Rezyl, Jaya and Maria (pictured above) form the team “Aether Bikes” from King’s Own Institute, Australia. While competing with other teams within their course (taught by Rex Walsh), Aether Bikes managed to achieve First Place within our MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame!
Why is this significant? What does it mean?
Our Hall of Fame historically compiles the top 20 Shareholder Value results from firms played by students in courses worldwide. This means Aether Bikes beat every other team within our database. Considering our database includes hundreds of other firms and thousands of other students, for them to beat every single one of them is quite a feat in itself! It is fair to say this team had quite a good grip and understanding of business as a whole.
For those not in the know, Shareholder Value is the main Key Performance Indicator used within MikesBikes. Further, a rollover is the simulation’s way of showing a progression in time.
How did Aether Bikes achieve this?
“We found MikesBikes-Intro very competitive and engaging.
We adapted our strategy based on the current situation of the market and our competitor’s actions. In doing so, we made sure to keep track of all the Key Reports in the simulation, such as the Industry Benchmark Report and Market Summary (All Product Details) report. In addition to that, we have also made sure to read the Player’s Manual and watch all the videos available in the website.
The competition started out steady, but as time progressed, it got more competitive than we had anticipated. It became more difficult to come up with a plan that will differentiate our firm from others, as our decisions and strategy were quite similar to our competitors. What helped us on this were the resources available in the website, such as the manuals, videos and the key reports in the simulation.”
What advice did Aether Bikes have for other students?
“We would like to advice future students to read the manuals and watch the videos available in the website. These are very helpful in understanding the game. It’s also important to look at what your competitors are doing by utilizing the reports available. We strongly advice students to take advantage of the Single-Player, as this will better prepare them for the Multi-Player part of the simulation.”
Aether Bikes’ final comments:
“We believe that Smartsims has developed a great program in providing a real-world business experience. We have learnt and gained extensive knowledge about business, and how to run a company, just like in the real world. We would like to thank Smartsims for their efforts and our lecturer, Rex Walsh for being supportive and for providing us with helpful advice.”
By Brook McFarlane