Market Share

MARKETSHARE The Marketing Principles Simulation

Introduction Computer-based simulations are a popular and useful tool for learning and applying business concepts. Simulations offer students the opportunity to experience much of the realism of making business decisions in a low-risk, experiential learning environment. This methodology is an important component of the classroom experience. InMarketShare, you will typically be making decisions as part of a marketing team. Teamwork is increasingly important in business today, and a valuable part of the MarketShare experience is learning how to make the best decisions when confronted with several different opinions. Using MarketShare in a group If you are using MarketShare in a classroom setting, you may be asked by your instructor to workin groups. Each group will pool its skills and resources to manage collectively as brand manager. Group work is the way business is most often conducted today. It can be rewarding and frustrating. Thus, it is critical that you learn how to make every group experience a success. To reduce problems while working in a team, your group should answer the following questions in their first meeting: 1.When, where, and how often should we meet? 2. How should we efficiently and effectively conduct our meetings? 3. Should we choose a general manager? What authority should this person have? 4. How should we divide the marketing tasks among group members? 5. How do we resolve marketing issues and make final decisions? 6. How do we encourage and maintain a high quality of contribution? 7. How will wedeal with personal conflicts among group members? Responsibilities of the Team Leader When playing MarketShare as a team, one member will be designated the “team leader”. The team leader is ultimately responsible for gathering the various decisions made by the team, making sure the decisions are entered correctly and within budget, and advancing the simulation. The team leader also has the optionto “lock” decisions so as to block other team members from changing them before the simulation is

advanced to the next period. Thus, it is important that the team leader be carefully chosen by the team and that they be a capable leader and accessible by the members of the team and by your instructor. Additionally, if your instructor has allowed the REPLAY or RESTART options, your team leaderis the person who will implement these options. The REPLAY option allows your team to replay the last period, whereas, restart will erase all previous periods and decisions, and restart the simulation from Period 0.

SECTION 1: EXPLORING MARKETING
What is Marketing? Marketing touches us on a daily basis, from the time we wake up to when we go to bed. We are surrounded by names of brands andthroughout the day the list goes on, as you are exposed to marketing decisions made by executives in companies around the world trying to get you to buy their products. Marketing by definition creates exchanges of items of value between buyers and sellers to satisfy consumer needs and wants. There are three important concepts in this definition. The first is that consumers have needs and wants.Needs exist when a person is deprived of something. Wants are different than needs. Wants are desires that we have for a particular type of product or activity. A $15 pair of sneakers would satisfy our need for shoes to protect our feet, however, we may desire to have a pair of NIKEs or Reeboks that will cost $100 because that is what our friends wear at school. These shoes would satisfy both our needand our want. The second concept central to the marketing definition involves satisfaction. The total focus of marketing is to produce products and services that will satisfy consumer needs and wants. The third component of the marketing definition involves the exchange. Exchange takes place when buyers and sellers trade something of value. In order for an exchange to take place, the following...