Assignment 4: Complete Round 2 of CAPSIM
Background
The focus of this assignment is to continue working with your team in the Competition Industry in the CAPSIM simulation and analyze the results from this round to continue reporting on the Key Performance Indicators you identified. In this round, you can access the Human Resource module in Capsim.
You will be making decisions that position your product against customer requirements, building a production process that allows you to meet the market demands for your products, how to finance those operations, and how to improve processes and products through Research and Development, Marketing, Finance, Production and in this round, you will have access to the Human Resource module as well. Finally, you will learn to read and interpret a complete set of performance documents, including Cash Flow Statements, Income Statements, Production and Sales summaries, and the Balanced Scorecard.
The instructor will check the simulation dashboard to confirm that you have completed this round and provide feedback to help you with the remainder of the competitive industry.
Please note that your grade in the course does not depend on how well you do in the simulation. In that sense, the “competition rounds” are a misnomer. You can do well or poorly in the rounds. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can understand and explain the effects of your decisions on the financial results, which you will track weekly as you report on the Key Performance Indicators you identified. You will also report on a new financial measure you have not yet examined.
Instructions
Submit a written paper that examines the following:
• Examine your three financial measures (KPIs) that you will track through your simulation (note – this assignment will repeat for every round you run). Financial Measures can be found in the various reports that Capsim creates after you have completed a game.
o Include a 4th financial measure of your choice that adds to your understanding of the company’s performance. See page 1 of the Courier for ideas for different financial measures to examine.
• In each round, you make some of your decisions based on the Customer Buying Criteria – what do the customers expect in the products they purchase? This information for your products in the five product segments can be found on pages 5-9 of the Courier.
o Report on different Customer Buying Criteria each week. For example, look at the size of your product Able in the Traditional segment for this assignment. Identify and define the criteria (Capsim Help & Support can help with this). Then explain the customer expectations and what you set for your product on that dimension. Finally, compare your position with the Customer expectations and how the competitors set that number for their products.
Length: 1-3 pages
References: Include a minimum of 2 scholarly references.