THE MARKETING MANAGEMENT SIMULATION Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 22, 1995 147 THE MARKETING MANAGEMENT SIMULATION A. J. Faria, University of Windsor John R. Dickinson, University of Windsor ABSTRACT The Marketing Management Simulation (MMS) is a new edition of a simulation game originally entitled LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation (Faria and Dickinson 1987) published by Richard D. Irwin, Inc. MMS is designed for use in principles of marketing and marketing management courses. The new edition will be demonstrated and participants will be given a hands-on opportunity to play and run the simulation. THE DEMONSTRATION The purpose of the demonstration is to discuss and illustrate the use of the MMS software package. The simulation is completely menu driven and extremely user friendly. The demonstration will include: (1) a discussion of the courses in which the simulation can best be used; (2) a discussion of the use of this simulation in management training programs; (3) a view of the complete marketing strategy planning capabilities of the simulation; (4) a live demonstration of the software package; (5) an overview of the students’ and instructors’ manuals; (6) hands-on involvement of the participants in a decision round and simulation run; and (7) questions and further discussion. MMS DESCRIPTION MMS is a marketing management simulation designed for use in introductory marketing courses as well as in executive training programs. MMS has been extensively tested with its first edition in use at over 90 universities and ongoing testing of the second edition. Participants in the MMS simulation take on the roles of the top marketing managers for a medium sized manufacturer of notebook computers. In this role, the participants are expected to formulate the entire marketing programs for their companies. The software package can handle any number of participants, companies, and industries. The participant’s manual is extremely easy to read and describes many general marketing strategy and decision-making concepts in addition to the explanation of the competition. The thirty-six decision areas of the simulation include pricing decisions, advertising and sales promotion decisions, sales forecasts and shipping requests, co-operative advertising programs, R&D expenditures, and sales force size, allocation and payment decisions. In addition, twelve separate marketing research studies may be purchased. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF MMS The Marketing Management Simulation has many distinguishing characteristics including: (1) extremely easy to use, completely menu-driven, software with detailed documentation in the instructor’s manual; (2) ability to use with any number of participants; (3) extensively tested and refined; (4) a realistic marketplace environment with state- of-the-art computer products and current industry data; (5) the student’s manual contains detailed marketing strategy and planning pointers in addition to the simulation description (the discussion material can be conveniently skipped for quick reading); (6) decision entry via either decision forms or decision diskette; (7) detailed participant feedback that can be returned either as printed, hard-copy or on the decision entry diskette; (8) instructor option to set the importance of all decision-making parameters in the competition; (9) instructor option to set the relative importance of the marketplace and competitor environment as an influence on the success of participant strategies (this feature is unique to MMS across all existing marketing simulations); (10) the ability to differentiate the environment of every competing industry; and (11) ability to run MMS for any number of decision periods. EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS MMS can be run on any IBM or IBM compatible personal computer containing a minimum of 640K RAM. With use of the student decision diskette, a floppy disk drive is required. AVAILABILITY MMS is currently available from The Simulation Source, P.O. Box 32144, Detroit, Ml, 48232-0144 or by calling (519) 253-4232, Ext. 3101 or Ext. 3104. Table of Contents Volume 22, 1995 Simulation Performance, Learning and Struggle Are Good Simulation Performers Consistently Good? Cognitive and Behavioral Consistency in a Computer-Based Marketing-Simulation-Game Environment: An Empirical Investigation of the Decision-Making Process Chalk & Cheese: Executive Short-Course vs. Academic Simulations Revisiting Personality Bias in Total Enterprise Simulations Are Good Strategies Consistently Good? Investigating the Use of a Computer Simulation as an Effective Pedagogical Tool for the Application of a Strategic Model The Problem of determining an Individualized Simulation's Validity as an Assessment Tool A Simulation Based Analysis of the Value of Information in the Hrebiniak Joyce Typology of Adaptation Relative to Porter's Generic Strategies The