What's New!

MKT230: Introduction to Marketing Management
Professor Stephen Goodwin, Fall 2006

What's New!

Instructor Contact Info

Mandatory Student Information Form

Course Structure, Objectives, and Notes

Grading Criteria

The Simulation Game

Case Exercise: The Bittebourg Case

Course Grades to Date

Course Calendar

Text Web Site

 

  

This web page is important as it is how I most often communicate with students outside of class. Please bookmark this page and check it frequently (even daily!).

December 14, 2006:  Final exam scores and Course Grades are now posted (click on "course grades to date").

On the average, the results were outstanding:  21.5 % of the class earned a course grade of "A;"  52.7 % of the class earned a course grade of "B;"  21 % of the class earned a course grade of "C;"  and 4.8 % of the class earned a course grade of D or F.  In the spirit of the Season, I decided to set the following standards:  89.50 course points and up = A;  79.50  to 89.49 course points = B; 69.50 to 79.49 course points = C; 59.50 to 69.49 course points = D; and fewer than 59.50 course points = F.

Congratulations and Happy Holidays everyone! 

Dr. Goodwin

December 6, 2006:   Hello everyone.  As you look ahead to final examination week, please remember that our final exam is set for Monday, December 11.  The official starting time is 5:30 p.m. and the place is our regular classroom, COB 139.

Study Hard and Do Well.  I hope each of you accomplishes your own personal objectives!

Sincerely,

Dr. Goodwin

December 4, 2006:  Hi folks.  I write tonight to clarify one thing about the "Reflective Statement" that is due at the outset of class on Wednesday, December 6.  Several students have asked me whether or not to include evaluative information about their teammates.  My short answer is yes, certainly, if you believe that it is relevant, important, and would be of use to me.

More specifically, while I have not been blunt about this point, I believe I have indicated that such feedback is certainly your prerogative.  To illustrate, note items (2) and (3) in the "Simulation Game Reflective Statement" comment which I posted on What's New on November 29, 2006:  "This paper should address issues such as ...(2) any big surprises (good and/or bad) from the simulation experience; and (3) your views of the team experience---please be candid."

If you feel that a person assigned to your team has thumbed his/her nose at everyone else, and not participated at all...well, tell me about it.  If, on the other hand, you feel that a person assigned to your team has excelled and made many more contributions to the team than any other member, then tell me about that.  In short, there is room for you to communicate to me your feelings:  whether it be "the good,"  "the bad," or "the ugly!"

Best wishes,

Dr. Goodwin

November 29, 2006:  Hello everyone.  I write today simply to remind you of the following:

1) Your last team decisions are to be made by 1:599 p.m. on Friday, December 1.  Good luck and best wishes!

2)  Your last "report" is to be turned in at the outset of class next Wednesday, December 6.  Don't forget:  this is an individual reflective summary. 

The comment below articulates the nature of this individual assignment, and it is drawn from "The Simulation Game" course web page.

Simulation Game Reflective Statement: Each individual student has to do this!  This paper should address issues such as (1) what the student learned, (2) any big surprises (good and/or bad) from the simulation experience, (3) your views of the (virtual) team experience---please be candid, (4) what YOU personally liked and disliked about the simulation game, (5) whether you believe that the simulation game experience should continue to be part of the MKT230 course in future semesters, and why or why not; and (6) what I as a professor could do to improve this experience for students. In addressing this last question, you are encouraged to include your thoughts about the value of the Bittebourg Case assignment, the PowerPoint slides and notes accessible on the U-drive, etc. 

This paper should be in the neighborhood of 3-5 double-spaced pages. This paper is due in class on Wednesday, December 6th.

It is assumed, of course, that all student submissions will be professionally presented (e.g., typed, 12-point font, 1 inch margins, etc.). Hand-written or e-mailed assignments will not be accepted for grading.

November 16, 2006:  Don't forget:  Brian Borowski will not be available to give advice and counsel tonight.  He will next be available on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, November 29 and 30, 7 - 9 p.m. in COB 139.

