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Marketplace
Live
Simulation

MGMT 311 - Marketing

2013
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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Getting Started ................................................................................................................................ 2
Ordering ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Marketplace Live Sign Up .......................................................................................................... 2
Demo ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Marketplace Simulation Schedule of Events .................................................................................. 4
Marketplace Support Information ................................................................................................... 4
Tips and Suggestions ...................................................................................................................... 4
Performance Evaluation .................................................................................................................. 5
Balanced Scorecard ..................................................................................................................... 6
Total Business Performance ........................................................................................................ 6
Financial Performance ............................................................................................................. 6
Market Performance ................................................................................................................ 6
Marketing Effectiveness .......................................................................................................... 7
Simulation Decisions ...................................................................................................................... 7
1st Quarter (Module 3) Set up Shop ............................................................................................ 7
2nd Quarter (Module 4) Test Market .......................................................................................... 8
3rd Quarter (Module 5) Skillful Adjustment............................................................................... 8
4th Quarter (Module 6) Market Expansion ................................................................................. 9
5th Quarter (Module 7) Enhance the Market .............................................................................. 9
6th Quarter (Module 8) Refine Marketing Strategy .................................................................. 10
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Introduction

You will have the opportunity to practice some of the Marketing principals covered in MGMT
311 Marketing utilizing the Marketplace Live Simulation. This web based exercise challenges
students to make realistic marketing and business decisions in a competitive, fast-paced market.
This simulation is specifically designed for marketing courses and has the participants actively
managing a business. You will be making decisions, such as; market opportunity analysis, brand
development, advertising, pricing, sales force decisions and simplified profit analysis.

You will be working individually, however, your instructor will assign you a team number for
login purposes.

Getting Started
Ordering
You are required to purchase a license for the simulation. The simulation (or game), will begin in
Module 3 and end in Module 9. Your instructor will provide a Marketplace Game ID number
during Module 1. The Game ID number is required when you purchase a game license. There is
a $25 (US Dollars) one-time fee for participation in this simulation. You will have until Module
2 to sign up for the simulation.

Below are the requirements for entering into the virtual business simulation game, Marketplace
Live.

Attain your Marketplace Game ID number: provided by your instructor

Purchase a student license number: purchased on the Marketplace Live website ($25)
Sign up for the game with your license number
Create an account with login name (your email address) and a password

Marketplace Live Sign Up

Once you have the Game ID number, follow these steps to purchase your student license, sign up
for the game and create your account:

1. Go to Marketplace Live "Student license number purchase".

2. Enter your Game ID number and <Continue>.
3. Purchase your Marketplace Live license ($40).
4. Next, go to: Marketplace Live
5. Click on the <Sign in as student>.
6. Enter your student license number.
7. Click on the <Sign up for a game> link.
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8. Enter the Game/Team ID to locate your game, or find your game in the listings by school,
instructor, course and team.
9. Fill in the contact information and choose a password.

IMPORTANT: Once you have obtained your student license number and The Marketplace
Simulation ID number, we strongly recommend that you keep a copy of both numbers on your
computer desktop or in a file that you can retrieve easily.

Demo
Now go to Marketplace Live and select Introduction to Marketing.
Read through the Introduction to Marketing simulation.
Click "View Demo" for a thorough review of the simulation.
Go through the demo sections: Overview, Marketing, Sales, and Performance Evaluation.
Next view the Group Demo

Once you completed viewing the demos, go to your Canvas Course in Module 2 and complete
the Marketplace Live Quiz. You may use this document and any other resources to answer the
questions.
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Marketplace Simulation Schedule of Events

Module Activities
1 Getting Started
Ordering License
Watch Demonstrations
2 Marketplace Live Quiz
3 1st Quarter Setting Up Shop
4 2nd Quarter - Test Market
5 3rd Quarter - Skillful Adjustment
6 4th Quarter - Market Expansion
7 5th Quarter - Enhance the Market
8 6th Quarter - Refine Marketing Strategy

Marketplace Support Information

If you experience problems during the simulation, please be sure to contact the Marketplace Live
technical support. Your instructor will be monitoring your progress, if in doubt of who to
contact, try your instructor first.

