Participants make decisions in Threshold Solo Competitor that are identical to those found in Threshold Competitor. However, rather than compete against other student-managed companies, Threshold Solo Competitor uses expert logic to create an environment that places participants in competition with 15 semi-intelligent companies managed by the computer. While these competitors will act rationally, they are not all-knowing “perfect competitors.” While efficient at managing individual components of the decisions, the computer is not as adept at managing the interdependencies and subtleties involved in running an enterprise. The program is designed such that, as students work with Threshold Solo Competitor, they should be able to apply their adaptive managerial skills to establish a competitive advantage in the industry. Threshold Solo Competitor has been designed for use in Introduction to Business or Introductory Management courses. It has been used successfully in senior-level strategy courses, in MBA short courses, capstone courses in community colleges, and in distance learning situations. Threshold Solo Competitor’s distance learning capabilities are especially valuable, since the participants can operate independent of any need for administrator processing of decisions. Participants can send their results either electronically or by surface mail. PARTICIPANT FEATURES Participants operate as general managers making the decisions needed to run a small manufacturing company. The participant’s company is one of 16 that are in competition with each other in the same marketplace. Each decision period represents 3 months (i.e., one quarter) of the company’s operations. Participants make approximately 30 decisions per quarter, using a personal computer to enter their decisions on a disk that contains all their company files. They can forecast “what if?” scenarios. They can review previous quarters’ decisions and results either on the screen or on printouts as they work. When their decisions for a quarter of operations are final, the participants select the “Process Quarter” option. This option processes the current quarter decisions of the participant and the computer-managed companies and moves the companies’ operations on to the next quarter. The Threshold Solo Competitor program determines the number of products each company sold and also produces a series of operations, marketing, and financial reports for each company. The program also rates the companies and ranks them according to predetermined criteria. Threshold Solo Competitor allows students to process their decisions quickly and provides them with reports that show the results of those decisions. Threshold Solo Competitor allows students to practice their management skills, by themselves, at their own pace. Participants can restart Threshold Solo Competitor as often as they like. Restarting erases all the 40 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 companies’ previous performance records and allows the participant to start replaying Threshold Solo Competitor when the company first begins operations in Quarter 1. Each time participants restart, the computer automatically sets up a new competitive environment. The computer determines what the level of demand will be for the products, the importance of the marketing variables (e.g., price, TV ads) for determining the sales level of each of the companies, and the costs of operating in the industry (e.g., the cost of TV advertising, raw materials, etc.). Threshold Solo Competitor can generate hundreds of different competitive environments. Threshold Solo Competitor offers users many advantages. The play-alone participant can run the simulation not tied to anyone else’s schedule. If participants perform poorly against the computer competitors, they can stop playing the current setup and start a new competition quickly and easily. It provides a challenging environment to practice and to learn management skills. INSTRUCTOR FEATURES Threshold Solo Competitor has an administrator program that allows an instructor to control some of the features of the participant’s program. These include determining (1) the economic environment (industry demand, costs, and weightings of performance variables) participants will face, (2) if and when students will confront any managerial dilemmas (behaviorally-oriented decisions), and (3) whether the restart option for participants is disabled. Disabling the restart option lets instructors use Threshold Solo Competitor as an assessment instrument to examine students individually, without team effects, on their knowledge of the simulation and their ability to manage their company in its competitive environment. By presetting the industry demand, costs, and weightings of performance variables, the instructor can have all students face the same economic environment. With the restart option disabled, the students have only one pass through the sequence of quarters to successfully manage their company. The instructor can use the ratings on the performance factors to evaluate the student’s performance. This exam can be conducted either with all of the students sequestered in a computer lab or as a take-home exam. The Threshold Solo Competitor administrator program is also able to read the data file on a student’s Threshold Solo Competitor disk. This allows the instructor to printout or view administrator reports that show the performance of all 16 companies operating in an industry. These administrator reports include Marketing reports (e.g., pricing, advertising, and unit sales), break-even analyses, operations reports (e.g., Mfg. COGS assessments), financial reports (e.g., common-size income statements). The Threshold Solo Competitor administrator reports are identical to those generated by its sister product, Threshold Competitor. Threshold Solo Competitor is unique in its ability to offer an instructor the use of managerial and ethical dilemmas. While each team faces the same behaviorally-oriented, the response to the dilemma decision made by a company can vary among companies - even if they choose the same course of action in their attempt to manage the problem. With the flexibility provided by