3 Instructor Environment - 3.6 Industry Results | Reports

3.6 Industry Results | Reports

3.6.1 Conditions Report

Simulation parameters will differ depending on Scenario and Customization choices (see 2.3.1 Simulation Parameters and Customization). The Industry Conditions Report provides information based on the selected parameters, including segment locations and buying criteria breakdowns. This report is needed to complete the Situation Analysis.

3.6.2 Capstone Courier And Foundation Fasttrack

The Couriers and FastTracks display "Last Year's Results," for example, the Couriers/FastTracks available at the start of Round 2 will display the results for Round 1. The Couriers/FastTracks available at the start of Round 1 display Last Year's Results for Round 0, when all companies have equal standing.

At the beginning of the simulation, all numbers are equal. However this will quickly change as companies enter decisions and implement strategies.

3.6.3 Using The Courier/Fasttrack

Successful companies will study the Courier/FastTrack to gain an understanding of the marketplace.

Front Page, Stock & Bond Summaries, Financial Statements and Production Analysis

The Front Page of the Courier/FastTrack is a snapshot of last year's results and allows companies to quickly compare data, including sales, profits and cumulative profits.

Page 2, Stock and Bond Summaries, reports stock prices and bond ratings for all companies.

Page 3, Financial Statements, surveys each company's cash flow, balance sheet and income statements. This will give participants an idea of your competitors' financial health.

Each company also has access to its own in-depth Annual Report (see 3.6.4 Annual Report). Companies cannot view other companies' Annual Reports.

Page 4, The Production Analysis, reports detailed information about each product in the market, including sales and inventory levels, price, material cost and labor cost.

The Production Analysis also reports product revision dates. A product with a revision date in the year after the year of the report indicates a long repositioning project that could possibly put that product into another segment.

If a revision date has yet to conclude, the Courier/FastTrack will report the product's current performance, size and MTBF. The new coordinates and MTBF will not be revealed until after the completion of the project.

Page 4 also reports automation, capacity and plant utilization.

Increases in automation reduce labor costs and this could indicate competitors might drop prices for those products. Selling capacity reduces assets; running the remaining capacity at 150% to 200% can improve Return on Assets (ROA).

The Production Analysis will report the release date (but not the coordinates) of a new product if:

• Production capacity is purchased;
• A promotion budget is entered;
• A sales budget is entered.

Segment Analyses

The Market Segment Analyses, pages 5-9 of the Courier and pages 5-6 of the FastTrack, review each market segment in detail.

The Capstone market segments are called Traditional, Low End, High End, Performance and Size. The Foundation market segments are called Low Tech and High Tech.

The Statistics table in the upper-left corner reports Total Industry Unit Demand, Actual Industry Unit Sales, Segment % of Total Industry and the segment's Growth Rate for the upcoming round.

In the Standard scenario, the growth rates will remain the same year after year; in the Growth and Recession scenarios, the growth rates will vary. See 2.3.1 Simulation Parameters and Customization.

The Customer Buying Criteria table ranks the customer criteria within each segment:

• Ideal Position: The preferred product location as of December 31 of the previous year (the preferred location is also called the ideal spot-ideal spots drift with the segments, moving a little each month);
• Price: In Capstone, price ranges drop by $0.50 each year. In Foundation, price ranges stay the same year after year;
• Age: Age preferences stay the same year after year;
• Reliability: MTBF requirements stay the same year after year.

Successful companies will determine how to profitably meet customer expectations.

The perceptual map shows the position of each product in the segment as of December 31 of the previous year.

Accessibility, Market Share And Top Products in Segment

The Accessibility Chart rates each company's level of accessibility. Accessibility is determined by the Marketing Department's sales budget- the higher the budget, the higher the accessibility. Accessibility is measured by percentage. 100% means every customer could locate the product.

The Market Share Actual vs. Potential Chart displays two bars per company. The actual bar reports the market percentage each company attained in the segment. The potential bar indicates what the company deserved to sell in the segment. If the potential bar is higher than the actual, the company under produced and missed sales opportunities. If the potential is lower than the actual, the company picked up sales because other companies under produced and stocked-out.

