Marketing Simulation Managing

Segments and Customers V3

Marketing Management
BA 281T Spring 2021
Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers V3
This simulation puts you in the role of a new CEO at Marker Motion, Inc. (MM), a company that manufactures inertial motion
capture sensors.

When the simulation opens you are in the 3rd quarter of the second year. A full run of the simulation involves making decisions for
14 quarters (to the end of the 4th year).

Overview: You should plan for about 4 hours for this asynchronous learning exercise. You will run the simulation twice and prepare
a short report to submit.

1. Go to Modules section of the Canvas page. Click on the link to open the simulation. This will take you to the Prepare page.
Read the introduction on the Prepare page and then click on “play through the tutorial here” for a short overview.

… … … … … … … …

2. After the short tutorial click on “Start” to begin. You will need to spend a good bit of time understanding the information in
the Analyze screens The reports accessible from these screens will give you detailed information about MM’s current and
historical sales, product features desired by its customers, how feature performance is changing for its products over time,
and financial statements for the company. Use the information here to develop your strategy.

3. When you are ready, enter your decisions for each quarter in the Decide tab. Among the many decisions you must make
are setting prices, allocating R&D spend, and determining priorities for the sales team. In the first two quarters of play you
have access to an $800,000 budget. In subsequent quarters your financial performance will determine budget availability.
After submitting your decisions the simulation will advance one quarter. You should return to the Analyze screens to review
the results of your decisions. Be sure to read the news about the marketplace. Continue to play by submitting quarterly
decisions until you reach the end of the simulation.

Assignment

4. Complete a first run of the simulation (make decisions through all 14 quarters). Your goal is to MAXIMIZE CUMULATIVE
PROFIT. Before beginning, try to develop a strategy based on what you know. Think of this first run as trial. Learn what you
can and see if you can improve on your second run. There are a number of strategies that you might use to be successful.

Marketing Simulation BA281T-Marketing Management

 5. For your report that you will submit, answer the following questions about your first run:
a. What were your overall goals and approach of your marketing strategy?
b. How effective (or ineffective) was your strategy?
c. What will you do differently in your second run?
6. Run the simulation a second time (another 14 quarters of decisions).
7. In your report answer the following questions about your second run:
d. How effective was your new strategy?
e. What did you learn about best practices for managing this business after two runs?

Submit your report as a WORD (.doc or .docx) to canvas by 5:00 p.m. on May 6th.
Note that for your assignment you must run through the simulation twice. However, if you wish, you may run through up to a
total of five times. Your report should be no more than two pages double spaced.

Marketing Simulation BA281T-Marketing Management