Here are a couple of other items of information:

1) In case over the Thanksgiving break you are wanting to start the process of preparing to study for the final examination, please know that the final exam will focus on the material connected to Chapters 13 - 16 (and all PowerPoints pertaining to same).  However, please remember that this fifth and final exam will contain a "comprehensive" component.  More specifically, there WILL BE questions pertaining to material connected to Chapters 1 - 12.  To summarize:

     (a) As has been the plan all along, the bulk of the final examination will be over material connected to chapters 13-16.  Please note that this is four chapters, so expect at least 120 questions for this section of the exam.

     (b) In addition, we will be adding one (1) or two (2) questions each from Chapters 1 - 12.  In other words, the fifth and final examination will contain 12 to 24 questions covering material connected to the first 12 chapters of your text.  These questions will be designed to address central, bigger-picture topics (e.g., marketing strategy, market segmentation, target marketing, positioning, the Marketing Concept, CRM, and so forth).  Please note that these questions will derive specifically from the textbook, not the PowerPoint notes.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

November 16, 2006: 

Please find below a suggested template for your final team decision period report which is due at the outset of class on Wednesday, November 29.   This report should include a summary of the results of decisions your team made for periods 5 – 8, plus what all of these results then suggest should be the final team decision for period 9. Please note that this report should not be significantly longer than a single-period report. If you have questions, contact me by e-mail at your earliest convenience.

Management Report for Decision Periods Five Through Eight

Introduction: The following document presents a report of our team’s performance during decision periods 5 through 8 during the month of November 2006. Our team’s overall strategy has focused on … during this time period (e.g., producing the highest level shoe that is sold at the lowest possible price. Also, if pertinent, please note here any changes your team has made to your original strategic plan and why these changes occurred).  This strategy has proven good/bad as we are now in X place overall in our industry. We have included copies of the relevant  income statements (including P & L's for each market we have targeted) for periods 5 through 7 for your consideration. Significant events that have occurred during this time period include … The remainder of this report focuses on the results of our most recent decisions for Period 8.

Decision Period 8 Results: Please find attached the relevant income statements that were produced as the result of our Period 8 decisions. We interpret our team decision making to date as good/bad because … (please note that this is an interpretive statement of the individual lines of each of the pertinent income statements that are most leading to your success or failure to date).  Attach and discuss any other exhibits that reveal answers as to why your team is thriving or failing to achieve your stated objectives.

Strategy for Decision Period 9: Decision Period 9 represents your last set of decisions for this game.  You will be making these decisions by not later than 1:599 p.m. on Friday, December 1.  Please tell top management what you intend to do, line by line, and why. (Here is where you want to include your final supporting documents such as break-even analyses, response curves, bid analyses, pertinent income statements from decision period 8 results, etc. to support your thinking.)

November 16, 2006:  Exam # 4 grades are now posted (click on the "Course Grades to Date" link in the left hand column).  The mean score for all students actually taking the exam was 77...quite good, considering that this was a challenging test!  Here's the breakdown:  12.6  % of the class earned A's; 39.1 % of the class earned B's; 28.5 % of the class earned C's;   9.2 % of the class earned D's; and 10.6 % of the class earned an F.

November 6, 2006:  Hello, folks.  Here are a couple of additional "hints" and/or items of important information relevant to the NewShoes simulation game.

  • I will be providing a bit of additional explanatory information about the "Contract Bidding" component of the simulation game in class this evening.  Also, please note the following:

          --As you zero in on your final decisions for "Period 5" (these are due by not later than 1:5999 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7), the Bid Quantity established by the Retail giant that is asking for bids is 10,000 pairs of shoes.

          --As you zero in on your final decisions for "Period 6" (these are the ones due by not later than 1:5999 p.m. on Friday, November 10), the Bid Quantity established by the Retail giant that is asking for bids is 20,000 pairs of shoes.

          --As you look ahead to making decisions for "Period 7" (due by 1:5999 on Friday, November 17), the Bid Quantity is 40,000 pairs of shoes.

          --As you look ahead to making decisions for "Period 8" (due by 1:5999 on Tuesday, November 29), the Bid Quantity is again 40,000 pairs of shoes.

          --And, as you look ahead to making your final set of decisions (for "Period 9", due by 1:5999 on Friday, December 1), the Bid Quantity will be set at 60,000 pairs of shoes.

