The WEE Game: A Pre-Game THE WEE GAME: A PRE-GAME   Elizabeth JT Murff Eastern Washington University ejtmurff@gmail.com Richard Teach Georgia Institute of Technology richard.teach@mgt.gatech.edu DESCRIPTION: Because this is a very simplified model for empirically exploring demand relationships, the retail establishments in this game sell only one unnamed product with an identifiable fixed unit cost and a fixed allocated overhead. All sales are assumed to be cash and there is no seasonality or other perfunctory variables affect demand. Price and advertising expenses are the only variables causing demand to vary. The stages of this game are as follows: Monopolies: Scored on the nearness to the actual maximum profit point Stage 1: The price-quantity relationship with advertising expenditures fixed Stage 2: The promotion-quantity relations with unit price fixed Stage 3: The price-promotion-quantity relationship with synergistic inputs Oligopolies: Scored on the highest profit among the four companies Stage 4: The price-quantity relationship with advertising expenditures fixed Stage 5: The promotion-quantity relations with unit price fixed Stage 6: The price-promotion-quantity relationship with synergistic inputs Forecasting: Scored on the most accurate demand forecast among the four companies Stage 7: The price-quantity relationship with advertising expenditures fixed Stage 8: The promotion-quantity relations with unit price fixed Stage 9: The price-promotion-quantity relationship with synergistic inputs In the later rounds (4 through 9) when the marketplace becomes competitive, the participant plays against three computer-run companies who use very simplistic strategies: • Alpha Corporation uses only simple market research information by averaging the input variable values used by the four companies in the previous round. • Beta Corporation looks at the profit performance of all four companies in the previous round and changes its input values to those used by the company that attained the maximum profit. • Gamma Corporation relies only on its internal data by adjusting its inputs based on its own profit performance in the previous two rounds. KEY LEARNING: • Empirical evidence of demand response curves and the interactions between price and promotional expenditures on these curves. • Simplified competitive behavior and responses to decisions in an oligopolistic market place. • Forecasting experience concerning the expected demand outcomes of the participant’s price and marketing budget decisions in a competitive environment. • GOAL: Improvement of the decision making processes used by participants in large-scale functional or total enterprise business simulations. DURATION: For this two- hour ABSEL session, participants will be allowed to choose the stages they wish to try. It is recommended that participants follow an increasing sequence of stages as this will allow participants to experience the game in a fashion similar to their students. TARGET AUDIENCE: The WEE GAME is meant for students who are about to play a larger-scale business game. Even though many of these students have had a course in microeconomics, they often have only had a theoretic explanation of marginal analysis and do not clearly see the connection between their classroom knowledge and the real world that complex business simulations are attempting to model. This pre-game hopes to bridge that gap. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: This game may be played by a single-player or by a team acting as a single-player by coming to concordance before entering any decisions. A computer with Excel (at least 97, preferably 2007) is required for each player or team for the stand-alone version of this game. 190 | Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 36, 2009 mailto:ejtmurff@gmail.com mailto:richard.teach@mgt.gatech.edu Table of Contents Volume 36, 2009 Protecting Academic Integrity: Student Assessment In The Online Environment Pedagogical Shift: Teaching Report Writing For Accountants Online Increasing Student Learning In An Investment Management Course Through The Innovative Use Of Experiential Learning Pedagogy A Moral Development Unit For Business Courses Dividing Up Grandma’s Things: A Multifaceted Exercise In Critical Thinking Application Of Haekel’s Thesis To ABSEL Development Linking Stories With On-Line Threaded Discussions For Critical Thinking In Management Curriculum Why Have We Neglected Vicarious Experiential Learning? A Triadic Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Enhancing The Efficacy Of Experiential Learning Movement Toward Increased Student Roles In The Design Of Experiential Exercises Ready-Mix Concrete Company: An Experiential Exercise In Management Theory Using Portfolio Theory In A General Management Simulation An Experimental Analysis Of Advertising Strategies And Advertising The Relationship Between Goal Orientation And Simulation Performance With Attitude Change And Perceived Learning Beyond The Profitable-Product Death Spiral: Managing Product Mix In An Environment Of Constrained Resources Online Marketing Control With The Strategic Business Unit Analysis Package Beat The Market Game Creating Decision Support Systems In Business Simulation Games The Use Of Computer-Assisted, Interactive Role-Play Simulation In China Asia Marketing: An International Business Game An Empirical Test Of “Behavioral Immersion” In Experiential Learning Existing And Emerging Business Simulation-Game Design Movements Computerized Business Simulations: A Systems Dynamics Process Service Launch Evaluating Business Plans In A Simulation Environment Teaching Software Development By Means Of A Classroom Game: The Software Development Game Group Decision Experiments Using Business Game - Problem Solving With Conflict Luna: A Role Play Game For Learning Incoterms 2000 Entrepreneurship: A Game Of Risk And Reward Phase I -- The Search For Opportunity The Wee Game: A Pre-Game Learning Inhibitors In Business Simulations And Games New Version Of An Old Simulation Helps Build A Perfect Capstone Course Project Competitor: A Simulation Game For Project Management With 2 Models And 2 Modes Mitigating The Winner’s Curse In The Auction Market Of A Computer-Assisted Business Gaming Simulation Evaluation Of Collaborative Filtering By Agent-Based Simulation Considering Market Environment Marketing Simulation Game Decision Making Experience And Its Impact On Indecisiveness Among Introductory Marketing Students Individual And Organizational Learning In A Top Management Game In Pursuit Of Stockholder Value: Reinforcing Core Concepts In A Business Strategy Simulation With A “Shadow” Stock Market Competition The Simplicity Paradox: Another Look At Complexity In Design Of Simulations And Experiential Exercises In Search Of The Ethnocentric Consumer: Experiencing “Laddering” Research In International Advertising The Paradise Islands Revisited: Trouble In Paradise Developing And Assessing Student Information Literacy Competency Do First Mover Advantages Exist In Competitive Board Games: The Importance Of Zugzwang The Natural Debriefing Approach: A Case In A Simple Business Game Pursued For Perfect Communications New Product Development Simulation Dominance In On Line Business Games Competitions Cooperative Business Game With Framing Effect Experiential Exercises In The Online Environment Enhancing Web-Based Simulations With Game Elements For Increased Engagement The Ginseng Game Experience Business Using a Simple Business Simulation