Mikesbikes Simulation Game Analysis

This assignment delves into an analysis of a multiplayer business simulation game focused on managing the fictional company 'Mikesbikes'. The player's objective is to strategically navigate the market by making decisions regarding product lines (mountain bikes, youth bikes, road bikes), production levels, distribution, and marketing. The report examines the chosen strategies, key lessons learned about finance and market dynamics, and the overall performance of the simulated Mikesbikes company.

Running head: MULTI PLAY REFLECTION REPORT
MULTI PLAY REFLECTION REPORT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
In this strong world of competition understanding, a business properly can be a great urge.
The concept of business simulation can be very much helpful in this aspect to understand the
sensitive issue. MikesBikes, business simulation program can be helpful for us to get a clear
idea of the views in the business environment in the real world. It can be stated in the context
that throughout the concept of the it provides a basic understanding of pricing, product,
marketing, market situation, comparing benchmark, and financial accounting and many more.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Strategy......................................................................................................................................4
Multi- Player Experience...........................................................................................................5
The summery of the game play................................................................................................12
Important points learnt after the game play.............................................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
The game, which is related to the business simulation, is very much important in order
to understand the concept, which is behind the real business world mainly taking into
consideration all the accounting calculations and all the theory. It directly helps to employ
and implement different forms of strategy and to make appropriate decision in the real world.
Mikesbikes can be considered one of the them; it is a business world which is virtual. The
simulation consist of more than one segments, distribution debt and advertising allocation1.
In the mikesbikes simulation of business, there are mainly two version, which are
available: 1. Single play and 2. Multiplayer. Mikesbikes implemented the concept of
multiplayer by Smartsims. The concept is very much helpful for the purpose of business
simulation to get accustomed with the real world business. The aspect of multiplayer gives an
environment, which is very much similar to the real world so that the user can understand the
concept of the business quite easily.
Strategy
The Mikesbikes multi play intro basically consist of the following segments such as
development, price, production, PR, advertising, debt, distribution, capacity and equity etc.
taking into consideration the following segments the users have to play wisely and
accordingly make effective decisions. The main motive, which is behind the aspect, is the
increase of shareholder value (SHV). At the beginning of the game, the user is eligible to
involve with advertising and slowly can move towards other area, which would be free to
control one by one. The strategy which is related to the price and advertising of the product is
mainly achieved by means of research which put into the market. Taking into consideration
year 1, according to the strategy we applied price, which were moderate, and campaign
1 Simmons, Emilee L. "Evolution in Business Simulations: A Review of the SimVenture Evolution platform
(www. simventure. co. uk), created by Paul and Peter Harrington." Academy of Management Learning &
Education 16.4 (2017): 629-632.

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relating to advertising especially in the magazine and a little bit in the concept of PR and
produce the mountain bikes in appropriate amount in order to get rid of sales loss. Along with
the implementation of the previous strategy the attention, which was applied to the
distribution margin, can be considered least with the focus on additional support and increase
in the branding which adds more aspect of awareness in the second year. In the third year,
much of the attention was applied to the concept of all the depts that are related to this aspect.
This would be helpful in the process of reduction of expense rate which can be considered as
a drawback relating to decrease in profit and capacity control where we increased the
efficiency which is related to the reduction of wastage and increase in the quality which can
be accounted for almost 90%. The most important year in this context was the year 4, which
was very much challenging because the improvement in the mountain bike was needed which
incurred a cost of $2m and product launch, which was new. We basically looked through the
report and from the research report of the market it would founded that young bikes was the
most popular launch taking into account the market and which cost us $1m and we had spent
a heap of money on the advertisement on Television because it worked a lot for the young
bikes. We directly increased the capacity and we had a lot of money spend in the concept of
quality and efficiency. On the other hand in order to increase awareness branding of the
product was majorly done. Besides this concept, we started to buy the equity, which can
contribute a lot towards the increase of the shareholder value, and we paid almost 20 cents on
the dividend. In the 5th year, the second biggest challenge was faced. The improvement in the
sector of mountain, youth and launched road bikes, which almost cost us $4m, was done. As
a result of the increase of the quality the product price was also effected which was increased
up to a certain extend. The road bikes can be considered a very expensive product. Taking
into consideration a market report it was founded out that the concept of quality is a king of
the roads and PR relating to the magazine is very much important. In the 6th year, everything

