USING LOTUS 1-2-3 TO COMPLETE A TRIPLE PLAY IN A SIMULATED COMPETITION Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20,1993 132 USING LOTUS 1-2-3 TO COMPLETE A TRIPLE PLAY IN A SIMULATED COMPETITION Ray O. Nulsen Jr., Xavier University Dean S. Roussos, Youngstown State University Anthony J. Faria, University of Windsor ABSTRACT This paper will examine the value of providing decision support systems to students and faculty during the play of a complex marketing management simulation. From a pedagogical standpoint, the three decision support systems discussed below offer benefits to everyone involved in the simulated competition. The decision support systems are external to the simulated competition, but are incorporated into the simulation model for the professor, and are made available to each student via a pre-specified Lotus 1-2-3 disk attached to the student manual. The integration of LOWS 1-2-3 with the COMPETE simulation engenders a deeper, more meaningful relationship between students and administrators and among student teammates. By fostering greater understanding, the Lotus/COMPETE combination significantly enhances the educational value of the simulated competition for the student participants. INTRODUCTION In the fourth edition of Compete: A Dynamic Marketing Simulation (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1993), the authors have integrated the power of Lotus 1-2-3 with the COMPETE program to significantly enhance the educational value of the simulated competition. As can be inferred from the title of this paper, the enhancements are threefold: I. PARAM.WKI: This new interior program allows the professor (game administrator) to view the simulation’s entire parameter structure via a vivid graphical display to alter (or edit) any, or all, of its contents. II. PROFSUM/MENU1.WK1 & MENU2.WK1: These two new Professor Summary programs, inserted in the COMPETE program, are designed to help the professor quickly and automatically generate graphs and tables that summarize the periodic and cumulative decisions and results. III. COMPETE ANALYSIS PROGRAMS/CAP: Included in each COMPETE (4th Edition) student manual is a floppy disk containing a series of computer- based ‘Decision Support System’ modules. The modules are written in Lotus 1-2-3 ‘Macro’ language, and are specifically linked to the COMPETE simulation. Each of these independent programs linking the simulation’s parameters, the periodic and cumulative results of the decision-making, and the analysis thereof to Lotus 1-2-3, was created to enable the game administrator and the student(s) to obtain greater value from their involvement in the simulated competition. Together, the three programs represent a giant step forward regarding the ease and flexibility of simulation administration and each student’s understanding and mastery of the marketing process. COMPETE is designed to highlight the dynamic nature of the competitive environment in which business firms operate, and the interrelationships among each firm’s marketing mix variables. COMPETE is an interactive simulation, wherein each company’s performance is a function of the decisions made by all companies in the industry. As such, an individual company’s success or failure is determined not only by how well the student team understands and handles the marketing variables at their disposal, but by how well they can anticipate and react to the strategies of their competitors. The COMPETE model allows up to five companies to participate in each industry. Each company manufactures and markets three products, which are sold in three separate geographic markets (constituting the entire US. market). Consumer reactions to each firm’s offerings vary by product and by geographic region. A successful marketing program developed for one product or market will not necessarily work for another. Further, since competitors’ decisions change overtime, a successful strategy in one period will not necessarily be successful in a future period. Learning flows from understanding. In any environment, if understanding is lacking, learning cannot occur. This is particularly true in a simulated competition where the lack of understanding impacts both sides of the podium. If the professor does not have a solid grasp of the basic simulation model, he/she cannot successfully administer and/or impart useful assistance to students involved in the competitive exercise. Furthermore, without a thorough understanding of the model’s inner workings, without the ability to effect change, the professor cannot inject style or personal preferences into the competition. Similarly, lack of student understanding typically results in haphazard, chaotic decision-making and little, or no, learning PARAM.WK1 offers the professor the ability to understand and change the simulation to suit his/her specific needs. PROFSUM, by providing a graphic and tabular overview of the periodic and cumulative decisions and their subsequent results, assists the professor in explaining the competition to tire students in either a mentor or consultant mode. CAP provides analytical tools geared specifically toward fostering better student understanding of the simulation’s many and varied facets, and works to enhance their performance. Further, the ‘What If’ capability offered by Lotus 1-2-3 provides a true decision-making laboratory in which students can test alternative strategies within an actively competitive environment. CONCLUSION Lotus 1-2-3, when combined with a dynamically interactive marketing simulation, can significantly enhance the educational value of the simulated competition from both the student and professor perspective. By providing a more thorough understanding of the simulation model, the ability to change the model’s parameters, and a graphical summarization of all competitive activity, the Lotus/COMPETE combination significantly enhances the professor’s role. In addition, by providing graphical summarization coupled with specific analytical methods, the Lotus/COMPETE combination enables the student to obtain a better, more comprehensive understanding of the competitive environment, the dynamics of competition, and the interaction of the controllable marketing mix variables within a highly competitive situation. Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program