Help Button: Before contacting the Marketplace Technical Support team, first click the Help
button located on the top navigation bar in the simulation.

Technical Support: For technical difficulties or problems throughout the simulation contact
Marketplace Support by emailing support@marketplace-simulation.com or call their toll free
telephone number 1-865-522-1946. Hours: MF, 8 am to 9 pm, Sat & Sun 10 am 7 pm EST

Tips and Suggestions

Initially view the demo several times to familiarize yourself with this simulation.
Be patient with each task. Read and study all information carefully.
Remember, you are applying the basic principles of marketing you are learning each week
from your textbook and incorporating them into this marketing simulation.
The suggested time spent by each student in each quarter should be 40 minutes. Productive
time spent in modifying and making decisions is what counts, not just time viewing content
in each quarter. Your instructor will review your time spent in each quarter.
Read all tasks relating to each quarter carefully before completing required tasks.
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Deadlines - Your instructor will preset all of the important deadlines for the marketing
simulation.
If you have questions related to Marketplace Live, always refer to the Help button or you
may e-mail your instructor for additional help.

Once you begin the simulation, it is important to remember the following:

Print your documents The developers of the simulation strongly suggest that you print
your completed tasks per quarter to keep track of your selections.
In the beginning of the simulation, students should not plan on a high market share, as there
are at least four other firms competing against you.
Carefully analyze your initial reports on your first product and market before committing to
higher expenses for additional sales offices, staff, and advertisements.
Use the Final Check button to check on tasks that you have completed each quarter.
Working ahead to complete tasks before the scheduled deadlines is recommended. Do not
get behind or miss a deadline.
You must wrap up each quarter before advancing to the next quarter. The system will send
a warning if you have not wrapped up a quarter.
One of the most important components of Marketplace Live is the balanced scorecard.
Become familiar with the balance scorecard early in the simulation. Final financial, market
and marketing results are calculated into your final grade for the simulation in this course.
When you open a new sales office in a quarter you will not be able to staff it until the next
quarter. (Which means, in the 1st quarter, you will not be able to staff the sales office
opened. You will staff the office in the 2nd quarter. If you open a sales office in the 2nd
quarter, you cannot staff it until the 3rd quarter, etc)
Brand ratings are calculated on a 0 - 100 scale. As a benchmark your brand ratings should
be in the high 70's, approaching the 80's with demand at 1000 units or greater. Brand
ratings are revealed during quarter number two.
Ad ratings are calculated on a 0 - 100 scale. As a benchmark, your Ad ratings should be in
the high 80's to 90's to start. Ad ratings are revealed during quarter number three.
As you complete each quarter, keep in mind that you should introduce new brands in every
quarter of the simulation. Typically, students will end up with between 5 to 10 brands by
the end of the simulation.

Performance Evaluation

The balanced scorecard is the most important measure of your total performance, representing 15
percent of your final grade in the course. It provides a single number that can be compared
between companies. As such, it is the main indicator for evaluating your performance in the
market. The balanced scorecard is used extensively in industry. Its popularity reflects the fact
that it encourages managing executives to properly consider a host of performance criteria at the
same time.
Below, you will find a detailed description of how the balanced scorecard is derived. It is
important that you manage the division to do well in all areas measured. To accomplish this, you
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need to completely understand how your performance is measured. Then, work your strategy and
tactics to enhance your performance across all measurement areas. If you are able to do this, you
will be very successful.

Balanced Scorecard
Review your balanced scorecard for each quarter. Check how well you performed relative to
your score in the previous quarter, and to the industry as a whole. The industry scores represent
your benchmark on how well you should be doing, and will be used to measure your firm's
performance in comparison to the other firms participating in the exercise. Your firm should be
above average in all areas measured. If not, try to find the weaknesses and correct them.

