MGMT 310 2023 – Mike’s Bikes Simulation Preparation instructions
This document outlines the steps you need to complete in preparation for and following the Mike’s
Bikes Multiplayer simulation being used in MGMT310.
1) All students are part of a team of 3+ students.
Hopefully you have set up team meetings and begun to discuss how you will develop your
team’s preferred strategy. If you haven’t started learning the Mike’s Bikes Single Player
software by this point, you will struggle to contribute! … so get on to it. If you haven’t been in
contact with others, contact then as soon as possible.
2) The simulation software was developed with a focal outcome being to generate a profit and
maximise the value of your bicycle manufacturing company. Your company competes in a
“world” (=industry) against 3-6 other bicycle companies. When your team takes over as the
top management team, all companies have been implementing identical strategies for one year,
with the same resources, bicycle designs, investments, etc. The assumption is that each
company is one year old and has been recently privatised from a government-operated entity.
Your team’s goals, chosen strategy and the decisions you enter after the first year means that it
is your group who determines which actions are prioritised and implemented. You choose and
set your own objectives.
Your objective does NOT need to be to simply “beat” your competitors – the simulation is not
a zero-sum situation and all teams can be profitable if appropriate strategies and responses are
taken. Conversely, all teams in a world can lose money depending on how they choose to
compete. Your team defines what ‘values’ your company will pursue within the stakeholder
values and decision options that are part of the simulation. You also choose the level/target that
you are aiming to achieve at. So, you set the metrics by which your strategy is judged.
3) Mike’s Bikes software attempts to simulate a real business world. It does this by requiring the
teams to make decisions for each year across a broad range of areas (marketing, operations,
finance, product development). By now, you should have developed some proficiency in
EACH of these areas (using the Single Player version) so that you are in a position to
understand and agree with or critique the proposed decisions of your fellow team members.
During the simulation, each team will probably want to assign members to areas of decision-
making responsibility (so that they analyse and enter those decisions), but will want to have a
way of ensuring that the individual decisions in each area match the strategy you have decided
to pursue and are not subject to recurring invalid thinking and assumptions.
The MOST IMPORTANT aspect in making your decisions is that these are CLOSELY
COORDINATED, externally CONSISTENT + internally COHERENT so that they support
your firm’s evolving INTENDED STRATEGY.
The first requirement of your team is that it develops an intended strategy and completes a
STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN (this is due 6pm Friday 28 April, 2023 via Nuku). A
possible Table of Contents for a possible Strategic Plan is attached at the end of this document
but your plan need not match this format. In fact, more creative options may communicate
your intended strategy more effectively – you could look at some real world company
announcements about their plans. Be sure to develop some concrete (measurable) goals for
your intended strategy overall, as well as for each functional area. The more you are able to
specify exact values for outcomes and the decisions associated with these outcomes, the better
placed you will be to understand if you are on track and whether your strategy remains
competitive relative to rivals. Without measurable goals, it will be difficult to write up your
analysis of the simulation results (Assignment 3).
As part of developing and preparing for these business plans, each group should prepare a brief
(3-5 minute) informal presentation of their initial intended strategic direction1. These
presentations will be made to others in the class on 27 April 2023 (3:40pm face-to-face;
4:40pm via Zoom). They are not graded. These presentations are designed to improve
everyone’s thinking about the strategic intentions/direction of possible competitors, prior to
and in preparation for the actual simulation.
4) Your team should also have chosen a name for your company. Your company name should be
changed at the beginning of the simulation so that reports are labelled correctly.
Note: Decisions in the multiplayer simulation can be entered at any time between
rollovers BUT must be entered before the rollover starts.
In the Multiplayer simulation, I control when rollovers occur – so check the schedule in 6)
below to see when they are set to occur.
Please provide me with a phone number for at least one person in your team (via e-mail:
[Link]@[Link]) in case I need to contact your team urgently during the
simulation.
5) How your team responds to the changing industry situation and competition is another crucial
element of the simulation. For each student, the simulation will culminate with a multi-year
analysis/report for your bicycle company. This report should cover the entire period of the
simulation and address both your intended strategy and how your firm adapted to your
changing internal (financing, manufacturing, marketing, …) and external situation
(competition, market change/growth, …).
In order to effectively analyse your team’s decisions retrospectively, it will be critical to have
established targets and milestones that your team expected/intended to achieve during the
simulation. Both achievements and failures relative to your goals and competitors should be
considered and explained as well as actions that were taken in response to your changing
fortunes.
Your FINAL GRADE for the simulation is not dependent on your team having the highest
overall shareholder value across all/your industry/world – it will be assessed by looking at the
merits of the initial intended strategy (that is, 10% for the strategic plan submitted before the
simulation), the execution of your strategy, and the actions/adjustments taken subsequently and
how you individually can explain these (40%).
For example, it is possible that a team’s initial strategy may not work well. The team may then
react effectively and manage to improve their company’s position significantly. If your report
clearly identifies why the initial strategy did not work well and presents a full analysis for why
1
PLEASE use a disguised name for your company when making this presentation in class/via Zoom.
the subsequent strategy(ies) were more competitive/successful (or not), this would be graded as
an effective analysis. Similarly, a team that was successful throughout will need to clearly
identify why the strategy(ies) worked in order to receive a high grade. [See also Section 7)
below].
A full record of your decisions, all yearly reports, and key internal/external benchmarked
performance measures from the simulation can be accessed through the software at the end of
the simulation – but making some notes of key things to discuss as you go will be helpful.
