UNANTICIPATED ENHANCEMENTS IN THE BUSINESS STRATEGY AND POLICY GAME WHEN RUNNING IN WINDOWS 95 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 UNANTICIPATED ENHANCEMENTS IN THE BUSINESS STRATEGY AND POLICY GAME WHEN RUNNING IN WINDOWS 95® James R Marshall, California State Polytechnic University ABSTRACT A discussion of how reprogramming The Business Strategy and Policy Game has provided unanticapated opportunities to enhance and extend the value of this highly reliable business simulation. The Business Strategy and Policy Game is not new. The first edition by David L. Eldredge and D. L. Bates was published in 1981 and was quickly installed on a variety of mainframe computers in the United States and Canada and was translated into several languages including Japanese. The Second Edition was published by Allyn and Bacon in 1984. By 1986 it was one of the top three computer simulation games available and the best game for undergraduates--but it ran on mainframe computers in an increasingly microcomputerized world. The Microcomputer Version of The Business Strategy and Policy Game, David L. Eldredge and James R. Marshall, was published by Allyn and Bacon in 1992 but was available only on the CalPoly, Pomona campus. Over the last 42 quarters, 414 sections of the Operation Management Department’s capstone undergraduate course have been conducted for more than 13,670 students. The Business Strategy and Policy Game has been used in every section, every quarter with consistently outstanding results. In the Spring of 1997, copyright to The Business Strategy and Policy Game was regained by Dr. Eldredge and Dr. Marshall. A second junior author (Dr. Abolhassan Halati) joined the team. Testing of a Windows 95® version of the player’s input section began in September 1997, and testing of the administrator’s section began in 1998. Bringing The Business Strategy and Policy Game into Windows 95® required re-programming the complete game. This re-programming provided a number of unanticipated opportunities for expanded use of this highly reliable simulation. This session focuses on these opportunities. One unanticipated advantage of moving The Business Strategy and Policy Game from DOS to Windows 95® is the ease with which all game variables can be changed. The DOS version allowed administrators to edit most game constants (seasonality and trend of demand, finished product storage costs, economic factors, etc.) but editing a DOS file is arduous. As will be demonstrated, constants are easily and quickly edited in the Windows 95® version of the game In addition, the re-programming also allows administrators to modify dynamic variables in the basic algorithm, which means an administrator can completely customize the game. The result is that it is now possible to simulate not only different industries within the United States but also to simulate changes within a particular industry when operating in another country. In this session, The Windows 95® version of The Business Strategy and Policy Game will be used to demonstrate how game administrators can simulate any business situation (domestic or international) because all constants and algorithm dynamics can be modified through on-screen editing either before play begins or as it progresses. Also in this session we will discuss several proposed modifications to the present game including administering the game through the internet, developing more complex versions of the existing game, and customizing both the players 180 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 manual and the game itself to conform to the needs and desires of individual situations. Many problems associated with the use of business games can be resolved by administering the game through the internet which also makes other learning opportunities available. In discussions with participants in a recent conference of the Academy of Management, we realized that, for some people, using business simulations is daunting. “I know I should be using them, but I haven’t had time to learn how.” When decisions are submitted over the internet to a centralized location, games are run in those centralized locations, and results of the simulation are downloaded by players at their convenience, many problems for inexperienced game administrators vanish. In addition, situations which are difficult to program, such as a decision to build a new warehouse or to develop a new product, can be simulated by a one-time entry by an experienced administrator. Globalview Associates (www.globalview.org) has created a use of the internet where, in addition to participating in a very complex game, teams can use bulletin boards and chatrooms to enter into mutually beneficial contracts with other teams to provide goods and services such as raw material, finished products, distribution, and even sales. When companies default on their contracts, they are sued for damages. Developing and using more complex versions of an existing game by expanding the game’s basic variables is an intriguing concept. Consider what could be done if undergraduates played a fairly simple business game near the beginning of their exposure to the business curriculum, then midway through their curricula they played an expanded version of the same game, and then as a capstone experience, a third, even more expanded version of the same game requiring, for example, the balancing of multiple approaches to marketing multiple products made in multiple production facilities. If time allows, we will consider the advantages of customizing player’s manual as well as the game to conform to the needs and desires of individual situations. Desktop-publishing software makes it quite easy to customize a player’s manual to meet the desires of individual game administrators. For example, would administrators like: to increase the cost of storing finished product to emphasize the value of managing finished product inventories? To differentiate the effectiveness of different kinds of advertising to increase the value of managing the promotion mix? To decrease the lag between a change in price and the increase in demand, in order to demonstrate the importance of the elasticity of the demand curve. As a result of the reprogramming is now quite relatively simple to customize both the player’s manual and the dynamics of the game itself. Finally, suppose we translate the player’s manuals and output formats into other languages and change the algorithm to simulate their