Comp xm exam help

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1 Introduction

You have just been transported to a parallel simulation where everything is familiar, but things are a little different. Why were you transported? You are going to have an opportunity to run a company of your own and demonstrate your business knowledge!

1.1 What’s Different?

In your previous simulation, you might have worked as part of a group, bouncing ideas among your teammates. In Comp-XM Basix, you are the sole decision maker.

At the start of the simulation, all companies are not equal. You are running the Andrews Company, and it is behind the competition, so you have your work cut out for you.

In Comp-XM Basix, you will not have access to an Excel® spreadsheet. All decisions will be entered on a web-based spreadsheet available from the Open Simulation button on the Exam Dashboard (see Figure 4.2).

At the start of Comp-XM Basix, the segments are in the middle of the Perceptual Map.

1.2 What’s the Same?

The segment names and products should be familiar. Although they are in the middle of the map, the segments will continue to drift to the lower right, just as they did before.

All decision areas are identical to your previous simulation, as are the reports.

1.3 Workfl ow

Comp-XM Basix has four decision rounds. Each round, you will enter a set of decisions via the web spreadsheet.

You might also be asked to complete a Mini Quiz. You can take the Mini Quiz any time during the simulation (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Standard Comp-XM Basix Schedule

Simulation Mini Quiz

Round 1 Decisions

Can be completed

any time prior to

the deadline.

Round 2 Decisions

Round 3 Decisions

Round 4 Decisions

Your instructor can confi gure Comp-XM Basix without a

Mini Quiz.

2 Scoring

Scoring occurs in two parts, the results of your Mini Quiz, and the results of your simulation, which are assessed via a Balanced Scorecard.

2.1 Balanced Scorecard

Comp-XM Basix uses a Balanced Scorecard for simulation scoring. A Balanced Scorecard is a common analysis technique that allows companies to gauge their current performance and formulate future goals. Balanced Scorecards are divided into four areas:

• Financial • Internal Business Process • Customer • Learning and Growth

Each Comp-XM Basix Scorecard is built from criteria which are assigned a weight– a level of importance. Criteria, weights and results for each round, along with criteria, weights and results for a fi nal

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Mini Quiz

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If they were scheduled in your previous simulation, your Comp-XM Basix simulation will utilize the Human Resources and TQM (Total Quality Management)/Sustainability modules. Decisions made in these modules can have wide ranging effects, including infl uencing product demand, R&D cycle times, productivity, material costs, labor costs and administrative costs.

TQM and Human Resource drive the Learning and Growth section of the Balanced Scorecard. Documentation for HR and TQM is available from the Comp-XM Basix Help area.

3.1 Research & Development

3.1.1 Positioning Costs Material costs are also driven by positioning. The higher the technology, the higher the cost.

3.1.2 MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) Each 1,000 hours of reliability (MTBF) adds $0.30 to the material cost. A product with 20,000 hours reliability includes $0.30 * 20,000/1000 = $6.00 in reliability costs.

3.2 Marketing

3.2.1 Promotion Budget Promotion expenditures reach diminishing returns at $3,000,000 for each product. Promotion buys awareness. You lose one third of your old awareness each year. Your promotion budget replaces lost awareness, and if the budget is high enough, makes gains towards 100% awareness. When a product reaches 100% awareness, promotion budgets of about $1,400,000 are needed to maintain it.

3.2.2 Sales Budget Sales budgets buy segment accessibility. Although you budget by product, any product within the segment’s fi ne cut contributes to accessibility in the segment. Diminishing returns are reached at a budget of $3,000,000 for each product. Diminishing returns in the segment, however, are not reached until $4,500,000. You need at least two products in the segment’s fi ne cut to reach 100% accessibility. You lose one third of your old accessibility each year. Your sales budgets replace lost accessibility, and if the budgets are high enough, make gains towards 100% accessibility. When a segment reaches 100% accessibility, sales budgets of about $3,300,000 are needed to maintain it.

Sales budgets also allocate the time spent by the sales force selling the product. The higher the budget, the more time the sales force gives to the product. This can be useful if you wish to emphasize one product over another within the same segment. For example, if you are splitting a combined $4,000,000 sales budget between two products, you might spend $3,000,000 with one and $1,000,000 with the other. Your salespeople would emphasize one product over the other.

recap Scorecard, are available from the Exam Dashboard (see 4 Website Instructions).

As you enter decisions in the spreadsheet, projections of the Balanced Scorecard results for the upcoming year are available via the proforma menu. Scores from previous years are available from the Exam Dashboard.

Each round is assessed using one set of Scorecard criteria that refl ects round over year performance. In addition, a “recap” scorecard analyzes performance using a different set of criteria across all rounds. Clicking the scorecard icons on your Exam Dashboard will display the point value for each round and for the recap.

2.2 Mini Quiz

The Mini Quiz asks questions about basic business knowledge. The quiz can be answered at any time in any round. You access the Mini Quiz from your Exam Dashboard. You can change your answers as often as you want until the Comp-XM Basix deadline established by your instructor.

3 Decision Summaries

Decision entries are identical to the ones you made in your other simulation. Please refer to your Team Member Guide for general information. A link to the online version can be found in the Comp-XM Basix Help area.

You might also want to review the Rehearsal Simulation,

which is available from your previous simulation’s Getting

Started area.

The Comp-XM Basix Industry Conditions Report, which is available from the Reports menu of the spreadsheet, will help you review the current customer buying criteria and the market segments’ current and future locations.

You will also want to study the Perceptual Map of the Comp-XM Basix industry newsletter, available from the Information Resource area of the Exam Dashboard, to get a quick overview of the positions of your products (the Andrews products which start with the letter A) and your competitors’ (their products start with the fi rst letter of their company name).