MARKSTRAT Rules & Help (Also available at inside.insead.

edu/carmon/mm2)
Decision Making Process: For each decision you have 3 hours and 15 minutes to conduct your team meetings: pick up output,
analyze your situation, decide on marketing actions, and submit your decisions. For all decisions, consultants will be available
to assist you, but only in the last 90 minutes. These operate as typical management consultants. That is, they will offer their
best advice but are neither infallible nor the managers in charge of your firm. Also they act as if from different consulting
organizationseach with its own unique expertiseand so they may or may not offer the same advice. Remember (1) you
have the sole responsibility for your firms decisions and (2) you are accountable to your shareholders.
Starting the MARKSTRAT Program: At least one member of your team must be familiar with the software screens as shown in the
manual. You should not use the disks provided with the manual (except for off-line practice). We use a network version that
will be made available to the PC in your cubicle. The software is installed on the INSEAD network and accessible with a
specific Markstrat NT account. The access to your firms data file is password protected. The password is included with your
first handout. Dont lose it or forget it if you change it!
Receiving the MARKSTRAT Output from the Previous Decision: The output from your previous decision, which contains all
your results and purchased market research studies, is available only at the beginning of the allocated time block at the MBA
Reception. One copy for each team member is available. Designate one person for your team to pick up this output and sign
for it. This person should be prepared to show proper identification to receive the output. Note: occasionally the instructors
need to talk to a team after submission of their decision but before the simulation is run. Your designated team member should
also provide contact details to the instructors. Given tight schedules, in the event we cannot contact you our decision will be
final.
Accessing MARKSTRAT Files: When the output becomes available, the data files will be transferred so they can be accessed from
the desktop computer. In the Interface module, go to the File menu and select Transfer Results & Default Decisions from
Instructor. The filename consists of the industry name and an extension indicating the firm. For example, the file for firm A in
industry Zeus is ZEUS.mrA; for firm O in industry Diana it is DIANA.mrO.
Submitting a Decision: The decision must be submitted electronically over the network. In the Interface module, go to the File menu
and select Transfer Decision to Instructor. It is strongly suggested that you print a hard copy for your own reference and proof read
your decision. (In case of dispute, the electronic version, not the hard copy, will be taken as final.) Note: You can submit multiple
times. When you submit your decision again, you overwrite your previously submitted decision. At the expiry of the deadline we
transfer the current version of your decision to a secure server for processing. When you are finished you can quit by using File
Save and close industry.
Late Submissions: Teams submitting a decision after the deadline will be charged $100,000 per minute. The proceeds will be
distributed among the other firms in the industry.
Entry Problems: Decisions cannot be altered after the simulation has been run. This can have catastrophic consequences for teams
that are hurriedly composing decisions at the last possible minute, when errors are most likely to be introduced. Put in place a formal
procedure to review your entries. If you are uncertain about how to enter a particular decision, read the manual. Make sure that you
read warning or error messages that appear when entering or transferring your decision and take appropriate actions. Too often people
ignore these messages and are surprised when bad things happen.

