Strategic Business Simulator (for Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher) INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL Version 1.00 SHAREWARE VERSION Etling & Robb Software 3515 Danvers Drive Columbia, MO 65203 Copyright (C) 1992 Etling & Robb Software All Rights Reserved. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Strategic Business Simulator software Copyright (C) 1992 Etling & Robb Software. All Rights Reserved. This document Copyright (C) 1992 Etling & Robb Software. All Rights Reserved. Product Acknowledgements: Software Engineering Kent Etling Ed Robb Strategic Business Simulator - General Overview The Strategic Business Simulator is a management decision making game designed for classroom use by High School and College Students. It can be used in conjunction with accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing courses. You and the other participants will be acting as teams of business executives making periodic high-level decisions. These decisions will be similar to those which would be made in actual business practice over a much longer time. The game is actually a mathematical model of a business economy, within which several firms compete for their share of the market. The decision teams, consisting of three or more individuals are each given a firm to operate. While each firm produces a similar product, they are not perfect substitutes. The basic problem involved in the exercise is that of choosing a course of action under conditions of uncertainty. The results of any decisions will depend not only on your decisions alone, but also on those made by competitors. Thus, an unwise decision might occur because of a rival firm's action, rather than the unreasonableness of the decision itself. For example, a cut in price will increase your share of the market -- but only if other firms are not cutting prices at the same time. At the beginning of each quarter, each team makes decisions for their firm choosing output levels, price, advertising expenditures, etc. The computer then simulates the business activity of each firm and prepares reports showing the results during the quarter. These reports, which indicate the firm's financial position, as well as other data, are then transmitted to the teams. They are the only means by which information is exchanged. This cycle is repeated as frequently as time permits, thus allowing several years of simulated business activity and the associated decision-making experience to take place. Requirements A computer system capable of running Windows 3.1 or higher. (VGA or EGA graphics and a Mouse are recommended.) Windows 3.1 installed in your computer system. Installing Strategic Business Simulator Installing Strategic Business Simulator is a straightforward process. 1. Start Windows. 2. Place the Strategic Business Simulator Installation Disk #1 into a floppy drive of your computer. 3. Select the File:Run menu option of the Program Manager, and type into the dialog box the following: A:\INSTALL [return] 4. The installation program will prompt you for any additional information. (For Network Installation, see Appendix A.) Using Strategic Business Simulator The Strategic Business Simulator (SBS) software consists of two individual programs, the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel program and the Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program. The Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel program is to be used by the Game Coordinator. The SBS - Control Panel program allows the Game Coordinator to setup new games, change company names and passwords, process a quarter of data, view and print off the Quarterly Reports of the companies and the Company Ranking Report. The Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program is to be used by the game participants. The SBS - Decision Entry program allows the game participants to enter their company's management decisions each quarter. Start the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel: 1. Open the program manager group window that contains the Strategic Business Simulator software. 2. Double-click the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel icon. Note: Although the Strategic Business Simulator windows cannot be resized, the Strategic Business Simulator can be reduced to an icon. As an icon the Strategic Business Simulator can quickly be recalled. Initialize a New Game To initialize a new Strategic Business Simulator game, the Game Coordinator should choose File:New from the menu bar of the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel program. First, you will be asked for the name of the Industry. Second, you will be prompted to choose the number of companies (or teams) that will be entering decisions. This can be between 2 and 15 companies. Third, there will be a series of prompts which will allow you to enter a company name and a decision entry password for each company. Fifth, you will be asked to enter a Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel password for the game data file. This password will allow you to open the file from within the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel program. Sixth, you will be prompted to enter a file name for saving game data. The default file extension for the game data is SBS. After a new game is initialized, the Game Coordinator will probably want to print off quarter 0 of the Quarterly Reports and distribute them to their respective companies. This can be accomplished by choosing the View Quarterly Reports button. When the Quarterly Reports are displayed, choose File:Print to print the reports to the default printer. When you have completed viewing the Quarterly Reports, simply choose File:Exit. After printing off the Quarterly Reports, you can quit the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel program by choosing File:Exit. Before the companies can begin entering their management decisions, the Game Coordinator should privately disclose to each company their decision entry passwords. Start the Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program: 1. Open the program manager group window that contains the Strategic Business Simulator software. 2. Double-click the Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program icon. Enter Company Decisions After starting the Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program, a SBS game data file must be opened by choosing File:Open. After opening a SBS game data file, simply choose a company and enter the decision entry password for that company. The decision entry window will appear when the correct password is entered. This window is where the company's management decisions are entered. To move between data entry fields, simply press the [TAB] key. When the Recalculate Values button is pressed, the data entry fields are checked for valid decisions and some calculated fields are updated such as unit cost. To save the decisions and end the decision entry window, choose the Save Values and Quit button. From the decision entry window, you may also view your company's current Quarterly Report or the Company Ranking Report by choosing the appropriate button. After all the companies have entered their decisions for the current quarter, the Strategic Business Simulator - Decision Entry program can be closed by choosing File:Exit. Process a Quarter of Data After all companies have entered their decisions for a quarter, the Game Coordinator should run the Strategic Business Simulator - Control Panel and choose to open the SBS game data file that is to be processed by choosing File:Open. Then the Game Coordinator should select the Process a Quarter of Data button. The Strategic Business Simulator will automatically check to make sure all of the companies have entered their decisions and notify you of the ones that have not. After processing a quarter of data, the Game Coordinator should view, print off, and distribute the Quarterly Reports of the companies. To determine which company is performing the best, select the View Company Ranking Report button. After the companies have analyzed their company's Quarterly Report, the companies are ready to enter the next quarter of management decisions. This procedure is repeated until the desired number of quarters have been played. The maximum number of quarters that can be played is 16 (shareware version is limited to 3). APPENDIX A Installing Strategic Business Simulator on a local area network Why use Strategic Business Simulator on a local area network? If you install the Strategic Business Simulator on a network server, your computer's hard disk is free for other uses. Also, using the Strategic Business Simulator on a local area network (LAN) allows all or many of the teams to be entering their company's management decisions at the same time. Installing Strategic Business Simulator on a local area network You can use the Strategic Business Simulator Install program to setup a shared copy of the game on a LAN, but some additional steps must be taken to ensure that everything runs correctly. It's probably best to have a network administrator install and configure the software on a LAN. To Install Strategic Business Simulator on a server: 1. Make sure all file and directory permissions are enabled in your networking program before you begin. Refer to your networking documentation for information about setting permissions. 2. Create a directory on the network server drive where you want to install the Strategic Business Simulator software: \SBS. 3. Use the Strategic Business Simulator Install program to setup the software on your network server. When the installation program asks where you want to install the files, type the path of the new Strategic Business Simulator directory on your server. To Install Strategic Business Simulator on a workstation: