Monthly Archives: April 2019

Student Success Stories: Sajjad Arastu from The University of Auckland

April 30, 2019Student Advice, Experiential Education, Business Simulator, Experiential Learning, Business Simulation, NewsCamille Canuto

Meet Sajjad Husain Arastu, a Master’s student in International Business from The University of Auckland. He is currently sitting in first place in the Top 20 MikesBikes Advanced Hall of Fame. His $1,014.11 Shareholder Value has been unbeatable for two consecutive years now. Since then, he has been consistently trying to beat his own record. This reminds us of a saying from a Canadian based philosopher and entrepreneur, Matshona Dhliwayo:

“To be a champion, compete; to be a great champion, compete with the best; but to be the greatest champion, compete with yourself.”

The article below is written by Sajjad. Let’s get to know him more as he shares his MikesBikes Experience with us.

The beginning of my journey

I’m Sajjad Husain Arastu. I’m from India. I came from an engineering background specializing in Marine Engineering. I was fortunate to get an education in top universities in three different countries namely: India, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Coming from a technical background, I soon realized that the main decision-making ability lies with people who understand business. This motivated me to come to New Zealand and pursue a Master’s in International Business. I wanted to expand my knowledge further, learn the commercial aspects of business and to grow in the industry. The purpose of selecting this course was to gain deep knowledge on the commercial side of the International Business – focusing on International Trade, Logistics, Global Operations and Consultancy. In addition, I also wanted to gain skills in managing people, operations, research and development, planning and strategy in complex business environments.

MikesBikes Experience

My first course in this program was Managing People and Organisations, which introduced me to MikesBikes Advanced. It was the most exciting part of my learning. I want to thank Professor Darl Kolb for teaching this course and giving us the ability to run our own companies.

When I was doing my Marine Engineering course, I had an experience using a simulation to design ships and learn how to calculate. I never knew that we could run a business using a simulation.

The idea of using a business simulation was very new to me. I wanted to try and understand it in order to help me make decisions in a real business. I came from a technical background with literally no experience in business, so it was tough for me to understand the different business functions.

We first tried the single-player version for a week and then progressed to form our teams, where we managed our companies in the multi-player version. I was selected as the CEO of my company, Cycle planet, because I managed achieve a Shareholder Value (SHV) of $200 in my single-player version.

Competing against our friends and running my own company was one of the most thrilling experiences for me. The MikesBikes Advanced simulation is a perfect combination of the human-machine interface, which makes use of technology to develop human thinking. This motivated me because, it was exciting as every decision is unique and brings a different outcome. It also gave me an ability to manage and learn from people by competing against their companies.

Invitation to MikesBikes World Champs

The best thing happened to me towards the end of the quarter. Smartsims sent an invitation to participate in the MikesBikes World Champs. I got excited because we were just playing among our friends and classmates, and now I’m given an opportunity to compete against other students from all over the world. I wanted to experience this and develop my understanding further, so I participated in the world championship.

In the world champs, there was a condition where we could not design more than two R&D (Research and Development) projects in a given year. This was something different from the scenario we do in the course. It required a new set of decisions and more strategic planning. My team and I made some mistakes with our strategy and our group ended up in the Top 14 worldwide, which was not bad but gave me more motivation to learn and master the simulation.

My Single-Player Journey to First Place

Using MikesBikes for around 10 weeks in the course honed my learning and understanding of business. I was also becoming more familiar with the simulation. After every rollover, I look at the Hall of Fame ranking. I wondered how people could get such high scores and what they did differently.

After joining MikesBikes World Champs, I decided to play with a target of getting in the Top 20 Hall of Fame. Since I have a technical background in marine engineering, I started to think like an engineer than a business person. I started optimizing my decisions to generate more profit. As soon as I realized I’m spending too much money, I needed to minimize my cost in all aspects of my planning and came up with a new strategy to enter the Hall of Fame. I tried and looked at my decisions very carefully and started optimizing my R&D, Operations and Marketing spend.

As an example, in my initial rollover, the cost of making one Adventurer bike inclusive of all costs was close to $260 which I optimized to as low as $97. This increased my profit margins. Additionally, I also adjusted my Operations, Advertising, Distribution and Finance decisions to reach a Shareholder Value (SHV) of $1,022 with an overall net profit of $73 million which landed me the top spot in the Hall of Fame.

Impressions on the simulation

When I was first using the simulation, I thought it is just like a game. However, that was not the case. I noticed that every aspect of the simulation is interrelated and it requires strategic planning in aspects such as R&D, marketing and operations. It also involved a lot of teamwork, because we make decisions that involve a lot of planning and some calculations. Some of the decisions in my initial rollovers were just based on trial and error. However, as the course progressed, they became more planned, calculated and forecasts were made more accurately. Working well in your teams is one of the keys to succeed in the simulation.

Value and impact of the simulation in my learning

I got a chance to work with a diverse group of people. I also realized that interaction with your team is necessary in order to share ideas with each other. Every member of the team has specific duties, which is essential to make collective decisions.

In MikesBikes, our firm needed to maintain profitability in order to increase our Shareholder Value over time. This can be achieved by proper planning, understanding the components of business functions and making informed decisions.

One of the main challenges we faced as a team revolved around making the right decisions as some of our members were not aware of some of the concepts. This created misunderstanding among us when analyzing the reports. Our main priority as a team was to learn and understand our roles and duties to strengthen our relationship with each other. To improve on this, we kept a record of all our previous decisions so that we can focus on modifying these and to achieve better results. In MikesBikes, we are dealing with competitive markets which were hard to predict. Every decision required a large amount of funding.

MikeBikes provided us with a very realistic platform, which is an essential part of my learning and development. As an individual and also as someone that’s part of a team, the simulation gave me an insight in every aspect of the business. It also gave me an understanding of the value of money and how to avoid overspending to maximize our output. The simulation has helped my development in the university.

I want to thank Professor Darl Kolb for always encouraging and motivating me to develop my learning in the simulation through his weekly stock reports. This report showed us how we are doing in class against our competitors.

Advice to my past self

If I were to go back and play the simulation again, I would improve and optimize my pricing and financial decisions. I have not not mastered these aspects yet. As an example, if I keep my prices too high, my competitors will take the market share by offering low prices. Additionally, if I drop my price, I will miss out on potential profits. I need to find balance between pricing my products and knowing when the best time time is to make financial decisions.

Using my MikesBikes Experience in LinkedIn

I want to be an expert in my field and want to grow in the industry. I worked day and night using MikesBikes to develop my learning and understanding of business. I think in this competitive environment, it is necessary to do something different and stand out in the eyes of employers by showing your potential.

I used LinkedIn to demonstrate potential employers that I have great abilities and skills, which I developed over time and would be a great asset to them if they provide me with an opportunity to work with them. It has been eight years till date, and my struggle to find a full-time job has pushed me beyond my comfort level to grab any opportunity to show employers my potential and worth. I believe LinkedIn can market my achievements to the world of employers.

Connect and get to know Sajjad:

University of Auckland Celebrates 20 Years of MikesBikes

April 14, 2019Teaching Methods, Business Simulation, NewsCamille Canuto

2019 marks the 20th Anniversary of using MikesBikes Advanced at the University of Auckland. The “MikesBikes Reunion” took place on the 25th of March to enable alumni to reconnect with their fellow team members and simulation users.

MikesBikes Advanced is used at an undergraduate level in Management in Dynamic Contexts taught by Peter Smith and Andrew Patterson. As well as at a masters level in Managing People in Organisations taught by Darl Kolb.

The evening started with a few words from Peter Smith, Darl Kolb and Smartsims CEO, Dennis Gain.

“It was great to catch up with so many former students and hear about their achievements since leaving University. We were also lucky enough to have representatives from Smartsims (the makers of MikesBikes), come along and support the event (many of whom are also alumni too).”

– Peter Smith

One of two previous Masters student, David Thomas, who wrote their Thesis using MikesBikes data, were present at the reunion. The other was Emma Dawson, who is now based in California.

We also met Sajjad Arastu (first person on the right), who is currently sitting in first place in the Single-Player (All-Time) Hall of Fame.

The rest of the evening was spent reminiscing about the fun times, mishaps (where best lessons come from!) and experiences from MikesBikes.

“Students come back to us and talked about how they’ve gone into an interview in the big four accounting firms. They haven’t had any other experience in other organizations, but they can say with pride and confidence that they’ve actually worked in a team that had real work to do. It’s always heartening because it does actually simulate a professional work team. I’ve also had people at a personal level realize that the simulation gives them a chance to think about their own personal direction, who they are and who they want to be. It’s quite rewarding and fulfilling as professor.”