Total Business Performance

A quantitative measure of the teams ability to effectively manage the resources of the firm.

Total Business Performance = (Financial Performance + Market Performance + Marketing

Effectiveness) / 3

If one of the performance measures is less than zero, then the total overall performance measure
will be zero.

As the marketing manager, you will be measured on the division's financial performance, market
performance, and marketing effectiveness. To become a top manager, you must do well in all
areas. Here is how the performance criteria are computed.

The following is a summary of the measure of the firm's Total Business Performance and its key
performance indicators. The computational details follow.

Financial Performance
Measures how well you have been able to create profits for Corporate Headquarters. A positive
number is always desired and the larger the better. The net profit for the division is used to
compute financial performance.

Corporate Headquarters expects your division to earn at least 20,000,000. Thus your score is
based upon what percent of 20,000,000 the division has earned this quarter.

Financial Performance = Firm's profit / 20,000,000 * 100

Market Performance
Is a measure of how well you are able to create demand in your primary and secondary segments.
The firm's market share in two target segments is used to measure this demand creation ability.
The score ranges from 0 to 100 and will depend upon the number of competitors. A good score
would be greater than 50.

Market Performance = Sum of market shares in targeted segments

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Sum of market shares in targeted segments = Market share in first segment + Market share in
second segment

Marketing Effectiveness
Is a measure of how well you have been able to satisfy the needs of the customers as measured
by the quality of your brands and ads. Customer perceptions of the firm's brands and ads in its
primary and secondary segments are used to measure customer satisfaction. The two scores are
then added to obtain the indicator for marketing effectiveness. The score ranges from 0 to 100. A
good score would be greater than 80.

Marketing Effectiveness = (Average of best brand judgments + Average of best ad judgments) /

2

Average of best brand judgments in target segments = (Highest brand judgment in first segment
+ Highest brand judgment in second segment) / 2

Average of best ad judgments in target segments = (Highest ad judgment in first segment +

Highest ad judgment in second segment) / 2

Simulation Decisions
In each quarter you will focus on specific decisions based upon your role in the simulation. Just
like in the real world there are no clear cut designations for decision making. As the sole
decision maker, you hold the primary responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the
micro-computer business unit, as well as the monitoring, implementation, and control of the
marketing plan each quarter. The specific decisions you will make each quarter are outlined
below.

1st Quarter (Module 3) Set up Shop

Designate a company name (Be Creative). Why did you choose this name?
Analyze market opportunitiesevaluate segments, geographic markets, and potential
competition. Understand your rationale for these selections.
Evaluate market survey results in end user profile what are the potential outcomes?
Establish corporate goals.
Select target segment. Why did you choose the segment(s)?
Establish strategic direction provide your companys mission statement. How and why
did you choose this strategy?
Select test markets why and where?
Open sales office where and why?
Define the responsibilities and roles.
Wrap-up the quarter as per the instructor's schedule.
Select your primary and secondary responsibility
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2nd Quarter (Module 4) Test Market

Design your brand. What was your rationale for these brand designs?
Did you create customer valuematch components to benefits desired?
Marketing strategyevaluate tactical options and choose marketing mix. Are these your
best option? Why?
Brand price Why did you select this pricing strategy? What was your rationale?
Price promotions.
Sales priority.
Develop media plan and budgetad copy design, media selection, and ad frequency. How
and why did you choose these media selections and ad copy designs?
Place advertisements in media Sales force managementnumber employed, and training.
Hire salespeople assign to service or target segments. How many salespeople did your hire?
Why?
Open new sales office (optional).
Wrap up the quarter per the instructor's schedule.

3rd Quarter (Module 5) Skillful Adjustment

Based on your test market decide whether your price is elastic or inelastic. Does this affect
product demand?
Evaluate performance from the first two quarters.
Should you revise your marketing strategy?
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Describe your financial performanceprofitability analysis. What is your current financial

condition?
Market performancecustomer opinions of brand designs, prices, advertising, and sales
force. What was your rationale for each task.
Begin to formulate a SWOT analysis.
Adjust strategymake incremental changes in tactics.
Competitor tacticssegments targeted and selection of marketing tactics.
Revise marketing tactics as needed and continue test marketing. Describe and understand
these actions.
Wrap up the quarter per your instructor's schedule.

