Simulation Paper Summary

In one sentence, the paper is all about explaining *why you did what you did* – it’s as straightforward as that. I’m grading you on the quality of your explanations. The more thoughtful/insightful/analytical your explanations are, the more points you will receive.

Paper Guidelines

For each of the six quarters you need to extensively address/explain the following:

Major decisions made for this quarter (what did you do?) and most importantly a thorough explanation as to why each decision was made (why did you do it?)

After you receive the simulation results for each quarter (there are none for Quarter 1), describe your company’s results in depth (how did it turn out?) – I want you to analyze to find opportunities in your performance with respect to:
Brand/ad/price judgments for each product
Number of sales force per market per product
Number of ads per product per market
Major Competitors’ results for the above
Balanced scorecard results
So, reflecting upon your strategy, detail the changes you would make to your strategic decisions and explain why this would improve your strategy and results (what did you learn from these results and how can you improve your decision making strategies for next quarter?).

We will combine Q1 and Q2 since there are no results to discuss for Q1. Therefore your paper should have five sections to it (Q1+Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6). Each of these sections will constitute 10 of the 50 points.

I strongly suggest you write the paper as you go. While this is obvious, it will truly show as your explanations will be significantly stronger than if you wait until the end to put the paper together.

Formatting Instructions

NONE – This paper is meant to capture your thoughts as to how you are proceeding with the simulation as well as reflecting back upon your actions so that we may learn from any mistakes. I do not care about the format, just the content (FYI, headings throughout the paper make it much easier to read). Type size, type font, margins single-/double-spaced are all irrelevant to me, as I am grading solely on the quality of your explanations of your decisions.

I don’t have any set page-length in mind but I would argue that for this assignment if you spent a paragraph or two on every quarter, you wouldn’t be supplying me with an *extensive* analysis of your simulation decisions/results. For comparison, decent papers average 12 pages, double-spaced.

Helpful Hints

Picture yourself in front of a board of directors to explain how you’re spending their money. They want in-depth explanations of *why* you’re doing what you’re doing. SO DO I. You need to sell me on your strategic thought process.
Failure to thoroughly discuss how your competitors’ actions affect your actions will kill your score.
Oh yeah, did I mention that you should write your paper as you go? I did? Well, it’s important enough to mention again!

Turnitin

All paper submissions will analyzed for plagiarism by the Turnitin software through Blackboard. FYI, my Turnitin database has thousands of papers. If yours is determined to be plagiarized in any way, this will not result in a 0/50 for the paper, but rather a harsher penalty up to and including a grade of XE for the entire course, regardless of your exam performance. Plus you will get to meet with the Dean of Academic Affairs; he will be handling all academic improprieties as this will be out of my hands. In short, you are far better off not turning in a paper and taking a zero than turning in a paper that in any way has borrowed from a different source. I cannot be clearer about this.
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