– Darl Kolb

We are only now really appreciating how powerful the use of MikesBikes has been. Darl and I were struck by the warm feelings the alumni had for MikesBikes and the value they saw in its use. For example, I had a really nice email from one student (who now works overseas and couldn’t attend) explaining how useful he had found the lesson learnt through MikesBikes when he worked in Software Development, and how much its shapes what he does now that he is a university lecturer.

– Peter Smith

2019 MikesBikes Reunion at University of Auckland

We would like to thank Peter Smith, Darl Kolb and Andrew Patterson for their continued support for the past 20 years. We’re looking forward to many more years of working together!

Photo credit: All photos are provided by University of Auckland and Natalie Newton

MikesBikes Question of the Week: What does “Weighted Average” mean?

April 13, 2019Business Simulation Hints Tips Cheats, Student Advice, Business Simulator, Business Strategy, Experiential Learning, Business Simulation, NewsCamille Canuto

It is the average Price / Awareness / PR / Distribution / Quality index weighted by the volume of demand for each product.

We use a weighted average to give a better indication of the overall level of value for consumers.

For instance, if you have two products A and B with A priced at $100 and B at $50, then the average price of those two products is $75, ie. ($100 + $50) / 2 = $75).

But for the weighted average we look at the amount of demand for each product.

If A had 100 units of demand and B had ten times as much demand (1,000 units) then the weighted average price would then be:

(100 * $100 per unit + 1000 * $50 per unit) / 1100 units = $54.55

Part 2: Common Mistakes in Music2Go Marketing Simulation

April 10, 2019Marketing Simulation Hints Tips Cheats, Marketing Simulation, Student Advice, Experiential Education, Business Simulator, Business Strategy, Experiential Learning, Business Simulation, NewsCamille Canuto

Mistakes are the stepping stones to success.

– John C. Maxwell

What are the other common mistakes in Music2Go Marketing?

In Part Two, we’ll talk about the importance of reaching the right customers and how to better allocate your Sales Promotion Mix.

Here’s Part One of the article in case you missed it.

Mistake #4: Misunderstanding the Importance of Reaching the Right Customers

Not understanding this can be a costly mistake as it often leads to incorrectly assigning your Advertising Mix. This can have a negative impact on the demand for your products and can also lead to overspending. Meaning your firm’s profitability is at risk!

How do you know if you are spending your advertising budget inefficiently? Follow through this section, it will show you how to efficiently allocate your advertising budget.

Each market segment is sensitive to different dimensions. View the Market Information report.

How do I interpret this Product Dimension Sensitivities graph?

The best way to explain it is through an example. If you take the Standard segment, you’ll see it has a high sensitivity to Price. This means that an increase to your price (example setting the price to the maximum) is going to have a negative effect on your sales volume.

What these sensitivities mean is a change in any of these factors, will result in a proportionate change in the consumers’ demand for your product(s).

There are four media choices to develop your advertising mix on: Television, Newspapers, Magazines and Digital Media.

There are two substantial sources of information you can use to determine your optimal advertising mix for a given advertising spend: Advertising and PR Reach by Media Curve and Media Viewing Habits. Both information can be found in the Market Information report.

Each media type can reach a given proportion of its audience for a given investment. This is shown within the Advertising and PR Reach by Media Curve.

The best way to explain this would be to provide an example.

Example: Budget of $4 million on Standard Segment.

Option 1: 42% of the Standard Segment read magazines.

So our $4 million spend would reach approximately 90% (taken from the graph at a spend of $4 million) x 42% (Media Viewing Habits) = 37.8% of the Standard segment can be reached

Option 2: 85% of the Standard Segment can be reached via Digital Media.

So our $4 million spend would reach approximately 50% (taken from the graph at a spend of $4 million) * 85% (Media Viewing Habits) = 42.5% of the Standard segment

Option 3: But maybe we can do better than that still. What happens if we spend $2 million on Newspapers, and $2 million on Magazines?

If we spend $2 million on Newspapers, we could reach approximately 40% of Newspaper viewers and 58% of the Standard segment reads Newspapers. So we could reach approximately 40% (Media Viewing Habits) x 58% (taken from the graph at a spend of $2 million) = 23.2% of the Standard Segment.

If we spend $2 million on Magazines we could reach approximately 50% of Magazine viewers and 42% of the Standard segment reads Magazines. So we could reach approximately 50% (Media Viewing Habits) x 42% (taken from the graph at a spend of $2 million) = 21% of the Standard segment.