Impact of Sales and Income Growth on Profitability and Market Measures in Actual and Simulated Industries A Comparison of a Stand Alone Version of a Simulation with the Traditional Competitive Version Computer-Assisted Gaming of International Business Analyzing Simulations with Computer-Based Programs and Applying the Experience to a Real-World Business A Preliminary Investigation of the Use of a Bankruptcy Indicator in a Simulation Environment Graduates' Views on the Use of Computer Simulation Games Versus Cases as Pedagogical Tools An Analytical Advertising Model Approach to the Determination of Market Demand Dealing with the Complexity Paradox in Business Simulation Games A Prototyping Approach for Incorporating Large Data Bases into Media Planning Simulations: An Example Using Magazine Media Through the Looking Glass, Inc: Superior-Subordinate Personality Type and the Leniency effect Evaluating the Effectiveness of Role Playing Simulation and Other Methods in Teaching Managerial Skills Student and Teacher Perceptions of a Management Simulation Course Performance Evaluation: The Effect on the Propensity to Create Budgetary Slack Management Team Formation for Large Scale Simulations Comparative Static Analysis with the Complete PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Consistency in Intent: Learning Objectives at the 1994 Intercollegiate Business Policy Competition A New Twist on an Old Game: The Business Strategy Game: A Global Industry Simulation 3ed Evaluation of Performance in Management Simulation: A Management Coefficients Model Building SimuWorlds: Strategic Management Games of the Future Bulls and Bears: A Stock Market Simulation A Systems Thinking Paradigm and Think Computer Simulation Model of Broadcast and Cable Television Industry Competition Jacket Factory The Sales Management Simulation The Marketing Management Simulation A Demonstration of Promodel Demonstrating A New, Cross-Functional Business Simulation: Vision+ A Cost Chain For The Business Strategy Game Simulation Special Session On Experiential Teaching Compensation Dilemmas: An Exercise In Ethical Decision-Making Organizational Storytelling: Telling Tales In The Business Classroom Evaluating Experiential Training: Case Study And Recommendations The Internship Portfolio: An Innovative Tool For Experiential Learning, Critical Thinking, And Communication An Ethnographic Analysis Of The Pedagogical Impact Of Cooperative Communicating Consumer Behavior: A Long-Term Integrated Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals And Consumer Analysis Papers An Experiential Paradigm For Teaching Business Problem Solving Developing Leadership Skills The Spss® Student Assistant: The Integration of A Statistical Analysis Program Into A Marketing Research Textbook Negotiating With Your Students Using TQM Principles To Transform Accounting Systems Into An Experiential Exercise Enhancing The Effectiveness Of Outdoor-Based Experiential Training Using Virtual Reality Concepts Case Writing In A Developing Country: An Indonesian Example Experiential Learning Using Focus Groups How Real Should Experiential Pedagogy Be? A Viewpoint From Our Students Reengineering The Internship: A New Approach To Experiential Learning Utilizing The Cosmopolitan/Local And Marginal Man Constructs To Measure Students' Propensity For Creativity Developing Experiential Processes For Teaching Quantitative Techniques For Business Team Learning Roles: A Cooperative Learning Technique Creating the Ultimate Small Business Student Experience: Melding Score/Ace with SBI The Development of Trust in Work Teams: The Impact of Touch Some Outcomes of Experiential Learning: How the Cultural Dynamics of Different Countries are reflected in Workplace Norms & Values Incorporation of Job Analysis Results in Various Forms of Selection Interviews Chudesno, Inc.: An Evaluation of an Experiential Training and Development Simulation An Exercise for Exploring the Relationship between Jungian Psychological Types and Organizational Dynamics Partnership: A Radical Approach to Experiential Learning Partnership: A Nice Idea, But How Do I Get Started? Recognizing Discrimination at Work Using Critical Incident Skills Questions to Help Students Become More Successful at Job Interviewing The Video Project Introduction to Psychological Type Theory Come On Down Understanding Facilitation for Development and Continuous Learning: A Micro-Workshop Leadership and Empowerment: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Selecting a Manager for Maquiladora, Inc. Experiential Training In Multi-Cultural Corporate Settings The Role of Facilitation as an Aid to Complete Learning An Experiential Exercise to Illustrate Difference in Information Processing Behaviors and Styles How to Deliver Accessible Survey Results Age Diversity in the Workplace- Family Feud Style Nafta Standoff: A Cross-Cultural negotiating Role-Play Three Strikes and You're Out!: A Downsizing Experiential Exercise