Overview:
In this course you will be a member of the executive team of a start-up organization and asked to make decisions typical for this level in an organization.  You will formulate and defend a strategic vision for your firm and integrate the various functional areas so as to successfully implement this vision.  Importantly, you will need to achieve your objectives within a set of financial constraints and imperatives, which will require you to make trade-offs in an effort to optimize your firm’s performance.  As a manufacturer of carbon fiber bicycles using 3D printing technology, you will be competing in a dynamic market and competitive environment.  Not only will you formulate your firm’s strategy, but will review and modify your strategy as needed, thereby gaining greater insight into what it feels like to be a member of the executive team of a firm.

Simulation:
Rather than starting in the middle of the story (a mature firm), we use a venture situation to start at the beginning of the story. You will see how various tools and ways of thinking become useful as the firm expands its operations and must take on new tasks and responsibilities. In this way, the logic of our business practices will become more intuitive.  Through computer simulation, you will be placed into a very realistic international business setting.  You will be responsible for making decisions relating to all aspects of the business, including operations, forecasting, marketing, IT, accounting, finance, supply chain management, e-business, HR, social media, and so on. 

You will be competing against other start-up companies in the same industry.  The consequences of your decisions are quickly revealed in the simulated marketplace. Players learn to adjust their strategy to become stronger competitors by studying end-user opinions, smart competitive moves, and their own operational and financial performance. Over the course of the entire exercise, your understanding of the linkages among the functional areas of business will grow at an exponential rate.

The learning strategy is to gradually build the business and thus, gradually introduce new issues, which must be mastered by you and the other players. Each quarter or decision period has a dominant activity and a set of decisions, which are linked to it. These dominant activities take you through the business life cycle from start-up, to development, to growth, and ultimately to near maturity. As you work through the business life cycle, new decisions and managerial content are phased in as they become relevant to the current decisions.

Each quarter’s activities result in new material not only being introduced, but also builds on the prior content so that there is considerable repetition. Business activities such as cash flow planning, value creation in product design, production scheduling, profitability analysis, and strategic planning require repetitive exercise in order to set them into your natural thinking.

Here is a list of what you will do:

• Analyze market research data
• Plan and roll out a marketing campaign
• Design and price brands to appeal to different market segments
• Select and develop distribution channels
• Devise advertising, search engine, and social media marketing campaigns
• Allocate scarce funds to R&D, manufacturing, advertising, and distribution
• Select and prioritize R&D projects, leading to new product features
• Negotiate strategic partnerships with competitors for new technology
• Initiate and defend lawsuits over false advertising
• Hire employees and set competitive compensation packages
• Schedule production and manage plant capacity
• Manage cash
• Negotiate equity and debt financing for new business development
• Compete head-to-head with other business teams
• Adjust strategy and tactics in response to operational and financial performance, competitive tactics, and customer needs

The specific goal of the exercise is to develop your management skills by giving you an integrated perspective of the entire business operation. In terms of specifics:

• Develop strategic planning and execution skills within a rapidly changing environment
• Crystallize the linkages between business decisions and financial performance
• Instill a bottom line focus and the simultaneous need to deliver customer value
• Internalize how important it is to use market data and competitive signals to adjust the strategic plan and more tightly focus business tactics
• Develop teamwork across functions, opening up new communication links
• Promote better decision-making by helping you see how your decisions can affect the performance of others and the organization as a whole
• Facilitate learning of important business concepts, principles, and ways of thinking
• Experience the challenges and rewards of the entrepreneur by starting up and running a new business venture
• Build confidence through knowledge and experience

Recorded Lectures:
Fourteen lectures have been recorded for this class.  These are brief lectures of 10 minutes or less on each topic.  Please consult the Simulation Schedule in this syllabus for the lecture viewing schedule.  All recorded lectures can be found on Moodle.  Note that two 5 minute recorded lectures should be viewed prior to the beginning of class on May 21. 

Class Briefings:
Each morning, except for Friday, there will be a live briefing on Zoom.  There will be a second briefing on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.  You should have viewed the recorded lectures and read the Help files for the day prior to class.

Required Software:
You will be assigned to a team of 5 people.  Prior to the beginning of the class, you will receive a License Number and Game Number to register for the simulation at https://game.ilsworld.com.

Ausführliche Informationen zum Kurs als PDF

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