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was under control. In this context an extra slot for available for the launch of a new product
but we decided not to involve any new product due to the factor that the entire product was
launched. If the decision of launching the product was considered it would be like a
competition to ourselves only due to three products in the market. We directly improved the
aspects of efficiency, capacity and quality due to the factor of increase in sales and increased
the price relating to the products. All the equity, which could be afforded, was occupied and
accordingly the dividend was paid. The strategy, which was followed, was a previous year
concept taking into account the 7th year but the improvement of the products were stopped so
that stability in the sales can be brought. In order to increase the stakeholder value the
dividend was paid as much as possible. Taking into consideration last year there were hardly
any changes made but again the reduction of the product price was made to maintain the
previous sales.
Multi- Player Experience
The first consideration that was required was the name change of the company
according to our selection. Bikes was the name, which was given by me for the simulation
related to single player instance. In order to understand the idea the year report was taken into
consideration by me, which was behind the market scenario and to take into consideration the
steps, which was required to make effective decision in the business.
For the starting year, the company operated only with the mountain bikes. The main
try was to enter the amounts, which were much higher taking into consideration the default
price for example $700 with very small PR and the budget relating to advertisement. The
result, which was seen after the first roll out, was not impressive due to the factor that the
SHV was dropped from $11 to $. A discussion was made with the nearby students and I
understood that the advertisement sector should be the focus point in the first year. I started

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the plan again and founded out that the SHV had risen to an amount of $. The next year for
the game was very much important for the concept of distribution and branding. I decreased
the price to $705 from $710 in order to push the sales.
In the second week of the game I started to understand a bit more of the basics related
to the business, this mainly resulted in taking better decision than last few weeks. The
following recording was made during the play.
For the starting year, the generic unit price relating to the market bikes was $700 with
the initial forecast of 18000 units sale and 16500 units, which were put for sale. The increase
in price was made to increase the PR and the advertisement. The production was also
increased but later on, it was rolled over. Following are the result, which was acquired.
After the process of studying the I came to a conclusion relating to the factor of low
production and concept of awareness which was high sales amount was lost. Due to this
factor, forecast sales were increased as well as the production. I raised the budget, which was
related to brand awareness to 700000 from 250000 and the support of the mountain bike was

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made in three channels where I majorly focused on sports stores giving them a profit margin
of 25% over sales. Following are the result of the roll over.
It can be stated that the result were very much promising when comparing it over the
time spend on the concept of simulation. I realized that the awareness rise and the PR paid of
well in this concept. There were no loss in sales and there was considerable amount of rise in
share market. The concept of spending on branding was very much crucial for achieving this
result. However, in this context the lagging was in the concept of distribution due to factor
that I did not reach enough distributors for the product. The capacity level was eventually
under control as there was not any closing stock, which directly reduced the expense, which
was related to keeping and storing the bikes in the warehouse 2.
2 Letnick, Norm. "Distance education delivery of an intensive simulation based course." Developments in
Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 32 (2014).

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In the year 2020, the decision planning was made according to the instruction, and I
made a point to stick to the principle underline there and follow them. The retail price was
increased a little bit with focus on the sector of PR and advertisement. In my understanding
the budget was considered to be appropriate therefore the factor was not taken into
consideration expect I saw a drop in the forecasted level related to quality. I also became
stagnant and the market share at the rising level was taken into consideration the previous
report. The rate of commission was also increased for the bike store due to the factor that I
believed it would be directly increasing the sales. The following results were recorded after
the roll over.
The new product were introduced in single player in the fourth year of the business.
Every instruction was clear which were provided at the year ahead of the summery, basically
that was very much important and very much reasonable to help to make a decision or an
adequate strategy.