the administrator program, an instructor can use Threshold Solo Competitor for an introductory trial and practice before beginning the use of Threshold Competitor, for exams after completing the use of Threshold Competitor, or as a stand-alone pedagogical tool. Threshold Solo Competitor ‘s stand-alone features make it especially suited for large lecture classes by lessening the administrative burden on the instructor, while still providing students the opportunity for hands-on application of concepts and topics discussed in the classroom. The administrator’s manual describes, in detail, how to make use of each of these features of Threshold Solo Competitor AVAILABILITY Threshold Solo Competitor will be published by Prentice Hall. Expected release date is early 1998. If you are interested in receiving this product, please contact one of us. Our e-mail addresses are: phanderson@stthomas.edu tyrone@vax1.mankato.msus.edu 41 Table of Contents Volume 25, 1998 Marketing Goes to the Movies Bringing Experiential Learning to a Principles of Marketing Course Investment Analysis Application Using In-house Spreadsheet Models SugarCoated Statistics: An Exercise for the First Day of Class Improving Undergraduate Student Involvement in Management Science and Business Writing Courses Using the Seven Principles in Action Establishment and Funding for Interuniversity / Multidisciplinary Student experiences The Prospects of Creative Teaching: A Discussion with Patricia Sanders The Simulation and Classroom Assessment Techniques Developments of Management Skill Assessment Games as Instruments of Assessment: A Framework for Evaluation The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Curricula Threshold Solo Competitor: A Management Simulation (V1.0) a Windows-Based. Play Alone, Total Enterprise Simulation and Assessment Instrument Toward An Understanding of One's self-concept Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Improving Student Perceptions and Simplifying Administrative Workloads The Expatriate an Assignment Orientation Game An Expatriate's Nightmare: An Experiential Exercise in Coping with Overseas Assignments Analyzing Experiential Exercise: Using the Scientific Method for Problem Solving The Second Component to Experiential Learning: A Look Back at How ABSEL has handled the Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Learning Predictive Models of Learning: Participant Satisfaction of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Accelerating Moral Development through Use of Experiential Ethical Dilemmas Ethical Dilemmas to use with Business Simulations to Teach Ethics The Class Approach in Behavioral Simulation in a Business Policy/Strategic Management course: A Progression toward Greater Realism An Exploration of the Emergence of Process Prototypes in a Management Course Utilizing a Total Enterprise Simulation How Organizations Are Improving Their Performance Utilizing Electronic Commerce: Examples From The Internet The Market Access Planning System (Maps): A Computer-Based Decision Support System For Facilitating Experiential Learning In International Business An Excel Workbook For Student Planning And Interface With A Simulation Game Design Of Multi-Media Based Pedagogy For Leadership Training Panel Discussion On Using The Internet For Courses Valuing And Enhancing Teaching: Sharing Tips Via The Web The Buddy Project: A Semester Long Project Aimed At Developing An Appreciation For Diversity Enhancing The Excitement And Learning Retention In The Classroom: The Power Of Magic The Supervised Management Internship: A Job Or Learning Experience Team Ware™ An Online Moderated Class Discussion Facility And Beyond A Neophyte Distance Educator's Experience Learning Management By Practicing Management: A Report Of Significant Student Service In 1997 Integration Of Academic And Service Learning: Students' Perceptions About Its Effects And Outcomes The Value Of Incorporating A Service Learning Component Into Course Content: A Presentation And Roundtable Discussion Business Games Teach: Thoughts on the Sources of Conflicting Conclusions on their Effectiveness Antecedents Of Learning In The Simulation: A Replication Using Student Journals To Enhance Learning From Simulations Technological Change And Intertemporal Movements In Consumer Preferences In The Design Of Computerized Business Simulations With Market Segmentation Integrating The Marketing Curriculum Using Collaborative Learning Teaching Time Management In A Sales Program: The Application Of A Computer Simulation Game Adapting Interactive Computer Simulations For Content Based Esl Instruction Multimedia And Student Expectations Synthesizing Data For Media Simulations Composing A Team Health Promoting Behaviors-A Decision Making Exercise Does it really Work? An Application of the Group Interaction Framework Administering the MIT Beer Game: Lessons Learned A Paperless Economy? Instructing Students on the Aspects of Successful Electronic Commerce Maximizing Learning Gains in Simulations: Lessons from the Training Literature Observing General Ability in a Total Enterprise Gaming Simulation FReach Teach: A Computer-Based System for Teaching Advertising Media Planning An Integrated Business Instruction System An Experiential Exercise you can Tinker With Experiential Exercises or Computer Simulations? Cash Flow Statements: Are They Important in Business Simulations? Holistic Cognitive Strategy in a Computer-Based Marketing Simulation Game: An Investigation of Attitudes Towards the Decision-Making Process Barnga: A Game on Cultural Clashes The Many Faces of Culture: Understanding Country and Corporate Culture Students' View of the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Assessing General Management Interest What is the Future of Business Gaming? Starting a Small Music Trivia Business Exercise and Other Innovative Icebreakers An Integrated Approach to Behavioral Skill Development Career Focus: A Student and Business Learning Experience The Use of Concept Mapping in Teaching Strategic Management An Experiential Approach to Developing Mission Statements Business Games in Brazil-Learning or Satisfaction A Simulation within a Simulation: Job Layoff's and Emotional Reactions