MikesBikes SINGLE PLAYER REPORT Lecturer: Prof

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SINGLE PLAYER REPORT

Lecturer:

Prof. Rex Walsh

BUS303

Hercules had a great start and turned in a pretty decent performance during the MikesBikes single player simulation. I was able to increase the shareholder value of my company from $10.85/share to $46.20/share with a profit of $30,000,000 from the year 2012 to the year 2017.

Results of Hercules BIKE Company using MikesBikes Single-player SimulationThe strategies to achieve the results that would help me in the multi player simulation were made during this phase. I did expect that results would vary based on the decisions of the other teams in the multi player but in my conscious, I knew that the strategies would reap my team excellent results.

• The Introduction

Professor Rex Walsh introduced us to the concept of Mikes Bikes and mentored us at every step. He instructed us to watch for the “Year Ahead” which I did and took note of all the details which helped me in my journey in the simulation.

• Numerous Experiments

I conducted more than 150 experiments during my single player simulation which made me unfurl control over the Business.

My approach treated the single player simulation as a learning tool. I did not view it as merely a ‘game’ which I had to win in order to pass the subject. Instead, each experiment tested me on each of my core accounting subjects including Management Accounting when I was deciding the ideal amount of production units and the assimilation of control on ideal time and wastage and adjacently obtaining knowledge of the price, advertising, PR, debt, equity, and R&D on each of the experiments. I was striving for excellence and success was following.

• Strategic Planning

In this area, I had the need to decide what part of the market I want to move into. I took into consideration that I could divert my attention to other variants if the mountain bike segment was not giving me enough returns.

• Distribution

If you are selling your products through retail chains you have to let those retailers keep a percentage of revenues.  I experimented with this and discovered that they did not need 35% as it was set when the game started.  I got down as low as 20’s and was doing just fine.  Although I did increase the Extra Support amounts.  I suspect that these numbers should be lower in the low-end market and higher in the high end.

• Branding

This is like Nike putting their logo on NFL jerseys or their very esoteric ads that do not reference any products.  Setting this number was also very mysterious.  I kept raising it until I arrived at $700,000.  That seemed to be all that did me any good.

• roduct Development

I worked through the input options beginning with Product Development and worked my way backward to the other Products taking into consideration the decisions to be the most strategic and those that I would execute and stick with regardless of their immediate financial impacts.

• Manufacturing

There are a lot of variables in this section. It is important that one increases the production SCU to service the markets you are moving into.  There are some details in the manual about the amount of SCU you need for each bike (e.g. $300 in prime cost = 1 SCU).  But conducting experiments and reading the resulting reports will show you whether you have enough SCU.  It is important to buy SCU the year before you really need it.  So SCU purchases should be linked to product development projects.  That way, when the new bike model hits the market your manufacturing capacity is online.

• Products

Advertising and PR - The two BIG things in creating product awareness.  Each market segment responds to a different type of advertising and PR. The low-end market responds to television advertising.  Kid’s bikes respond more to advertising. The amount of advertising/PR you need is strongly influenced by the competitors you have in a market segment.

You can modify an existing bicycle. First you have to complete a product development project in the same market segment.  Then you can change an existing bike model.  You should know that when you change the model, the simulation will dump all remaining inventory of the old model at cost.

• Reports

MikesBikes generates a lot of reports.  Some of them are more informative than others.  You will spend a lot of time reading these in the beginning.  But you will get through them faster each week.  I found all the reports very useful.

 

MikesBikes: a learning experience

General Strategy   Research your markets, sensitivities and thresholds, then get off to a quick start: dominate new markets early Late entry into crowded markets is a bad Plan all of your decisions ahead of time. Stick to your chosen strategy. To exemplify - don’t consider going into the road bike segment and then drop the idea after trying it as it ends up in a disaster. Do continual calculations such as unit costs, how much can you sell, plant efficiency.

Marketing   Reduce retailer’s margins - I reduced it down to 20% and it was still managable Don’t overprice mountain and youth bikes, as they are sensitive to pricing.

Finance    Buy back shares at the beginning to raise capital as the later you buy them, the more they will cost you. Tracking cash flow is very important which can be accomplished by using financial management. Pay off your debt

Operations   Invest in quality if your long term goal is to target the road bike segment Strive for a high efficiency plant, not increasing capacity all the time as it results in detonation of quality and efficiency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

MikesBikes single player Business Simulation

A bicycle manufacturing corporation over a period of six-seven years was a great opportunity to gain an insight into a real entrepreneurial experience. The simulation started under my management. I have to practice the Single Player with care, and mastered every aspect of it and I am actually very excited to start my journey with the world as my competition.