1

2

What is Mike’s Bikes?

• Single-player version (SoloMike)– Stand alone single player simulation– Ideal for teaching students the Mike’s Bikes interface quickly

• Multi-player version (NetMike)– Multi-player online simulation– Students able to connect from anywhere– Used predominantly in Marketing, Strategy, Management

Accounting, Organizational Behavior, Intro to Business & Capstone classes

– Has also been used in Engineering Management, Business Communication, Entrepreneurship, Managerial Economics & Operations Management.

3

It works for ..Team competition

..Leadership development

..Undergrads ..MBAs

..Management Development

4

Why Mike’s Bikes?

• Fun to teach.• Interactive learning environment.• Complete environmental control.• 24 hour customer service.

• Fun to learn. • Learning by doing.• Competitive worlds.• Cross-functional management experience.

5

Overall Strategy

operatingdecisions

investment decisions

Current ProfitECONOMIC CONDITIONS

COMPETITORS’ ACTIONS Demand Supply

BUSINESS STRATEGY

MarketingStrategy

Operations Strategy

Finance Strategy

Product Development

Strategy

Future Profit

Accounting

Shareholder Value

6

MARKETING DECISIONS

Marketing Strategy

• Decide on a Marketing strategy (target segments, niche marketing, price/differentiation strategy, etc)

Pricing Strategy

• Develop a pricing strategy (eg, high price/low volume, low price/high volume)

• Decide on the price of your bikes based on an evaluation of your manufacturing costs and industry standards.

Advertising/PR expenditure

• Recognise which advertising media your market segments respond to (all these data can be found in the Help manuals).

7

MARKETING DECISION SCREENS

Marketing Strategy

8

MARKETING DECISION SCREENS

Advertising/PR Expenditure

9

OPERATIONS DECISIONS

Managing Plant Capacity

• Balance demand with supply and ensure that you have sufficient capacity (note: capacity purchase takes two rollovers to complete)

Quality Systems

• Invest sufficiently in Quality systems to complement your marketing strategy

Labour

• Try to ensure that your workers receive salaries and get sufficient training.

10

OPERATIONS DECISION SCREEN

Managing Plant Capacity Quality Systems

11

FINANCE DECISIONS

Financing your Firm

• Decide on how you wish to finance your firm’s operations, what percentage of debt/equity

Investor Relations

• Investing in Investor Relations will ensure that your investors are in the know and do not sell your shares hastily, thus causing fluctuations in your share price.

12

FINANCE DECISION SCREEN

Equity Financing Debt Financing

13

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS

Developing New Products

• Identify potential synergies (eg, distribution channels) and plan the expansion of your product lines carefully

Investing in R&D

• Be sure to invest sufficiently in Development Projects

• Consult the Perceptual Map for data on segments

• Any projects that have less than 90% success rates will be scrapped

14

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DECISION SCREEN

Developing New Products

15

REPORTS

Financial Reports

• After each rollover, flick through all the reports to find out how your firm performed.

• If you require further information, the Help files are the best source.

16

Competing through

For control of

Two distribution channels

Two market segments

Overview of Single-player version

Two manufacturers

Real Cool Cycles

MountainTop Cycles

Bike Stores

Department Stores

Adventurers

Leisure

17

EXAMPLE OF REPORTS

18

19

20

Single-player version Perceptual Map

Adventurers

Leisure

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

Style/Design

Tec

h S

pec

s

21

Multi-player version Course Overview

Course

World

Firm

Users

22

Three distribution channels

Five market segments

Overview of a Multi-player version World

Five manufacturers

Competing through

For control of

23

Multi-player version Perceptual Map

Racer

Adventurers

Commuter Leisure Kids

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

Style/Design

Tec

h S

pec

s

24

The Multi-player version Scenario (Richer than SoloMike)

• Same decisions and model as SoloMike.

• NetMike has two distinct phases over a period of 6-12 years– A growth phase (new products & strategy implementation) – A mature market phase (product life cycle management)

• All companies start out identically.

• No randomness in the model.

• Offline mode allows forecasting.