THE USE OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS WITH A MARKETING SIMULATION: THE FUTURE IS NOW Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 21, 1994 169 THE USE OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS WITH A MARKETING SIMULATION: THE FUTURE IS NOW R. 0. Nulsen, Jr., Xavier University A. J. Faria, University of Windsor D. S. Roussos, Youngstown State University ABSTRACT Decision Support Systems (DSS’s) have been in use by business managers for a number of years. More recently, DSS’s have become popular in use with business decision simulations. Several simulations now incorporate DSS’s as part of the simulation package. The present paper discusses and illustrates a DSS called CAP (COMPETE Analysis Program) which accompanies a widely used marketing simulation game. Participant and administrator benefits of the program are highlighted. INTRODUCTION Decision Support Systems (DSS’s) have enjoyed increased attention in the business literature over the past several years - and this attention is now extending to their use with decision-making simulations. This is not to imply that prior to a few years ago there was little, or nothing, written about Decision Support Systems in the simulation literature. To the contrary, Decision Support Systems have been discussed, in various degrees of sophistication, since the first ABS EL conference in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma in 1 974. More recently, however, the value of DSS’s as a tool to enhance the use business simulation games has become more apparent (Burns and Bush 1991, Palia 1991, Wolfe 1989, Woodruff 1992). PURPOSE Burns and Bush (1991) have redefined the concept of a DSS as it relates to use with decision simulations to be “...a set of procedures which facilitates the updating of decisions from period to period, accommodates the reporting of results, and provides a decision analysis system for historical data.” Recently, several popular simulation games have incorporated such support systems into the simulation package. The purpose of this paper is to review and demonstrate the Decision Support System that has been included with COMPETE: A DYNAMIC MARKETING SIMULATION, 4th Ed. (Faria, Nulsen and Roussos 1994). COMPETE is a widely used marketing simulation that has been on the market since 1973. COMPETE will accommodate any number of industries and industries may contain up to five companies. The students take on the role of the top marketing managers for a company that manufactures three futuristic electronics products. The companies can select up to three market segments in which to operate and participants are responsible for making 42 separate decisions covering all elements of their company’s marketing mix. In addition, sixteen market research studies are available to be purchased. Period results include updated financial statements, segment by segment sales and market share information, sales force and inventory reports, production and overtime reports, market forecasts, requested market research studies, and an industry trade association newsletter. The student manual for COMPETE includes a disk with a set of sixteen integrated Lotus 1-2-3 templates to assist in the analysis and understanding of the market environment. The analysis programs are easy to use and require no understanding of computer programming. Anyone familiar with a microcomputer should be able to use the programs. Students only need the floppy disk that comes with the student manual, access to an IBM or IBM compatible personal computer, and access to Lotus 1-2-3 (including the student version of Lotus). While participating in the COMPETE simulation does not require the use of the decision support analysis programs, students’ understanding, enjoyment, and success in the simulation can be enhanced with the consistent and careful use of the CAP program. Some specific advantages and features of the package include: 1. Permits quick and easy calculation of next period forecasts. 2. Permits the creation of impressive color graph summaries of decisions and the resulting outcomes for each period. 3. Completed spreadsheet may be printed and used as an historical record; they are very useful for year-end, mid-game, or final summary reports. 4. Allows “what-if” post-hoc analysis of decisions. 5. Quickly identifies unprofitable products and regions. 6. Allows for quick cash flow analyses by products and geographic regions. 7. Time-series spreadsheets allow tracking of competitive industry decisions and performance versus your firm. 8. Generally provides an enhanced understanding of the important decision variables and their relationship to outcomes. BENEFITS OF CAP PROGRAM The DSS accompanying the COMPETE simulation offers many advantages to the student participants as well as the game administrator. For the student participants: (1) paperwork is minimized, (2) CAP provides a readily accessible data base, (3) errors in analysis are minimized, (4) students’ familiarity and comfort with computer technology is enhanced, (5) CAP offers extensive graphical presentations, and (6) the DSS is an additional competitive tool enhancing the learning value of the simulation. Advantages for the game administration include: (1) saves time as CAP easily does many things that the instructor