Players Guide

The Business Strategy Game
COMPETING IN A GLOBAL MARKETPLACE 2012 Edition

Player’s Guide
Created by

Arthur A. Thompson, Jr.
The University of Alabama

Gregory J. Stappenbeck
GLO-BUS Software, Inc.

Mark A. Reidenbach
GLO-BUS Software, Inc.

The Online Edition of The Business Strategy Game is published and marketed exclusively by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 1333 Burr Ridge Parkway, BurrRidge, IL 60527

Copyright © 2012 by GLO-BUS Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of GLO-BUS Software, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distancelearning.

The Business Strategy Game

Player’s Guide

Welcome to the The Business Strategy Game. You and your co-managers are taking over the operation of an athletic footwear company that is in a neck-and-neck race for global market leadership, competing against rival athletic footwear companies run by other class members. All footwear companies presently have the same worldwide market share andthe same market shares in each of the four geographic market regions—Europe-Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America. Currently, your company is selling over 5 million pairs annually. In the just-completed year, your company had revenues of $238 million and net earnings of $25 million, equal to $2.50 per share of common stock. The company is in sound financial condition, isperforming well, and its products are well-regarded. Your company’s board of directors has charged you and your co-managers with developing a winning competitive strategy—one that capitalizes on continuing consumer interest in athletic footwear, keeps the company in the ranks of the industry leaders, and boosts the company’s earnings year-after-year. Your first priority as a Business Strategy Gameparticipant should be to absorb the contents of this Player’s Guide and get a firm grip on what the exercise involves, the character of the global athletic footwear market, and the cause-effect relationships that govern your company operations. Then you will be ready to explore the online software and start running your assigned company.

How The Business Strategy Game Works
The Business Strategy Gameis a PC-based exercise, modeled to reflect the real-world character of the globally competitive athletic footwear industry and structured so that you run a company in head-to-head competition against companies run by other class members. Company operations are patterned after those of an athletic footwear company that produces its shoes at company-operated plants rather than outsourcing productionto contract manufacturers. Cause-effect relationships and revenue-cost-profit relationships are based on sound business and economic principles. All aspects of The Business Strategy Game closely mirror the competitive functioning of the real-world athletic footwear market. Everything about your company and the industry environment you will operate in has been made as realistic as possible inorder to provide you with a close-to-real-life managerial experience. The Business Strategy Game puts you in a situation where you and your co-managers can apply what you have learned in business school and where you can be businesslike and logical in deciding what to do. Each decision period in The Business Strategy Game represents a year. The company you will be running began operations 10 yearsago, and the first set of decisions you and your co-managers will make is for Year 11. As soon as you get to the Main Menu for running your company, you should print a copy of the Year 10 Company Reports, a summary of the Year 10 Footwear Industry Report, and the Year 10 Competitive Intelligence Reports. These reports, along with this Player’s Guide, provide you with full information on where...