environments. Administering a game through the internet allows teams from any part of the world to compete against teams from any other part as though they were both in the same room. 181 http://www.globalview.org/ Table of Contents Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Back From the Future: An ABSEL Merlin Exercise for the Year 2005 The Contributions of ABSEL During the 1980's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential Exercises in the 90's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential learning/Experiential Exercises: The Decade of the 1970's Business Simulations - Algorithms and Model Enhancements: A 25 year Review A Study of the ETS General Field Test as an AACSB Assessment Tool and the Impact of Experiential Exercises and Simulation on Learning A Framework for Assessing the Competencies Reflected in Simulation Performance Developing A Learning Culture: Assessing Changes in Student Performance and Perception Financial Simulation Using Distributed Computing Technology Analyzing Managers' Judgements and Decisions with an Educational Business Simulation Understanding Your Business through Home-Made Simulator Development An Examination of a Reanalysis of the Impact of a Market Leader on Simulation Competitors' Strategies Applying Shocks to TE Simulations: A Demonstration Increasing Efficiency of Management Skill Assessment A Testbank for Measuring Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Developing Leadership Skills - Video Live! LEADSIMM: Collaborative Leadership Development for the Knowledge Society A Team Approach to Producing Multi-Media Laptop and Video Formatted Presentation Tinkertoys Revisited: Exploring Trust Based Relationships Overall Dominance in Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Success or Bankruptcy: The Relationship between Personal and Goal Orientation and Simulation Performance Assessing the Effects of Feedback: Muti-method and Muti-directions in Multi-pedagogical Courses The Missing Ingredients in Experiential Learning Purpose and Learning Benefits of Business Simulations: A Design and Development Perspective Building Capabilities for Change through Laboratory Simulations Modeling Innovation as a Process of Design in Educational Business Simulation The Need to Measurer variance in Experiential Learning and a New Statistic to do so Assessing Effectiveness of an Experiential Oriented Course Over Time Developing Participant Satisfaction Models of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Perceptions of Learning in TE Simulations Students' View on the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Management Gaming's Lost Opportunity: Meditations about the Russian Experience and Prospects for the Future Unanticipated Enhancements in the Business Strategy and Policy Game when Running in Windows 95 Using a Business Game to Demonstrate Broad Business Concepts A New Model for Business Courses (Getting the Student Connected) Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Integrating Knowledge Using Large Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes Is It Here To Stay? A Roundtable Discussion of the Inter-Group Interaction Interactive Tools Used in Applying Financial Concepts Strengthening Essential Skills through a Finance Exercise: Calculation of Beta A Model of Currency Exchange Rates Understanding Currency Exchange Rates: A three-part Exercise Student Experiences in the World Intercollegiate Business Game Competition Student Experiences in the International-Collegiate Business Policy Game Competition Using Boards of Directors in Simulation Environments: Comments From Board Members Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Star Power: A Simulation for Understanding Power and Empowerment The Marketing Game: A Marketing Principles Simulation Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Putting Strategy into Strategic Business Games Industry Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Model and Strategic Group Maps in the Business Strategy Game Simulation The Use of Concept Mapping to Improve Student Performance and Understanding of Strategic Management Concepts: A Comparison of Techniques Transformational thinking in the Organizational Behavior Course: The Use of Metaphor as an Assessment Tool Creation of a Virtual Learning Community for the Global Virtual Enterprise Project Inter Institutional use of Educational Resources: Joint Use of Management Simulation Games Business Insights: Theory and Practice with the Aid of a Business Simulation Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing The ABC's of teaching the Theory of Constraints to Undergraduate Business Students Demonstrating Principles of Organizational Purchasing Behavior through an Experiential Exercise The Virtual Manager: A Different Simulation for Managing Complexity When the Rules are changing and Chaos Breeds Innovation: Recapturing the Value of Constructive Thinking and Play in Simulation Training The Pitfalls, and Potential, of Actual Events as Problem Drivers Using Business Games to teach Environmental Awareness and Green Management: The International Experience with the ENSIM Game A Review of my ABSEL-Related Work Simulation of Government: A Workshop Using GEO Creating Internet-Based Games Using Perl and JavaScript Who's on First? Exploring the Concepts of Problem-Based Learning, Experiential Learning, and Lifelong Learning Students Learn Customer Service and Selling while Conducting Research So You Want to Run an NFL Football Team–An Honors Interdisciplinary Project Supervised Internship: The Employer's Perspective Using Computer Assisted Simulation to Teach International Business Strategy: A Case of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in China An Appreciative Stance on Diversity as We Move into the 21st Century: A Timeline Exercise to Identify Key Experiences in Good Work Relationships between Black and White Peers A Day in the Life of an Interactive, Real Time, and Internet Delivered Course: A Demonstration Comparing Internet Search Engines: An Experiential Learning Exercise Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Assessing Student Perceptions and Preferences Teaching Accounting Information Systems in a Practicum Format Providing Experiential Learning in Accounting through a Field Study Payroll Project A Spreadsheet Based Business Simulation Game Computer-Behavioral Simulations Training for Project Managers Simulation Scenarios - Rationale and Illustration