BUS-SIM MICRO AN INTRODUCTORY BUSINESS SIMULATION DEMONSTRATION Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 12, 1985 22 BUS-SIM MICRO AN INTRODUCTORY BUSINESS SIMULATION DEMONSTRATION Ron Decker, Southwest Missouri State University James LaBarre, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Bus-Sim is a business simulation/game developed for use on the IBM-PC microcomputer. Sales of up to three different small appliance products are modeled for up to nine different companies/teams of student participants. Students will enter their companies’ decisions at the micro using their own diskette to record data with an easy-to-use menu-driven program contained on the diskette. Each company’s diskette will contain that company’s decisions and history from previous quarters. The instructor or assistant will be able to read the decisions from each company’s diskette to create an industry decision file that will be used to generate the quarterly simulation results which will then be printed out as company, industry and administrator reports. The computer program has been written in such a way that gross errors by student participants will be identified so corrections can be made before adversely affecting industry results. Provision has also been made to back up each period’s decisions and results so that data entry errors can be easily corrected without having to start over at quarter I. The simulation is interactive, that is, the companies actively compete for market share, and non-zero sum. Marketing, production and financial decisions must all be made on a quarterly basis. However, the decisions are not very sophisticated or detailed because this simulation is directed toward either the introduction It) management or introduction to business marketplace. Bus-Sim was originally developed and used extensively for several years on a mainframe system. The basic algorithm is still used but the number of decisions and products has been scaled down to meet the needs of introductory students. Only 64K of memory is necessary to run the program with one diskette drive and a printer. The program for the instructor is menu-driven so that no previous computer experience is required. An instructor’s manual explains the nature and purpose of the decision variables, e.g. sales promotions, and how to use some additional forms available in the student’s manual. Busin-Sim Micro (BSM) is a microcomputer-based simulation designed for use in introductory business classes and/or the basic management course. The simulation requires no previous computer experience on the part of either the instructor or student participants. All of the basic management decision areas are included: production, marketing, and finance, but at a relatively easy level of sophistication. The simulation lends itself well to use as either an intensive study lasting two to three weeks during which time most normal class activities are suspended or, as a regular and continuous portion of the course lasting most of a semester or term and used in conjunction with other class work. A summary of the three sets of students’ decisions are shown in the appendix. APPENDIX GENERAL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS COMPANY 2 QUARTER 2 - YEAR I DECISION FORM A DECISION PERIOD DECISION TYPE PRIOR QTR. CURRENT QTR NUMBER OF SALESMEN 0 5 PLANT INVESTMENT 0 10,000 BANK LOAN (BORROWED) 0 0 BANK LOAN (REPAYMENT) 0 0 NOTES PAYABLE (ISSUED) 0 0 NOTES PAYABLE (CALLED) 0 0 SECURITIES (INVESTED) 0 0 SECURITIES (SOLD) 0 0 TOTAL DIVIDENDS PAID 0 0 PRODUCTION STATUS A,B,C A,B,C ****END GENERAL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS **** (Press any Key to Continue) PRODUCT DECISIONS PRODUCT B QUARTER 2 - YEAR I DECISION FORM B 2 DECISION PERIOD DECISION TYPE PRIOR QTR. CURRENT QTR UNITS OF PRODUCTION 0 5,000 UNITS COMPONENT PARTS TO BUY 0 6,000 FACTORY WORKERS ASSIGNED: 0 25 -NEW HIRES 0 25 -TRANSFERRED IN 0 0 -DISCHARGED 0 0 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 0 2,000 NATIONAL ADVERTISING 0 2,000 SALES PROMOTION 0 500 PRODUCT SELLING PRICE 0.00 22.95 ****END OF DECISIONS FOR THIS PRODUCT **** (Press any Key to Continue) MANAGEMENT INFORMATION DECISIONS COMPANY 2 QUARTER 2 - YEAR 1 DECISION FORM C AVAILABLE REPORTS PRICE PURCHASE DECISION 1. Quarterly Economic Index 1,000 PURCHASED 2. Annual Economic Index 5,000 PURCHASED 3. Total Industry Sales 1,000 PURCHASED 4. Total Sales Dollars 5,000 5. Industry Prices 5,000 PURCHASED 6. Sales Promotion 5,000 7. Advertising 5,000 PURCHASED 8. Number of Salesmen 1,000 PURCHASED ****END OR MANAGEMENT INFORMATION DECISIONS **** (Press any Key to Continue) Table of Contents Volume 12, 1985 One Step Beyond Naiveté: Laboratory Simulation of Strategic Management Predicting Performance Over the Course of the Simulation Congruency of Critical Performance Factors in Simulated and Real World Environments: An Exploratory Study Stimulating Learning and Creating Course Involvement Through the Use of Debates A Novel Approach to Writing Texts ABSEL Revisited: In-Class Student Involvement Increases Learning Bus-Sim Micro: An Introductory Business Simulation Demonstration Solutions Diversified: And Experiential Introduction to Management Information Systems Simulating Rigorous Analysis in Stimulation Gaming The Use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) Techniques to Enhance the Learning Experience of Students Participating in Computerized Simulation Problems Associated with the Administrative Use of Student Ratings Enthusiasm Awareness in the Experiential Classroom Participation Expectations of Students in Experiential Settings Using the Computer as a Planning Aid in an Applied Marketing Course Integrating Microcomputers in the Marketing Curriculum Through the Use of Marketing COMPUPROBS Giving Students Experience in Team Report Writing Description and Results of an Experiential Approach in the Teaching of Business Policy Using Real World Experiences as an Experiential Activity: the Page Technique A Guide to Writing Microcomputer Simulations The Development of a Microcomputer Distributed Processing Business Game A Monte-Carlo Approach to Interactive Gaming Single Case Experimental Design as an Alternative to the Conventional Approach Learning Theory and Research Design: How Has ABSEL Fared? Criticisms of the Use of Simulations in Economics: A Rebuttal Using the General Management Game in the Business Policy Course General Management Policy Simulations: Which Games are Popular, and Why do Professors Stop Using Games? Business Policy Content and Teaching Methods: Comparisons of the Hegarty and Summers and Boyd Findings Let's Talk to the Experiential Authors A Computerized Logistics Game for Micros Effects of Contextual Factors on Bargaining Decisions of Experiential Group Representatives The Linking of a Collective Bargaining Simulation and a Business Simulation Game - A Case Study Students are Surrogates in Arbitration Studies AIRWAYS: A Microcomputer Simulation of a Service Industry A Proposed Interactive Inventory Control Simulation Microcomputer Demonstration Exercises for a Course on Creativity and Problem Solving Processing Skills for Teachers, Trainers and Managers Developing the Competencies of Resistance to Stress and Accurate Self-Assessment Raising Elizabeth: Socializing Girls to Aspire to Careers as Managers, Secretaries or Corporate Wives Factors Influencing Perception: Gaining Understanding Through Experience Painless Computer Simulation The Effects of Differential Grade Weights on Business Game Learning levels An Investigation of the Validity of a Recommendation for Experiential Exercise Debriefing Simulation and Experiential Practices of Faculty: A Data-Based Workshop The Live Case Study: Filling the Gap Between the Case Study and the Experiential Exercise A Reactive Microcase Pedagogy Advantages of a Multigame Simulation Course Using the Logistic Function to Score Computer-Supported Games A Simulation Model to Calculate Session Time for Running Simulation Models in a Shared Resource Environment On the Core Size of Small Task Groups and the Cause for the Core Size to Emerge