  • For decisions made for Period 3 and 4, if you wanted to buy Marketing Research, you were restricted to the "Default" established by Interpretive.com.  This meant that you were only able to secure an industry average or range statistic.  However, as you zero in on your final decisions for "Period 5" (again, these are the decisions due by not later than 1:5999 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7),  the default has been changed and you can choose to pay a higher fee for "Detailed" Marketing Research information.

          You may continue to purchase "Detailed" Marketing Research information for the remainder of the simulation game.

Let me know if you have questions!

November 3, 2006:  Please note that at least one team experienced a problem with their second "real" decision (for Period 4) in that their inputted decisions were not included when the game was advanced.  Instead, the exact same decisions as were made by the team for the preceding period were used again by Interpretive.com.

How can this happen?  One reason is that sometimes submitted decisions are not fully accepted (it might be a cyberspace glitch; it might be human error; etc.)   Students entering decisions into the game are therefore encouraged to exit the game after submitting decisions, and then reload the game. If the new decisions are noted, then they have been appropriately submitted and accurately recorded by Interpretive.com.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

November 2, 2006:  Grades pertaining to the "Intended Marketing Strategy Report" (i.e., your team's first report that was submitted on Monday, October 30) are now posted.  Click on "Course Grades to Date" to see how you did.  If you have any questions or concerns, contact me at your earliest convenience.

October 30, 2006:  Several teams have asked the following question:  "We want to enter the foreign market in Period 3, but we cannot see a way to do it.  What's going on?"

Here is the answer:  the simulation game has been set to a "Default Setting" with respect to the foreign market.  No team (company) will be allowed to enter the foreign market until decisions are to be made for Period 6.  In other words, initially, you are to focus your attention on the Home and/or Domestic markets.  If your team (company) wishes to sell in the foreign market, you can do so starting with Period 6 and for all remaining decision periods after that.

NOTE:  The "Default Setting" has also been used with respect to "Contract Bidding."    In this case, what this means is that no team (company) will be allowed to get involved with Contract Bidding until decisions are to be made for Period 5.  Your team (company) can choose to try to be involved with Contract Bidding starting with Period 5 and for all remaining decision periods after that.

Best wishes!

Dr. Goodwin

 

October 27, 2006:  There have been numerous questions raised about "format" for putting together the various Reports in connection with the Simulation Game.  Dr. Taylor and I have provided what we had hoped to be useful guidance in several places (e.g., see the link to "The Simulation Game" in the left-hand column; see the remarks we've posted earlier in "What's New!"; and, of course the occasional hint dropped in class.  Still, there seems to be a need/desire for more ideas about format.

We have decided to address this continuing need by coming up with an ILLUSTRATIVE TEMPLATE.  We say "Illustrative" because it is just that:  an illustration, or an example.  It is NOT a "mandatory, everyone must follow this or else" template.  If your team wishes to use this illustration as a guide, go right ahead.  If your team wishes to format its reports in some other way, go right ahead. 

In what follows, please pay attention to format...NOT to the particular numbers or opinions expressed.  The numbers and opinions may well be "off the wall" and "totally crazy!"  

Here is our ILLUSTRATIVE TEMPLATE:

Team Report for Decision Period 3

The primary purpose of this report is to inform management of our company’s progress toward organizational goals and objectives. First, we will articulate the decisions we made (and their underlying rationale) for this period. Second, we will provide a summary of the income statement that was produced as the result of our decisions. We will also discuss in this section our interpretation of these results in terms of how well they are moving our company toward achieving our objectives. Third, we will discuss the formulation of a new set of decisions for the next decision period and we will include supporting documents for this next set of decisions.

The Decisions We Made for Decision Period 3

We first studied the income statement from Period 2 and realized, that while progress was being made, we still needed to aggressively modify our decisions if we were to be successful with our chosen strategy. We are clearly spending more money than we are making. Our COGS is too high, and we are spending too much money on marketing given our sales. We therefore must increase revenues and decrease our costs. However, the conundrum is that we need to stimulate demand at the same time, which requires marketing.

After much discussion, we expressed a strategy at the beginning of the game of producing the lowest quality shoe at a premium price, with as wide a distribution as possible. Thus, key to our strategy will be minimal product development (to reduce costs), with a selling price that consistently is higher than all of our competitors’ offerings, that is distributed intensively…in all possible markets.  Accordingly, we want/need to invest the absolute maximum amount of money on consumer promotions and at the same time invest the barest minimum on dealer promotions.  We are targeting status-hungry consumers willing to spend the extra money to own and wear the “elite athletic shoe.”   

Decision Aids: We spent a good deal of time studying the response curves that we generated during the practice sessions (please see attached) and realized that we could decrease salespeople in the home market, and decrease dealer promotion expenditures in both the home and domestic markets, but increase consumer promotions and achieve our sales objectives. We also calculated the break even points and COGS for our shoes (please see attached) and realized that we could significantly increase our price and still stimulate sales.  

Market Research: Before making our final decisions for this decision period, we considered spending $25,000 in order to buy a detailed market research report.  However, we ultimately rejected this idea as a waste of money.  We are certain that we know what the market wants and we don’t need to waste money on research.  Besides, there is free industry-wide information available at all times.

With the above-detailed as a preamble, here are the decisions we made for this decision period:

Home Market: Consistent with our intensive distribution strategy, we will continue to pursue sales in the home market.

Price: The attached response curves suggest that sales are higher when the price is lower. However, we will take a contrarian perspective (i.e., do the opposite of what most people would do), and raise our price substantially from $110 to $199.. We don’t have a good reason for this big an increase, just a strong gut feeling.

Advertising: The attached response curves suggest that more sales are associated with more advertising. We also know from the student manual that there is a hard limit on advertising per region of $80,000. Last period advertising was set at $75,000. We therefore raised our advertising expenditures to $80,000 to support our intended strategy.

Consumer Promotions: Last period, these were $2,500,000. Given the hard limit on the effectiveness of such expenditures per the student manual, we lowered these expenditures to $2,000,000.

Sales People: The number of sales people last period were 7 in this market. Based on the attached response curves, there is a positive relationship between the number of salespeople and sales in this region. Still, our instincts are to fire salespeople, not add more.  So, we reduced our number of salespeople to 4.

Dealer Promotions: Last period, these were $1,200,000. The attached response curves and the hard limit identified in the student manual of $1,200,000 suggested to us that we should decrease our dealer promotions in order to save big money. We therefore decreased dealer promotions by $1,000,000 to $200,000 for this period.

Domestic Market: Consistent with our intensive distribution strategy, we will continue to pursue sales in the domestic market.

The last decision period treated the home and domestic market as similar, and therefore the previous management team used the same strategies for both markets. Because we skimmed the student manual instead of carefully reading it, we missed the possibility that these geographical markets may be entirely different from a marketing perspective. We also continued the practice of making the same decisions in both markets.

Product Development: Our strategy is predicated on manufacturing the lowest cost shoe possible, marketing the *(&^%$ out of it to end consumers,  and selling it at an outrageously high price. We therefore intend to contribute the minimum amount in product development for every decision period: $10,000.   We expect to win the simulation game because our creative advertising and promotion efforts will convince consumers that our shoe is the shoe for ego-centric, status-conscious people. 

*

*

*

The Results of our Decisions for Decision Period 3:  Here in this section of the report we will provide interpretation and summary.

Formulating a New Set of Decisions for Decision Period 4:  Here in this section of the report we will detail the decisions we plan to make for the next period, providing rationale and using relevant supporting documents.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously (we hope!), this template for Report 2 (pertaining to Period 3 decisions and results) could be adapted and used for subsequent Reports.

Best wishes!

October 26, 2006:  Examination # 3 grades are now posted.  The average grade (based on the scores earned by students who actually took the exam) is 77.5. This is another very respectable result! 

The grade summary follows: A's = 6.2 %; B's = 41.0 %;  C's = 34.3 %; D's = 14.3 %; and F's = 4.3 %. 

October 24, 2006:  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME GOOD NEWS?!?!? 

 Dr. Taylor and I have been discussing the mandatory management reports that you will be required to turn in over the next several weeks. After much consideration, we believe that we can achieve the course learning objectives with a reduced number of reports.   That's right:  we are, effective immediately, lowering the number of reports each team is required to work on and submit.