The Market Share Actual vs. Potential chart displays sales on a segment by segment basis. The Market Share Report, page 10 in the Courier and page 7 in the FastTrack, displays Actual and Potential sales on a product by product basis.

Top Products in Segment lists the products selling in the segment and reports:

• Market Share
• Units Sold to Segment
• Revision Date
• Stock Out (Whether the product ran out of inventory.)
• Performance and Size coordinates
• Price
• MTBF
• The product's Age on Dec. 31
• Promotion and Sales budgets
• Awareness and Customer Survey

Customer Awareness is determined by the Marketing Department's promotion budget- the higher the budget, the higher the awareness. Awareness is measured by percentage. 100% means every customer knew about the product.

The December Customer Survey indicates how customers perceived the products in the segment. The survey evaluates the product against the buying criteria. Zero indicates the product met none of the criteria as of December 31, however it had a higher score earlier in the year. A perfect score of 100 would result when the product:

• Was priced at the bottom of the range;
• Was perfectly positioned (because the segment moves each month, this can occur only once each year);
• Had an MTBF specification at the top of the expected range;
• Had the ideal age for that segment (because the product ages each month, it can only have the ideal age once a year);
• Had 100% Awareness;
• Had 100% Accessibility.

Ages and distances from the ideal spots change throughout the year, therefore scores change month to month. If a repositioning project concludes late in the year, the survey score for December could be significantly higher than the scores for the previous months.

Participants can use the Customer Survey as they conduct a competitive analysis.

Market Share Report And Perceptual Map

The Market Share Report, page 10 in the Courier and page 7 in the FastTrack, details sales volume in all segments, reporting each product's actual and potential sales. This very useful report allows participants to see serious stock-out issues, for example a product's potential was 20% of segment demand, but the company only produced enough to make 10% of segment sales. When this happens, typically another product's actual sales is greater than its potential, as that product sold to customers who would have preferred the other had it been available.

The Perceptual Map displays all segments (five in Capstone and two in Foundation) and every product in the industry. The Perceptual Map quickly shows which products are competitively positioned and which are not.

Hr/Tqm/Sustainability Report

The HR/TQM/Sustainability Report XE "HR/TQM/Sustainability displays investments and results when the optional TQM/Sustainability, Human Resources and/or Labor Negotiation modules are activated (Labor Negotiation is Capstone only).

3.6.4 Annual Report

This area shows each company's financial performance in greater detail. The reports consist of:

• Balance Sheet
• Cash Flow Statement
• Income Statement

The reports are proprietary to each company. Instructors have access to all reports.

3.6.5 Financial History

The Financial History offers a one-stop comprehensive report of each team's performance for each round.

3.6.6 Rehearsal Completion

The report shows Rehearsal Tutorial results for each participant.

3.6.7 Report Availability

Checking the Un-Schedule box next to any of the reports listed below will remove that report from the participants' Reports page for the entire simulation.

Checking the Round box will make that report available to the participants from that round through the end of simulation.

• Balanced Scorecard (See 3.8.1 Balanced Scorecard.)
• Classic Ten Rankings (See Classic Ten Rankings.)
• Round Analysis (See Round Analysis.)
• Analyst Report All Teams / Single Team (See Analyst Report.)
• Latest Round Debrief (See 3.7.1 Debrief, Tournament on page 18 and 3.7.2 Debrief, Footrace.)
• End of Simulation Debrief (See 3.7.1 Debrief, Tournament 18 and 3.7.2 Debrief, Footrace.)
• Final Score Relative (See Weighted Relative.)
• Final Score Ranking (See Weighted Ranking.)

3.6.8 Student Database

Instructors can produce custom reports about each participant by selecting any or all of the following:

• Participant's Name
• Registration Date
• Industry ID
• Team Name
• Last Date Logged In
• Number of Log Ins
• Online Situation Analysis
• Introductory Lesson Quiz
• Labor Tutorial Quiz
• HR Tutorial Quiz
• TQM/Sustainability Tutorial Quiz
• Marketing Tutorial Quiz