This marketing simulation game guides students in decision-making concepts involved with market segmentation, positioning and repositioning, and competitive strategy. Students must consider product costs, consumer preferences, competition, and market size. Students will compete in teams through multiple rounds to earn the highest accumulated profits.
This is an extension of the initial game – so it has the same look and feel to students. However, it increases the complexity of decisions by introducing a number of new rule changes, such as the overall market size increases during the life of the game, the center (consumer preferences) of each segment shifts over the game rounds, each positioning cell may increase, decrease or remain stagnant throughout the game, there are different levels of costs for developing new products as opposed to repositioning existing products, and there is an ongoing product management/support cost levied on a per-product basis.
Type of Material:
Simulation
Recommended Uses:
In-Class
Homework
Team exercise
Technical Requirements:
Mozilla Firefox 87.0, Chrome
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Analyze new and developing market strategies in competitive markets
Formulate market strategies to test new market positions
Evaluate market decisions for future products
Practice making decisions that impact marketing strategy and positioning
Understand the impact of strategic decisions (budget, product positioning, portfolio management) on marketing results (sales, profit, market share, etc.).
Target Student Population:
Higher level undergraduate and graduate level students in marketing and business administration
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Marketing basics (like positioning, market share, etc.) and some marketing strategy foundations
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Content is clear and concise
Could be adapted easily to a course and over a few class meetings
An engaging lesson that helps demonstrate the complexity of the topic
The scenarios for students to work with are numerous.
Students have the ability to explore different market strategies and see the real results.
This activity can be played multiple times with the same group because of the many options available.
Concerns:
Students have to have strong knowledge and understanding of market positions competitive strategies. This may limit how many students may be eligible to play.
Students and instructors need to watch the videos for instructions to play and it is assumed that an understanding of the previous version of the game has happened.
Links to resources that support the methodology of the game would be great for instructors to use when introducing the game.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
Easy to integrate into a course
Could be used for upper-division/experienced students and in teams or for practice individually
A great activity to practice decision making
Students participate in scenarios that mimic real situations.
Students construct scenarios using different strategies that may or may not work.
Students can learn many real-world concepts in a short time, but also explore numerous scenarios within the same game.
Concerns:
It is stated that the game is a great introduction to marketing, strategy and positioning concepts. However, instructors will need to explore the game to understand at what level the prerequisite knowledge is needed.
Instructors will need to identify the learning outcomes they want students to achieve. The game identifies the three concepts but does not provide a detailed explanation.
Instructors will need to prepare to include the game in their assignments. Teams will need to be determined and if the course is online how these teams will meet.
Could use a bit more detail about the concepts that are being reinforced/practiced
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The game is engaging and will keep students thinking until the end.
The game is interactive and requires all participants to be involved and think ahead.
Instructors will be able to use this game with students to demonstrate real-world scenarios.
Visually appealing and easy to use
Concerns:
The instructions are provided on a separate video and are not directly inside the game.
The instructions are not as clear as they could be. There are assumptions that the previous version of the game has been played.
The game is played via Excel spreadsheets and worksheets. To increase the appeal of the game, pictures or videos may be added to supplement the written materials.
Accessibility may be a concern for students who do not have access to Excel.
Other Issues and Comments:
Overall great resource
Fun simulation that can teach students a lot in a short period of time
Creative Commons:
Search by ISBN?
It looks like you have entered an ISBN number. Would you like to search using what you have
entered as an ISBN number?
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
