THRESHOLD (v 2.0) A WINDOWS-BASED, BEHAVIORALLY-ORIENTED, COMPETITIVE, TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 205 THRESHOLD (v 2.0) A WINDOWS-BASED, BEHAVIORALLY-ORIENTED, COMPETITIVE, TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION Philip H. Anderson, University of St. Thomas Timothy W. Scott, Mankato State University INTRODUCTION Threshold: A Competitive Management Simulation, 2nd Edition, is a PC Windows-based computer simulation exercise. Threshold simulates the workings of a small, two product manufacturing business. An instructor can set up a competitive environment for 2 to 16 company teams. These teams manage separate companies that compete 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 decision period. This exercise has been designed for use in Introduction to Business, or Introductory Management courses. It has also been used successfully in senior-level policy and strategy courses, in MBA short courses, capstone courses in community colleges, and in corporate training programs. Materials include installation disks, participant’s manual, and an administrator’s manual. Participants operate as senior managers in charge of a small manufacturing company. They use 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 Threshold operations are final the disks are handed into the administrator. The administrator then processes the decisions, using the Threshold Administrator program. The Threshold 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 criteria determined by the administrator. Threshold is unique in its ability to offer an instructor the use of managerial and ethical dilemmas. While each team faces the same behaviorally-oriented or ethical situation, the response to the dilemma decision made by a company can vary among companies -- even if the companies choose the same course of action in their attempt to manage the problem. Threshold is very user friendly, for both the administrator and the participants. The software runs in a Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows NT environment. The company disk also works in DOS, for those rare occasions where Windows software is not available, or if network constraints preclude use of the Windows version. The software is up-to date, fast, and fun. COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS? Participants will need to have access to a personal computer with the following characteristics. A printer is optional (but extremely useful). If you are using the DOS version of Threshold, your computer must have: • 640K of memory (1 Meg is preferred). • at least 1 disk drive. • monochrome or color monitor. If you are using the Windows version of Threshold, your computer must have: • 4 Meg of memory with Windows 3.1 (8 Meg is preferred for Windows 95 or NT). • I Meg of space on your hard disk. • at least 1 disk drive. • monochrome or color monitor. Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 206 THRESHOLD SOLO Threshold Solo is a play-alone version of Threshold. Whereas Threshold places participants in competition with other participant-run companies. Threshold Solo uses “expert logic” to create a competitive environment that places participants in competition with “semi-intelligent" companies managed by the computer. While the competitors will act rationally, they are not all- seeing and all-knowing “perfect competitors”. Threshold Solo allows participants to play Threshold by themselves, at their own pace. Participants can reinitialize Threshold Solo as often as they like. Reinitializing g erases all the companies’ previous performance records, if any, and allows the participant to start replaying Threshold Solo when the company first began operations in Quarter 1. Each time you reinitialize, the computer will automatically setup a new competitive environment. The computer will determine what the level of demand will be for the products, the importance of the marketing variables (e.g., price, magazine advertisements) for determining the sales level of each of the companies and the costs of operating in the industry (e.g., the cost of 1’V advertising, raw materials, etc.). Threshold Solo participants compete against 15 computer-managed companies that operate in their industry. Threshold Solo can generate hundreds of different competitive environments. Alternatively, an instructor can set up a competitive environment of his/her choosing and allow no restarts. This allows an instructor to use Threshold Solo as an assessment tool to measure the individual’s learning without the team effect. The combination of these options allows an instructor to use Threshold Solo for an introductory trial and practice before beginning the use of Threshold, for exams after completing their use of Threshold, or as a stand-alone pedagogical tool. Threshold Solo offers many advantages. The play- alone participant can run the simulation in the most convenient way, 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. Given enough time, every participant can eventually achieve “success” in the exercise. The two versions should provide complimentary learning experiences. The Threshold Solo version provides a self-paced problem. The competitive version provides the fun of beating your friends. The Threshold Solo version allows participants to play against the authors’ logic. Both versions of the game provide a challenging environment to practice and to learn management skills. AVAILABILITY Threshold 2nd Edition products will be published by Prentice Hall and will be available for Fall 1997 adoptions. This new Windows version of Threshold has been class tested for over one year and has received universal acclaim from students for both its educational value and its user- friendliness. Threshold Solo is in the beta testing stage. It will also be published by Prentice Hall. Expected release date is early 1998. Come to our presentation and see for yourselves. If you cannot amend our presentation and are interested in these products, contact one of us. Our e-mail addresses are: phanderson@stthomas.edu tyrone@vax 1.mankato.msus.edu Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game