THE TIMING AND STABILITY OF REACTIONS TO MARKET STRUCTURE IN A SINGLE PLAYER SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 19, 1992 226 THE TIMING AND STABILITY OF REACTIONS TO MARKET STRUCTURE IN A SINGLE PLAYER SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT T. Richard Whiteley, Clarion University John R. Dickinson, University of Windsor A. J. Faria, University of Windsor INTRODUCTION As widely accepted as simulation games are, a persistent issue questions the effectiveness and the validity of this form of’ learning. Effectiveness has been addressed in dozens of empirical studies while validity continues to be the focus of current research. This paper describes a controlled experiment investigating the adaptive behavior of’ single- player simulation teams to the environment created in the simulation competition, a necessary condition for simulation model validity. PURPOSE The nature of the decisions made during a simulation game can be influenced by the dynamics of the game used, the company’s changing state within the context of the simulation, the decisions and the performances of competing companies, the objectives of the game, and the capabilities of the participants. Nevertheless, the simulated environment too must be considered and, ceteris paribus, players’ decisions should reflect or adapt to the simulation environment. And, if the participants in a simulation game make decisions that are consistent with the environment with which they must contend, when during the simulation does such learning take place and how stable is this newly acquired knowledge in a competitive situation which pits players against one another? To investigate these concerns, a controlled experiment, using the marketing simulation game entitled LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation (Faria and Dickinson 1987), was carried out in a principles of marketing course. The identified simulation can be parameterized in such a way so as to define, form a marketing perspective, two theoretically meaningful and distinctly different environments necessary for the specified data. METHODOLOGY When initializing a new LAPTOP competition, the game administrator can specify the weights of the demand- affecting strategy elements using an index ranging from 1 (low importance) to 10 (high importance). In the present study, the parameter-weighting feature of the simulation was used to define two distinct environments. One environment resulted in a situation that would reward the use of a “pull” strategy while the second environment resulted in a situation that would reward the use of a “push” strategy. The simulation competition executed in the present study involved 50 undergraduate students enrolled in a one-quarter principles of marketing course. In order to carry out the study. ten industries of five companies each were formed. Six industries (i.e., 30 companies were randomly assigned to the “push’ environment and four industries (i.e., 20 companies) were randomly assigned to the “pull” environment condition. Each of the students in the class was then randomly assigned to a single-player company. Ten decisions were made in the competition. DISCUSSION The overall results of the study indicate that, throughout the game, the participants in the pull environment were not making operational and strategic decisions, which were significantly different from those being made by the participants in the push environment. After Trial Period 1, only 2 of the 99 comparisons are consistent with expectations and 1 is inconsistent with expectations. The higher request for price research during Real Period LI and the higher print advertising expenditures during Real Period 5 by the pull environment companies versus by the push environment companies would suggest that the companies were correctly adapting to the environments with which they had to contend. However, the fact that the push environment companies spent more on trade advertising during Real Period LI indicates a failure to correctly adapt to the environment. The fact that no significant differences were uncovered during Trial Period 1 at least indicates that no differential biases existed at the outset of the game. In total, the results of the study fail to provide support for the general hypothesis that, if marketing strategy formulation in a simulation game is an internally valid experience, then the nature of the decisions should gravitate toward the more important strategy elements. One reason for such an outcome may be due to the fact that single-player teams were used instead of multiple-member teams. The almost total absence of any evidence of adaptive behavior under this type of gaming situation may indicate that single-player teams are ineffective decision-making units. Future research needs to investigate the performance of single-player versus multiple-player teams. It may be that same-team player interaction is an important factor in the decision-making process. The nonsupportive results of the study may also be a function of the length of the game run, the capabilities of the student participants, and/or the performance objectives of the game. A longer game or the use of advanced marketing students may have led to more positive results. Using different performance objectives might have also led to more positive results. By using earnings per share and market share as the performance objectives, the participants in the game may have focused more on their competition than on the general game environment, since all that was required was for the team to beat the competition versus adapt to the environment, i.e., the game parameters. Further research addressing each of these concerns is underway. Table of Contents Volume 19, 1992 The Pedagogical Utility of a Management Simulation Game in a Business Policy Course Modeling Economic Environments in Business Simulations: Some Comparisons and Recommendations Experiential Learning and TQM Principles: Teaching Behavioral Science in a Business School The Use of Poster Presentations as a Final Project in the Business Policy Course The Device Business: A Management Simulation for Strategy Formulation The Advantages of Experiential learning in the Auditing curriculum A Framework for the Identification of Moderated and Mediated Performance consequences of Pedagogical Alternatives Simulating Qualitative Research Relating to Values and Lifestyle Segmentation A New