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GITAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS GAMES - COURSE OUTLINE


The Business Capstone Experience is designed to measure how well students can integrate and use the knowledge and skills gained from the MBA core courses. The capstone experience is based on a management simulation in which teams of students compete against each other for business success within an industry. Students practice using newly acquired skills and bring them to a new level. Teams must analyze the economic conditions of the simulated environment, insure smooth production, understand their products relative to their customers, use accounting data to evaluate results and make decisions, finance operations, determine research and development targets, market products, manage employees and the team and respond to the competition. With your team, you will implement a business strategy, make operational adjustments to that strategy to gain a competitive advantage within the industry and then analyze the result of that strategy after several years of simulated business operations. The Capstone Simulation program allows for real-world decision making, strategy formulation, problem-solving and competitive challenges.

TEAM SELECTION Students of MBA will be organized into companies (teams) in the electronics industry. Each team will consist of 6-7 members, depending upon the number of students in the course. The determination of teams will be made by the instructor. CAPSTONE SIMULATION REGISTRATION After teams have been assigned, all students must register by following the steps listed below; 1) visit www.capsim.com . You would see 'Register' > Create New Account > I agree with the terms of usage > Continue with initial registration for this course. Then Enter Industry ID (your Industry ID is given by the instructor) Please provide your last name/first name, email, UserID/password etc. The User ID must be your Roll Number (Full). Password should be alpha-numeric only that must include Roll Number. 2) Once you are done. Please visit www.capsim.com, enter your userID/password in the fields provided. You are now logged in. click on Industry ID.

3) click on Getting Started. You will now see Join a company. Please click on it and then on Join a company to join your company. Go through the entire menu under 'Getting Started'. 4) download 'PDF Guide' from under 'Help", please go through it in detail. 5) click on 'Decisions', here you shall be able to do 'Rehearsal Simulation'. It will be nice if you did Rehearsal Simulation Rounds as many times as you can. Rehearsal simulation rounds give a hands-on introduction to the functional areas of the simulation. At the end, a participant should have an understanding of the decisions required in each area (Research & Development, Marketing, Production, and Finance), and the interactions among them. During registration, students choose their own login name and password for use throughout the simulation.

CAPSTONE COURSE SCHEDULE

WEEK
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Each session is

Decision
Team Decision www.capsim.com Practice decision Practice decision Practice decision Practice decision Round 1 decision Round 2 decision Round 3 decision Round 4 decision Round 5 decision Round 6 decision Round 7 decision Round 8 decision of two hours

Activity
Introduction to Business Simulation and Capstone Industry teams posted by the instructor Register Online for specific team, Read Student Guide & Learn Software Debriefing & Assignment

1 2 3 Debriefing & Assignment 4 Debriefing & Quiz 1 Debriefing & Submission of Debriefing & Quiz 2 Debriefing & Shareholder presentation(10 minutes) Debriefing & Quiz 3 Debriefing Final Examination (one hour) Submission of Peer Evaluation

SIMULATION DECISIONS All decisions must be made prior to 12 Mid-Night India time on the date indicated. Failure to have decisions submitted will result in default decisions activated for team. Each instance of default decision activation will result in penalties to the team in the form of lowering the grade ASSIGNMENTS Capstone assignments uploaded on Capsim are due on the date as indicated. Failure to submit assignments will result in lowering overall grade. Shareholder Presentation. Each team will present an interim report to their shareholders (the entire class). This presentation should take the form of a typical shareholder meeting. The company should provide a brief overview of its strategy and progress toward the companys key business objectives. This presentation should also provide an overview of the financial condition of the firm with a view toward its financial goals and objectives. Shareholders will also expect some discussion regarding the firms competitive position, and managements view with regard to capital structure, dividend policy, etc. Any significant changes in business strategy should also be highlighted. Company executives should also be prepared to answer shareholder questions. A copy of your presentation (1-2 pages) is due on the day of presentation. Peer Evaluations These should be completed on the Capsim site during the last set of simulation decisions. The team will not receive the final course grade until all members submit a completed evaluation form. The instructor reserves the right to significantly deduct points associated with the simulation ranking from a team member who does not contribute to the process. In the event a team member is creating obstacles or challenges to completion of projects, the other teammates should inform the Capstone Coordinator early in the process. Course Grading Criteria Online Quiz Best two scores out of three Capsim Assignments Simulation Performance based on Balance Score Card score Shareholder Presentation Written Examination TOTAL Penalties for late/no decisions or assignments will be applied. Marks possible 10 marks 5 marks 20 marks 5 marks 10 marks 50 marks

RECOMMENDATIONS Success with simulations comes from getting to know the program well. The more familiar you become with the software prior to the practice sessions, the higher your probability of success. The practice decisions are for just that. The teams that were most successful with the simulation had the most hits on the training segment of the simulation period. The playing field will be readjusted once the final sets of decisions begin. Each team can draw from the practice experience to improve decision-making during the actual simulation. It is important to utilize research functions of the program in order to make the most knowledgeable decisions.

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