4th Quarter (Module 6) Market Expansion

Analyze your financial performance using the balanced scorecard. Begin to formulate a
profitability analysis using terminology and/or formulas found in Appendix 2, page A-16,
if appropriate. Use this information for your final report at the end of the simulation.
Market performancecustomer opinion of brand designs, prices, advertising, and sales
force. What are your brand/ad ratings? What are you going to do to improve your brand/ad
ratings?
What is the current buyer behavior?
Analyze competitor tacticssegments targeted and selection of marketing tactics.
Describe your competitors.
Adjust your strategy if neededmake incremental changes in tactics.
Evaluate your balanced score card for market and marketing performance.
Evaluate profitability of division.
Conduct demand analysis to estimate brand, price, advertising, and sales force elasticity.
Use formulas for conducting a demand analysis from Appendix 2, page A-16 - A-17, if
appropriate. Use this information for your final report at the end of the simulation.
Continue to formulate a SWOT analysis. Again, use this information for your final report at
the end of the simulation.
Wrap up the quarter per your instructor's schedule.

5th Quarter (Module 7) Enhance the Market

The simulation is winding up with only two quarters left with actual strategies to execute.
Once the 6th quarter is completed in the next module, the results for all the quarters will process
in the final quarter, Quarter 7.

Marketing strategies to think about in this quarter:

Analyze your financial performanceusing the balanced and cumulative balanced
scorecards.
Continue to formulate a profitability analysis using terminology and/or formulas found in
Appendix 2, page A-16, if appropriate. Market performancecustomer opinion of brand
designs, prices, advertising, and sales force.
o What are your brand/ad ratings?
o What are you going to do to improve your brand/ad ratings?
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o What is the current buyer behavior?

Analyze competitor tacticssegments targeted and selection of marketing tactics.
o Describe your competitors.
Adjust your strategy if neededmake incremental changes in tactics.
o Evaluate your balanced scorecard for market and marketing performance.
o Evaluate profitability of division.
o Continue to develop a demand analysis to estimate brand, price, advertising, and sales
force elasticity.
Use formulas for conducting a demand analysis from Appendix 2, page A-16 - A-17, if
appropriate.
Continue to formulate a SWOT analysis.
Begin to formulate an Activity Based Costing (ABC) methodology to evaluate profitability
of brands. Use fictitious numbers for manufacturing costs into your ABC analysis. It is
important to use this information in your final report at the end of the simulation. (The
ABCs PowerPoint notes are located in Activity 4 of this module.)
Wrap up the quarter per your instructor's schedule.

*Note: The wrap up and processing of quarter six will actually occur in the 7th quarter.

6th Quarter (Module 8) Refine Marketing Strategy

Complete the final quarter and process all your gaming quarters. This is done by going to
Quarter 7. It will supply a computation with the results for all your quarters. This is the wrap up.

Note: The wrap up and processing of quarter six actually occurs in the 7th quarter. There are
no activities in Quarter 7.

Marketing strategies to think about in this quarter:

Skillfully adjust strategy to unanticipated competitive moves.
o What did you learn about your competitors from previous quarters?
Managing marketing strategy.
o Would you have done things differently if given the opportunity?
Methods used for continuously improving brand features, pricing, and sales force.
o What is your action plan?
Final evaluation of financial and market performance.
o Analyze your balanced scorecards.
Review of business.
o Comparison of actions taken against your marketing goals.
o Review of significant events that affected the company and/or market
Assessment of current situation and market (Also, how is the current market different than
it was in the early quarters?)
o Customers
o Competition
o Company strengths and weaknesses
o Major problems/opportunities anticipated in the future.

The final, cumulative Balance Scorecard represents with a maximum of 100 points.