INTEGRATING MICROCOMPUTERS IN THE MARKETING CURRICULUM THROUGH THE USE OF MARKETING COMPUPROBS Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 12, 1985 54 INTEGRATING MICROCOMPUTERS IN THE MARKETING CURRICULUM THROUGH THE USE OF MARKETING COMPUPROBS* Robert M. Cosenza, University of San Francisco Louis E Boone, University of South Alabama David L. Kurtz, Seattle University Two years of work have gone into developing software and problems designed to introduce microcomputer usage in the marketing classroom. The result is the creation of software designed for use on the IBM PC and the apple IIC. The software is a menu-driven marketing decision analysis system. By completing the exercises a marketing student can enhance decision making skills by using the microcomputer. The fourteen techniques/models included are: 1. Linear Programming 2. Profit Volume Analysis 3. Decision Analysis 4. Sales Forecasting 5. Evaluating Market Potential 6. Psychological Price and Advertising Decisions 7. Statistical Decision Making 8. New Product/Service Idea Generation 9. Service Marketing Evaluation Techniques 10. Pricing Decisions 11. Sales Force Decisions 12. Location Techniques 13. Inventory Decisions 14. Marketing Ratio Analysis INTRODUCTION The integration of the computer in the university marketing curriculum is an idea whose time has come. Increased computer literacy among today’ s students at every level - elementary school, high school and college or university - is undeniable. Today’s marketing students are better prepared than any of their predecessors to apply the computer as a text in their marketing classes. COMPUPROBS are designed to allow instructors and students to utilize personal computers to address scientific marketing topics, while minimizing class time losses. The Rationale for Integrating Computers in Marketing Courses The busy instructor, faced with the tasks of covering all of the course subject matter and adequately testing student knowledge within the limited time frame of a quarter or semester, may raise the question of the value of attempting to add one more distension to the marketing course. This concern can be addressed in several ways: 1. Computer literacy has reached a new level of importance in our society. The influence of computers on business education continues to accelerate despite * All rights reserved by the authors tight academic budgets. In addition, computer literacy is increasingly learning a required employment credential. Computer literacy should be a component of every business school experience. 1. Utilization of computers in marketing courses should encourage higher learning levels, more creativity, and exciting learning experiences for their students. 2. The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has recognized the importance of computer integration in today’s college and university programs by requiring tangible evidence of such integration by all member institutions. 3. Perhaps the most important reason of all is the fact that the marketing world, at every level, is fast learning a science of information collection and analysis for the purpose of decision making. Increasingly, the computer is learning the tool that uses available information to assist marketers in making reasoned, informed decisions. To use a management term, it is a decision support system. College and university graduates of the 1980s must be able to adapt to this new technology. What is COMPUPROBS? COMPUPROBS is a menu driven marketing decision analysis system. All of the explanations, data entry, analytical programs and user instructions are maintained on a single diskette. The accompanying sourcebook includes explanations of the programs; their use and operation. Also included in the sourcebook are test problems and additional exercises. By completing the exercises a marketing student can enhance his or her decision making skills by using the microcomputer. The Computers for Which COMPUPROBS Were Designed No programming skills are required to use COMPUPROBS. The programs are extremely interactive and menu driven. The programs are selected from a master list (menu) which makes access and use easier for the student. Fourteen techniques/models are developed in the master list. The programs are stored on a 5½ inch floppy diskette which supplements the written text. The computer programs are written for the Apple IIC with at least 48K memory (3.3 DOS) the IBM PC with at least 64K memory (IBM version DOS 1.1). Detailed instructions regarding the use of Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 12, 1985 55 Wither of these common educational computers can be found in the specific computer user’s manual or in the brief set of instructions supplied with the diskette. How Much Instructor Computer Expertise is Assumed? In a word, “none.” A primary characteristic of COMPUPROBS is ease of use. The instructions allow the beginning student to quickly and easily learn techniques and apply them. The descriptions avoid computer jargon, and obtuse language and build student confidence through step- by-step explanations of worked-out problems for each technique. Although most instructors are likely to experiment with the actual problems and eventually develop additional problems relating university-specific or regional issues to the text material, the self-contained COMPUPROBS can be assigned as student homework in the same manner that professors used workbook assignments in previous years. The simply operating procedures and the user-friendly language of COMPUPROBS are designed to remove any student concerns and to focus their efforts on analyzing and solving marketing problems – not on learning how to program. ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT Chapter 1 briefly describes the evolution of computer technology and its increasing impact upon marketing decisions. It is designed to provide perspective concerning the current state of the art in integrating computers and marketing. Chapter 2 is entitled “Getting Acquainted With COMPUPROBS.” All of the specifics including the menu, data entry/editing conventions, procedures, error checks, printing, etc. will be covered in this chapter. Chapters 3 thru 16 will represent the major components of the text. Each of these chapters is organized using the following format: 1. Description of the concept(s) / technique (s). 2. The procedure for using the aspect of COMPUPROBS. 3. A self test. 4. A single test problem worked out and explained briefly. 5. Additional input/output information (using other problems to illustrate the features of the program). 6. Student problems and exercises for class assignments. Finally, Chapter 17 will illustrate the use of COMPUPROBS for detailed case study analysis (as an aid in evaluating alternatives, and evaluating data in the case to make better decisions). 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