Assurance of Learning Assessment Examination

BGSU Acct 2220 – Spring Semester 2015

Comp-XM Exam Overview:
• Each student becomes the CEO of their own “Andrews” Company.
• Each student will make all decisions for their Company and individually
compete against three computer teams.

Exam Scenario:
As CEO of Andrews Corporation, you will make four rounds of decisions and answer
five rounds of “Board Queries”. Your competition is Baldwin, Chester & Digby.
All participants compete against computer competitors, but each scenario is
structured differently. As with the current simulation, the quality of your decisions
directly affects the position of your company. Your individual simulation decision-
making performance is evaluated using the Balanced Scorecard.
Purpose:
• The Comp-XM® Exam is an “Assurance Of Learning” (AOL) assessment tool.
• Goal: Student demonstration of their business skills and business acumen.
• There are two parts to the Comp-XM® Examination (See Online Exam Guide)
1) A business simulation (similar to the current simulation)
2) A series of questions, presented by the board, called “Board Queries.”

There are four unique Market Segments:

Note: “Thrift” and “Core” (similar to Low-Tech). “Nano” and “Elite” (similar to High-Tech).

Thrift Segment Core Segment Nano Segment Elite Segment

Buying Criteria Buying Criteria Buying Criteria Buying Criteria
• The competitive landscape is not even:
• Each company begins from a different starting point.
• Each company has four existing products. You may choose to add new products.
• Students compete against 3 computer-managed companies.
• Note: You need to develop a Sales Forecasting tool (Update our posted Excel file?)
 How is it graded?

There are 2 grading components.

#1: Balanced Scorecard (50%)
The Balanced Scorecard
examines how well your
company is managed.

4 Perspectives:
•Finance

•Internal Business Process

•Customer

•Learning and Growth

 #2: Board Queries (50%)
• Exam questions (Queries) from the Board of Directors.
• 5 question sets: Generally, 8-10 questions for each round.
• All questions are unique to your particular environment.

Specific “Board Queries” may cover:

• Strategic Analysis • Operations
• Finance • Quality Initiatives
• Marketing • HR & TQM
• Accounting • Situation Analysis
Sample Question #1 of 3:
Key: Analyze the “Inquirer” to answer.
Sample #2 of 3: How to answer this?
Sample #3 of 3: How to answer this?
• Question Value: 15 Pts
Your Competitive Intelligence team reports that a wave of product liability lawsuits
is likely to cause Digby to pull the product Daft entirely off the market this year.
Assume Digby scraps all capacity and inventory this round, completely writing off
those assets and escrowing the proceeds to a settlement fund. Assume these
lawsuits will have no effect on any other products of Digby or other companies.
Question: Without Digby's product Daft, how much can the industry currently
produce in the Core segment? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment
last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures are in thousands (000).
Step 1: Per the “Inquirer” Production Report, find the products that exist in the
“Core” Segment and the production capacity available for each of these products.
Step 2: Combine all potential production capacity for the Core segment.
Note: Be sure to consider that existing capacity can be used to produce *double*
the amount of product (due to the second shift potential).
 Prep Work Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Final
Half an Hour 1.5 Hours 1.5 Hours 1.5 Hours 1.5 Hours 1 Hour

• Decision rounds take about • There are 5 rounds of

30-75 minutes per round. “Board Queries”.
•In essence, there is a
• There are 4 decision rounds. “wrap-up” set of Board
Queries after the four
decision-making rounds.
Items to consider:
a) Be sure to read (and print) the Comp-XM Exam Guide prior to start.
b) TQM Spending amounts are different than the sim (pg 4)
c) Pricing and Positioning: Review pgs 5 & 6 to best prepare.
d) Always buy Capacity one year in advance!
e) Be careful when making significant positioning changes as R&D time can
be substantial.
• Exam Materials will be available for review upon registration.
• For Round 1, we will meet Thurs, April 23rd, from 7:30-9:30 PM in Lab TBA.
• After round one, proceed at your own pace through the remainder of the exam.
• This is an individual exam. No consultation with students/others is allowed.
• Any procedural questions can be addressed during office hours/via email.
• The Exam due date is Monday, May 4th at 1:00 PM (EST). No exceptions.
• Exam results will be shared May 6th at our “Capsim Summit” finals-week event.