Network Troubleshooting & Decision FAQ

For MARKSTRAT network, computer or printing problems call x4476 (and not computer support).
Our password does not work. The password is case sensitive. Make sure you enter it correctly.
We cannot access the new results. Make sure that you use File - Transfer Results & Default Decisions From Instructor and not File
- Open Industry to access your new results.
What is the difference between File Transfer Results & Default Decisions from Instructor and File Open Industry? File
Transfer Results & Default Decisions from Instructor downloads the output data from the previous period to your PC (e.g. the
information you need at the start of a session). File Open Industry downloads the last auto-saved image of your decisions during a
decision session (MARKSTRAT auto-saves periodically during the 3 hours). This is useful if network or computer problems occur,
for example.
The cubicle PC crashed when we submitted our decisions. Immediately call x4476 for help.
The network crashed or froze during the session. When the network is restored, log off and then log back onto the PC (to reestablish network paths). Start MARKSTRAT and do File, Open Industry. This will connect you to the last saved version of your
decisions on the network. This version may be incomplete but at least you can check the screens and re-input any decisions that were
input between the last save and the crash. Please be systematic when checking the screens. Do not use File, Transfer Results and
Default Decisions from Instructor, as this will overwrite all the entries you have done during the session (and you will then have to
re-enter them from scratch).
CHECK YOUR SCREENS BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR DECISION: Most surprises or apparent anomalies reported by
MARKSTRAT teams are usually things they forgot to amend or check on their entry screens. This is most likely due to a less than
perfect management process, rather than a software problem. You must systematically verify all boxes and numbers before you
submit. This means you must have a checking process and allow time for implementing it.
Installing Markstrat on a Laptop. Do not use the floppy disks in your manual. Instead connect your laptop to the INSEAD
network and go to AppliMBA on the E:-drive. Open the folder Laptop_MS3 and double click the installation file in this folder. This
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will install all the proper software components. A laptop is not necessary, but it allows the number junkies to do extra work at home.
From our experience we want to warn you. The marginal value of such additional time is often negative.
Transferring the Markstrat File to a Laptop. On the desktop computer, go to the File menu and select Save and Backup Industry
to save the file onto a floppy disk. Insert the floppy disk into your laptop, go to the File menu and select the data file on a:\
with Restore Industry. Note: You can submit your decision only from a desktop computer. You cannot merge a decision
made on the laptop with one made on the desktop computer. When you copy your data file back onto the network using
File - Restore Industry, you always overwrite the existing file.
Print Markstrat Reports to Excel Files. If you want to do your own analysis, you can print the Markstrat reports to an Excel file.
Click on the printer icon and select the box Print to Excel File in the menu. Separate files for the newsletter, the company report and
the market research studies are created. They are in the same location as your Markstrat file. If you do this from your desktop
computer, the Excel files are stored in your I:Drive under the Markstrat folder. The filename is created from the industry name - first
four letters, an indicator of the content - n for newsletter, s for market studies, r for company report, an indicator for the firm, and the
number of period (e.g., Artero5.xls for the company report for firm O in Artemis for period 5).
We do not know the purpose of Advertising Research. See Chapter 4 in the Markstrat manual.
We cannot use the Marketing Plan tool. Before you can use this tool, you have to complete your decision and/or adjust this so that
no errors and warnings are showing. Chapter 5 in the MARKSTRAT manual describes the Marketing Plan tool. Note: you cannot use
this tool until Period 3.
How can we change the product but keep the same brand name? In Brand Portfolio select the brand to be modified and click
Modification. Then select a new R&D project with the desired characteristics (p. 53).
In period 2, can we launch a new product? Yes, you can. You have two completed R&D projects available that were used to
introduce your existing brands. You can use a project to launch multiple brands. Note: you cannot do this in Period 1.
What do Market Capitalization and Share Price Index mean? Market capitalization is stock price multiplied by common stock
outstanding. The Share Price Index is defined as current market capitalization divided by market capitalization in Period 0. Thus is
represents how much value you have created during the simulation and can also be compared to teams that started in a different initial
situations.
What is the formula for the Stock Price Index? It would be great to have a simple 'Stock Price Index' formula. Unfortunately, such
a formula does not exist, as is the case in life. Growing the company and generating a high net contribution is the best way to increase
your stock price. This is usually achieved by increasing your market shares in growing segments of existing markets or by investing
successfully in new markets, while driving the costs down. Of course, this cannot be done without a high level of R&D activities. In
sum, the main factors driving the Stock Price Index are: profitability, growth in revenues and market share, level of R&D activities.
When can we start R&D projects? You can start doing R&D projects in period 2. If successful, they first become available for
launch in Period 3.
One of our R&D projects is not completed. The R&D department works with the allocated budget. If this is not sufficient to
complete the work, you have to allocate more resources with your next decision. Make sure when you submit your decision that all
your entries are correct. Often a last minute change on the project characteristics is done without thinking of its implications for the
required R&D budget. In particular, make sure that when you check the box "Develop at Minimal Cost" this is really what you want
and fund the project appropriately. Use your on-line queries to determine the appropriate budget. If you provide a lower budget than
indicated by the R&D department through an on-line query, you take risks (the project may not get completed). In general, the R&D
department provides an estimate of the budget that usually allows them to complete the work within one year.
We did an R&D on-line query and clicked the adjust decisions button but our project was not completed and now R&D is
asking for more money! How come? If you give R&D the budget they request for the specified base cost and physical
characteristics, you are 100% guaranteed to complete the project during the following period. What probably happened is that after
you clicked adjust decisions you then changed, say the power level for example, and left the same base cost and development
budget. You should then have done a new query to get new base costs and budget estimates but didnt. Hence the project failed to
complete because the profile submitted required a higher budget and/or base cost than you left in the screen.
We set production to zero, demand was greater than we thought but the production plan was not automatically adjusted and
we lost sales! The adjustment of production is plus or minus 20 percent of the plan you set. Obviously if you set zero there is no
automatic adjustment at all.
Someone sold our inventory to the trading company without our permission! What probably happened is that sometime during
the session you were thinking of upgrading a product with a completed R&D project? When you did this the software automatically
sold the old inventory to the trading company (probably setting the default value of 37K units). Later you changed your mind but did
not manually remove the units sold from the screen box. Always leave adequate time to check your screens thoroughly!
March 2003