6) Schedule and Rollovers
Multiplayer logins available via e-mail (as recorded in Nuku): by Tuesday 11 April
Practice Rollovers (3 in total):
1) Monday, 24 April – 10 am
2) Wednesday, 26 April – 11 am
3) Thursday, 27 April –1 pm
Please note: at the end of the practice rollovers, the simulation will be reset for all teams and re-start
from an equal starting point within the Adventurer segment. All teams will be reassigned to new
industries which may have a different number of competitors. Decisions from the practice rounds are
just ‘practice’ to trial the software/decisions. They do not count or affect your outcomes for the actual
simulation.
Start of Actual Simulation
1) Wednesday, 3 May – 6 pm
2) Thursday, 4 May – 6 pm
3) Saturday, 6 May – 9:00 am (please have decisions entered well before this time)
4) Saturday, 6 May – 10:40 am
5) Saturday, 6 May – 12:10 noon
6) Saturday, 6 May – 2:05 pm
7) Saturday, 6 May – 3:30 pm
8) Monday, 8 May – 9:30 am
9) Monday, 8 May – 5:30 pm
The simulation will finish after either the 7th, 8th or 9th rollover. The ‘end’ will not be
announced until after the final rollover. This is to stop attempts by companies to ‘game’ the
final results by enacting short-term strategies.
While these are the planned dates/times for the rollovers, some changes may be necessary if the
proposed schedule becomes impractical. Your team’s contact person will be notified of
changes via email. Announcements will also be posted on the Nuku system.
If the date of the 6 May does not work for your group, you can elect to complete the simulation
the following week. Please e-mail me by 24 April to indicate that this is your preference.
This alternative will also be used if any group members are indicated by their group to not have
contributed to the strategic planning and plan.
Alternative Simulation dates
1a) Wednesday, 10 May – 6 pm
2a) Thursday, 11 May – 6 pm
3a) Saturday, 13 May – 9:00 am (please have decisions entered well before this time)
4a) Saturday, 13 May – 10:40 am
5a) Saturday, 13 May – 12:10 noon
6a) Saturday, 13 May – 2:05 pm
7a) Saturday, 13 May – 3:30 pm
8a) Monday, 15 May – 9:30 am
9a) Monday, 15 May – 5:30 pm
Due dates for the final report for the alternative simulation will be extended by a week as a result of it
starting later.
7) Your final report is to be submitted via Nuku by 1pm on Monday 22 May 2023 as a .pdf or
.doc file.
Drawing on your intended plan and the results of the simulation, you should produce a multi-
year analysis / report that summarises your company’s progress over the simulation timeframe,
identifies why your company did well/poorly relative to your objectives, and indicates when
and why your strategy was changed. This is why establishing some clear goals/targets/
milestones in your initial strategic plan is important because it will allow you to determine if
your strategy was/is on track. Your report should also have a brief discussion the future plans
of your company based on its position at the end of the simulation.
Example Table of Contents for the Strategic Business Plan – other formats are equally acceptable!
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 1
MISSION, VISION OR VALUES ............................................................................ 2
GOALS/TARGETS/MILESTONES .......................................................................... 2
STRATEGIC INTENT AND OVERALL STRATEGY .................................................. 2
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART ................................................................................. 3
FUNCTIONAL AREA STRATEGIES
OPERATIONS ...................................................................................................... 3
MARKETING ...................................................................................................... 4
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................. 5
HUMAN RESOURCES ......................................................................................... 6
FINANCE ........................................................................................................... 7
CONTINGENCY PLANNING ................................................................................. 8
APPENDICES (IF NEEDED)
Please note that this is just one possible outline for your strategic business plan.
Make sure to have the strategic plan fits your company’s intended strategy, and do not design a
strategy to fit the headings above.
Optional Exercise(s) in the Simulation
BRANDING STRATEGY LOGO AND EXPLANATORY STATEMENT (2 pages maximum)
Your team has the opportunity to submit a branding statement. Branding your company will
include choosing a distinctive name and creating a unique, identifiable and memorable logo
(perhaps to be painted on every bicycle sold by your company). The brand you are attempting to
create should clearly match the image that you would like your stakeholders to associate with your
company and its products.
While the imagery of the name and logo will be critical to its success, your statement should
provide a brief supporting explanation of the image/identity that you are trying to create. You
should also relate the branding statement to your intended overall strategy.
These branding statements should be e-mailed to the course coordinator at any time prior to
10:30am on Wednesday 3 May 2023.
Benefits for the Most Effective Branding Statements
All statements handed in will then be judged and the best teams will receive a boost in the
effectiveness of their brand/product awareness expenditures, that is, the same expenditures for these
teams will lead to a higher boost in awareness. These benefits will last for the first 3-4 rollovers of
the simulation before the advantage is eroded.
HR POLICY AND PRACTICES STATEMENT (1 page maximum)
Your team also has the opportunity to more formally develop its HR policy. This statement should
address your company’s approach to managing its human resources. It can be viewed as a
document that would be widely available and distributed to all employees and may also serve as
part of the package that prospective employees may be given when they are being recruited. The
HR policy should match the overall strategy that you are intending to pursue.
Again, these HR Statements should be e-mailed to the course coordinator at any time prior to
10:30am on Wednesday 3 May 2023.
Benefits for the Most Effective HR Policy Statements
All HR policies will be compared and the best teams will receive a boost in the effectiveness of their
workforce and associated expenditures. Again, these benefits will last for the first 3-4 rollovers of
the actual simulation before the advantage is eroded.
Please note: the branding and/or HR statements are optional exercises. If your team does not hand
in a branding statement or HR policy, your company will receive no incremental benefits but will
also NOT be penalised. Also note that handing in a statement does not guarantee that your team will
receive any benefits – in particular, hurriedly completed or poorly thought-out statements will receive
no reward. There will also be a clear expectation that you follow through on your branding and HR
statements in the actual simulation.