Market Demand Model for Business Simulators Interactive Optimization Using the Method of Relative Improvement Preferences: Methodology and Empirical Evaluation The Service Trainer Simulation Benefits of Internet Computer Networks for ABSEL Members How Should We Measure Experiential Learning? An Assessment of Simulation Usage in Management Accounting Courses The Influence of Myers-Briggs Type and Group Dynamics on Simulation Performance Effective Leadership Behavior in the Desert Storm Arena: An Application of the Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model Installing and Consolidating Work-Team Values: The Effects of a Multicultural Outdoors Experiential Program Key Determinants and Decision performance in a Business Simulations and Experiential Learning environment Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in Indonesia Attitudes Toward and Emotions Related to Women as Managers: A Replication and Beyond Scenario Approach to Simulating Consumer Expenditures: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Insights into Ethical Decision making Activities and Organizational Performance: A Management Simulation Analysis of College Students and Managers Evaluating a Business Simulation Program for Joint Venture Negotiation and Management Teaching Business Interviewing Strategies with an Experiential Approach Cooperative Learning Across the Business Curriculum Modeling Total Quality Elements into a Strategy-Oriented Simulation Teaching Business Decision making using a Simulator Extending the Educational Utility of a Simulated Competition within the Confines of an Established Undergraduate Marketing Curriculum Expert Systems Versus Traditional Methods for Teaching Accounting Issues Confidence Extremes Diminish Quality Performance in a Total Enterprise Simulation Can Ethics Be Taught? A Simulation Tests a Traditional Ethics Pedagogy Through The Looking Glass, Inc.: Organizational Climate Research as Experiential Pedagogy The use of Cluster Analysis for Business Game Performance Analysis Power and Ethnicity: An Experiential Learning Exercise (How to Sensitize Students to Diversity) Directed Development of Critical and Creative Thinking Skills for Case Analysis Implementing Total Quality Management in a Computerized Business Simulation Product Quality in Business Simulations Use of Simulation for Ethics Education in Management Satisfying the University's Customers through Total Quality Management Instruction: A Case Study Personality Characteristics and Group Performance in Total Enterprise Simulations Concepts of Interval Estimation and Quality Control Charts via Computer Simulated Sampling An Examination of the Effect of Team Cohesion, Player Attitude, and Performance Expectations on Simulation Performance Results The Effectiveness of Inventory Management and Production Scheduling Training in a Total Quality Management Environment Peer Group Indicators of the External Validity of Business Games: A five-year Longitudinal Study Political Strategies and Personal Actions Does Practice make Perfect? Observations on Simulation Trial The Use of A Non-Business Computer Simulation to Teach Marketing Management BankPro Commercial Bank Simulation The Production Game Pursuing Excellence: Work Strengths, Assets and relevant Values (An Exercise) Test of a Short Outward Bound Experience for College Students What is it that we want Student To Learn? Using Two TQM Philosophies when Playing Blackjack The Lagged Effects of Decision Variables on Financial Performance Measures Used in Two business Simulations The Development of an Experiential Exercise for Career Planning and Effective Job search Performance Measuring Quality in Management of Business Pedagogy Exploring Quality and Productivity Improvement: Using and Experiential Process Toward a Generalized Architecture for Intelligent Reactive Management Systems The Quality Game TQX: Using Expert Systems to Improve Training in Total Quality Management A Simulation of the Effect of the Medicaid Payment Lag on the Financial Position of Community Pharmacies The Use of a Board of Directors to Evaluate and Validate Decisions in a Competitive Graduate Management Simulation Course The Impact of Academic Dishonesty on Business Simulations and Experiential Learning Activities Picture Project: An Experience of Icebreaking and/or Decision-Making An Effective Role-playing Exercise for Teaching Requisite TQM Supervisory Attitudes/Behavior Computerized Management Simulations and Some Correlates of Students' Satisfaction The Timing and Stability of Reactions to Market Structure in a Single Player Simulation Environment A Graphics Application Extension for a Simulated Decision Support System Environment Aspects of a Group Project Utilizing Actual Business data and a Computerized Accounting System The Role of Universities' Extended Learning Department in Assisting Organizations Implement Total Quality Management A three-dimensional Learning Experience to Develop Total Quality Management Skills Estimating Quality Costs by Computer Simulation Applications and Examples of Quality Control Software Assessing Business Pedagogy A Demonstration of an Experiential Process for Exploring Quality and Productivity Improvement Processes An Action-Ethics Dilemma: A Demonstration Org Sim Jr.: A 2-3 Hour Version of the 2-Day Blanchard/Murrell Organization Simulation Building Buildings: An Experiential Exercise in Organizational Structure, Communication, Leadership and Group Dynamics Expert Systems for Organization Design: A Demonstration A Demonstration of Product Quality in a Business Simulation: Version 2 of CEO Two Revolutions, Total Quality Leadership, and the Baldy: The Story of Milliken Total Quality after the Award - The Xerox Story Building a Competitive Advantage through Customer Satisfaction and Reengineering Human Resource Planning: Managing the Only Renewable Resource for a Competitive Advantage Using Simulations to Teach International Issues: An analysis of the Multinational Management Game's Learning Environment Quality Function Deployment: A Tutorial Care and Nurturing of Teams Making a Good Thing Better: Adding TQM to Participative management Empowering Organizations to Redesign and Transform Themselves - Eastman Chemical Using Simulations in Field Management Development of an International Life Insurance Company Reinforcing the TQ Environment via Simulation Transforming a Business College into a Total Quality College