So, together our $4 million spent half on Newspapers and half on Magazines would reach approximately 44.2% of the Standard segment, which is obviously a better use of our Advertising budget than the first two options.

As you can see, with the same budget, but a different allocation towards each media channel can make a huge difference in the amount of consumers you can reach.

This is only an example of good and bad marketing mixes. This is far from the best mix you can make. We suggest playing around on different Marketing Mix and see what works best for your strategy and budget.

Mistake# 5: Inaccurately Allocating Your Sales Promotion Mix

Your Sales Promotion strategy will need to vary with the Life Cycle of your product. For instance, Trade Shows and Sales Force training will be important a new product launch, bur progressively less so as the product ages. Your existing product will be in the Mature phase of its life cycle for your first Sales Promotion decision (Sales Promotion decisions are available after the 1st rollover).

It is important that you get your Sales Promotion Mix right, because it helps boost your distribution coverage and distribution index. In addition, some segments are particularly sensitive to Distribution, such as the Standard Segment.

There are 6 types of Sales Promotion activities available to you to promote your products and support your distributors:

Trade Shows
Salesforce Training
Premiums (Gifts)
Website/Social Media
Point of Purchase Displays
Rebates

So, how do I choose a Sales Promotion Mix for my products?

Remember that each of your products will progress through the Product Life Cycle starting in the Growth phase for new products and then gradually progressing through to the Decline stage over the next six rollovers.

Say we launch a new Youth product this period. This new product will start in the Growth phase of the Product Life Cycle (See Market Information Report > Sales Promotion). Then from looking at the tables above, we can see that our Ideal Sales Promotion Mix for a new Sports product is:

Trade Shows – 15%
Sales Force Training – 25%
Premium (Gifts) – 5%
Website and Social Media – 25%
Point of Purchase Displays – 25%
Rebates – 5%

Total = 100%

That was a simple example, but what happens in the second year that we sell this Youth product? The product will be moved from the “Growth” phase to “Growth – Starting to Mature.” So the optimal Sales Promotion mix will be 1/3 of the way between the ideal Growth and Mature figures in the Sales Promotion Table. That would give us an optimal Sales Promotion mix something like:

Trade Shows – 10% (Ideal Growth = 15%, Ideal Mature= 5%)
Sales Force Training – 17% (Ideal Growth = 25%, Ideal Mature= 10%)
Premiums (Gifts) – 15% (Ideal Growth = 5%, Ideal Mature= 25%)
Website and Social Media – 23% (Ideal Growth = 25%, Ideal Mature= 20%)
Point of Purchase Displays – 25% (Ideal Growth = 25%, Ideal Mature= 25%)
Rebates – 10% (Ideal Growth = 5%, Ideal Mature= 15%)

Total = 100%

You should buy the Distribution Coverage and Sales Promotion Market Research report for detailed information on the Sales Promotion Rating and Stage of Product Life Cycle for all firms in the Industry.

MikesBikes Introduction to Business Simulation is a 2019 Finalist for The EdTech Awards

April 7, 2019NewsCamille Canuto

We are happy to announce that MikesBikes Introduction is one of the Finalists for The 2019 EdTech Digest: Cool Tool Awards in the category of “Games for Learning/Simulation Solution.”

About the EdTech Awards

The EdTech Awards by EdTech Digest is one of the “largest and most competitive recognition program in all of education technology. Recognizing the biggest names in ed tech – and those who soon will be. We celebrate who’s who and what’s next. The EdTech Awards recognizes people in and around education for outstanding contributions in transforming education through technology to enrich the lives of learners everywhere.”

About MikesBikes Introduction

MikesBikes Introduction is a next generation interactive business simulation application, specifically designed for foundation-level courses.

MikesBikes Introduction features a unique structure which allows students to gradually build confidence. This is achieved by progressively gibing students control over their own company. They will initially determine the price and marketing mix for their only product. Each subsequent decision period they are given additional decision areas to manage to provide an insight into distribution, operations and finance; as well as the task of launching new products into emerging markets.

Recommended For:

Foundations of Business
Introduction to Business
Business Administration
Business and Society
Business Fundamentals
Business Organization and Management
Leadership for Business
Small Business Management
Business Concepts
Management Principles

Try MikesBikes for Yourself