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 To launch a new product it would be costing around $1 million.
 In order to improve the specification for the project which exists it would be costing
around $1 million.
 To reduce the cost of the existing project it would cost around $1millions.
 In order to improve the specification as well as reduce the cost of the existing product it
would be costing $ 2 million.
Taking into account my income level, I made a decision of launching a young bike.
At the product launch, I decided to increase the support to the stores by giving them discount
also the setting of the PR and advertisements was done according to the requirement, which
was stated in the report. Most of the buyer could reach us by means of Television; therefore, I
spend equally in the advertisement and the PR campaign for the young bikes.

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The outcome, which was reached in the year 2021, was very much encouraging, as
SHV had risen in a single year span. This was possible due to the spot on the strategy of
distribution; however, there was a loss in the young bikes sales due to the factor of under
production. Therefore, the focus, which was taken in the next year, would be the concept of
appropriate production level and maintaining the customers3.
I also planned to launch road bikes of $2100 with the capacity production of 50000
aligned with other capacity of production of 25000 youth and 25000 mountain bikes4. The
price relating to the youth bike and the mountain bikes increased. The decision of $0 dividend
was also taken into account and made with $200000 shares buy back. Above decision were
favorable in comparison with the competitors5.
3 Markulis, Peter M., Michael Nugent, and Daniel R. Strang. "A Study of the Acquisition of Competitive
Information in Business Simulations." Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 43.1
(2016).
4 Becker, Johannes, and Philipp Moroder. "Extreme Mountain Biking Injuries." Extreme Sports Medicine.
Springer, Cham, 2017. 139-150.
5 Christian, Disciples. "THE LINK." (2015).

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If the comparison was made of 6 years with the machine, I performed well in the first
4 years and I had bad 2 years, which provided me with a proper insight of the crucial factors
of finance. The focus should have been more on the finance area. Eventually results came for
me taking into account last 2 years with the increasing SHV as shown above but the
competitive target was not meet. Despite the leading provider of the bikes taking into account
three categories I was still lacking the value in shareholders6.
6 Markulis, Peter, Michael Nugent, and Daniel Strang. "Assessing the Role of Assessment in Business
Simulations." Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 42 (2015).

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The summery of the game play

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Important points learnt after the game play
Mainly there are five points, which can be included in the concept which can be
beneficial for the concept of multiplayer. The points are as follows:
1. Mountain bike awareness should be build strong by spending more money on the factor
of advertisement. The need to understand which media channel target which particular
product should be taken into consideration
2. Establish distribution plan, which are powerful to supply the adequate quality of bikes.
3. Maintain the productivity capacity is very much crucial.
4. Focus on the concept of efficiency up to the point, which is suggested by the market
research. The production level can reduce the operational expenditure and other expenses
in this field.

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5. Ones the market share of 50% is reached we may decide to raise the price due to the
factor that people have recognized us previously7.
Conclusion
The game was really enjoyed and I leaned many things from the multi-player concept and I
realistically experienced that let me know the type of strategy which can be incorporated for
making the customers happy. The multi-player game also helped us to make important
decision especially in crucial years. Taking into account the business of Mikesbikes, the
game of simulation is one of the best ways to learn the business concept and to lean from the
mistakes which were made.
7 Weiss, Fabio, Tyler J. Brummer, and Gesine Pufal. "Mountain bikes as seed dispersers and their potential
socio-ecological consequences." Journal of environmental management 181 (2016): 326-332.

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References
Becker, Johannes, and Philipp Moroder. "Extreme Mountain Biking Injuries." Extreme
Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham, 2017. 139-150.
Christian, Disciples. "THE LINK." (2015).
Letnick, Norm. "Distance education delivery of an intensive simulation based
course." Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 32 (2014).
Markulis, Peter, Michael Nugent, and Daniel Strang. "Assessing the Role of Assessment in
Business Simulations." Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 42
(2015).
Simmons, Emilee L. "Evolution in Business Simulations: A Review of the SimVenture
Evolution platform (www. simventure. co. uk), created by Paul and Peter
Harrington." Academy of Management Learning & Education 16.4 (2017): 629-632.