might have to take many hours illustrating to students, (2) enhances the learning of important marketing concepts, (3) makes students aware of the importance of information in marketing decision-making, and (4) increases the enjoyment of the simulation experience. REFERENCES Burns, A.C. and Bush, R.F. (1991), “Using Dis ‘N Data As A Decision Support System for A Marketing Simulation Game”, Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Vol. 18, 5-10. Faria, A.J., Nulsen, R.O. Jr. and Roussos, D.S. (1 994), COMPETE: A DYNAMIC MARKETING SIMULATION, Burr Ridge. IL, Richard D. Irwin, Inc Palia, A.P. (1991), “Strategic Market Planning with the COMPETE Product Portfolio Analysis Package: A Marketing Decision Support System”, Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Vol. 18, 80-83. Wolfe, J. and Gregg, J. (1989), “On the Efficacy of Managerial Decision Support Systems in a Business Gaming Environment”, Proceedings of the International Simulation and Gaming Association, 102-109. Woodruff, C.K. (1992), “A Graphics Application Extension For A Simulated Decision Support System Environment”, Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Vol. 19, 227. Table of Contents Volume 21, 1994 ABSEL: The Way We Were and Need to Be The Intellectual Structure of ABSEL: A Bibliometeic Study of Author Cocitatons Over Time Activity-Driven Time in Computerized Gaming Simulations An Assessment Framework for Determing the Effectiveness of Total Enterprise Simulations Attributes of Learning Organizations: Simulating the Relationships Business Policy/Strategy Case Extension using Pro-Forma Planning: A Computer Based Model Complexity: Is it really that Simple? A Random-Strategy Criterion for Validity of Simulation Game Participation Enhancing a Computer Simulation with a Structured Reporting Environment Experiencing a Foreign Culture: A Cross-Cultural Simulation Group Cognitive Style and Computerphobia in Functional Business Simulations Human Issues in Technology Implementation Management Simulator Incorporating Advertising Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations: A Validation Study Increasing the Effectiveness of Performance Evaluation Through the Design and Development of Realistic Finance Algorithms The Packer-Feeder Game: A Commodity Market Simulator Relationships Between R&D and Profitability: An Exploratory Comparison of Two Business Simulations with Two Real-World, Technology Intensive Industries Simulation of the Predictive Value of Mammography Simulation Performance and Learning Revisited Strange Bedfellows: Competency Models and ACBSP Accreditation Standards Using a Business Simulation to Study the Determinants of Ethical Behavior What Simulation Users Think Players Should be Learning from the Simulations ADA and its Implications for Experiential Training Boss/ Subordinate Perceptions of Instrumental and Supportive Leadership Behaviors in Relation to Myers-Briggs Thinking Type Cluster Analyses of American Universities' Business Core Curricula Structures Utilized to Satisfy Fifteen Curriculum Areas Cooperative Learning or Learning to Cooperate Experiential Learning: Constraining Students with Time Budgets How Different Workplace Experiences Affect Different Worker Values Implications of the Trend Toward Relationship Marketing for Experiential Learning The Increasing Cultural Diversity of the American Workforce: Management's Challenge of the 21st Century Information and Uncertainty as Strange Bedfellows: A Model and Experiential Exercises Leadership as a Medium: It's Emergence and Effect on Performance in Small Leaderless Groups Speed, Depth, and Breadth: Assessing Learning in Learning Organizations Teaching Strategic Planning, Problem Solving, and Decision Making with Envisionary Experiential Exercises Validating an Instrument for Student Evaluation of Teachers: Some Noteworthy By-Products Don't Teach Ethics to Business Students Emotional Reactions Toward a Simulated Layoff: Before and After the Manipulation Enhancing Communication Using a Presentation Package Implementing Marketing Policies through a Business Management Simulation Integrating Action-Based Learning into Executive Development Programs On the validity of using the Microsegmentation Principle in Media Simulationsm Participatory Systems Analysis Some Relationships between Cultural, Organizational, and Educational Experience and Perceptions of Influence The Use of Decision Support Systems with a Marketing Simulation: The Future is Now Astute Business Policy: A Simulation of the Automobile Industry The Business Policy Game CEO II: A Gaming Simulation for Assessment Computer Paced Project Management Simulation Computerized Tutor Support Systems DEAL & GEO: Progressively Integrating Gaming Simulations for Entrepreneurship and International Business An Interactive Simulation Game for Competitive Decision-Making International Operations Simulation/Mark 2000 (INTOPIA) Multimedia Simulation Cuts Training Costs for Anderson Consulting Concepts of Total Quality Management: An Active Learning Exercise Cooperative Learning: The Extended Jigsaw Managing Diversity--Values and Attitudes: An Experiential Exercise in Awareness Navigating the Shoals of International Management Development Evaluating Student Performance in the Use of Computer Simulation Entrepreneurial Simulation Program