More specifically, we are reducing the number of mandatory simulation game reports this semester from the original nine to five. The course calendar and simulation web page have been updated to reflect the following changes:

  • The Intended Marketing Strategy report is still due in class Monday, October 30th, and will now be worth 2% of  the original 9% of your course grade.
  • The Period 3 management summary report is still due in class Wednesday, November 1st, and will now be worth 1.5% of the original 9% of your course grade.  HOWEVER, if your team needs a bit of extra time to prepare this particular report, you may choose to turn it in to my office (COB 328) by not later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 2.  Slide your report under my door if, when you stop by, I am not at that time in my office.
  • The Period 4 management summary report is still due in class Monday, November 6th, and will now be worth 1.5% of the original 9% of your course grade.
  • The Period 5 management summary report is cancelled.
  • The Period 6 management summary report is cancelled.
  • The Period 7 management summary report is cancelled.
  • The Period 8 management summary report is still due in class Wednesday, November 29th. However, this report will now be a summary of your progress over decision periods 5-8, and will now be worth 2% of the original 9% of your course grade.
  •  The Period 9 management summary report is cancelled.
  • Your individual student reflective summary is still due in class on Wednesday, December 6th, and will now be worth 2% of the original 9% of your course grade.

 Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

October 24, 2006:  The Bittebourg Case Exercise grades are now posted!!!  The average grade on this assignment was 78.

October 23, 2006:  Howdy, folks!  How about those redbirds?!?!  (ISU Football, ISU Women's Volleyball, etc.  Hooray!)

Here are a couple of items of information:

1) I am very close to completing the grading of the Bittebourg Case exercise.  I expect grades to be posted by not later than tomorrow night.  Sorry for how long it is taking me, and thank you for your patience.

2) Brian Borowski will be available again this week in COB 139 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m.  Also, he will be available next week on Wednesday and Thursday evening from 7 to 9 p.m., but please remember that on Thursday, November 2, the room has been switched to COB 366 in order to accommodate the MQM Department which has a special guest speaker coming in from out of town.

3) Don't forget!!!  Examination # 3 will be administered on Wednesday, October 25.  It covers material pertaining to chapters 7, 8 and 9 in your textbook and all in-class conversations covering the same topics.

October 19, 2006:  Here are a couple of new Marketing Internship listings.  If you have an interest, please first contact Jim Munz (COB 350, Tel. 438-5139).  Jim is the Internship Coordinator for the Department of Marketing.

PAID INTERNSHIP - $10 to $15/hr

Market Analyst Intern: Work with the Managing Director of Burwood Heartland Region (Illinois, Iowa, Missouri) to:

   - Determine characteristics of information technology services buyers within the region

   - Define demographic targets within market

   - Define specific target companies within geographies and classify touch points and possible campaign participation

   - Develop campaigns for attacking market targets

   - Design, execute and measure one campaign

 ************************************************************************

Electrolux Home Care North America

807 N. Main St.
Bloomington, IL 61701

Attn: Denise Younge/Peter Steel/John Zigament/Scott Bolbock

Tel: (309) 828-2367

PAID INTERNSHIP - $15 per hour

Interns gain experience in: Product Management and Advertising & Promotion

Major duties of the intern:

•         Competitive canister analysis, with recommended strategy for Eureka/Electrolux brands.

•         Competitive bare floor cleaning analysis, with recommendations for merchandising and positioning

•         Competitive Packaging and Merchandising/POP analysis, with recommendations for improvements/changes.

•         Digesting the Equifax (Consumer Registration Database information) and making recommendations for improving the business with relationship marketing opportunities

•         Specific projects such as mini-uprights, hand vacs, sticks

Qualifications desired in internship candidates: Marketing training preferred – understanding of marketing research principles and communication.

Electrolux Home Care North America

807 N. Main St.
Bloomington, IL 61701

Attn: Denise Younge/Peter Steel/John Zigament/Scott Bolbock

Tel: (309) 828-2367

October 18, 2006: 

Please re-read the material included in "The Simulation Games" (see link in the left hand column).  Then,  consider the following hints on how you might approach your mandatory "Management Reports" for the NewShoes Simulation Game:

Team Report 1 - Intended Strategy: Each team submits this report! Your team's first typed report will identify your team's intended marketing strategy. This report should include (1) an overview of your general strategy (e.g., be the lowest cost, best value, best quality shoe, etc.), (2) an articulation of specific objectives related to each of the four P's (i.e., objectives should be measurable and include a time frame), and (3) the decisions you will enter for Period 3 (including the rationale behind these decisions). Also, please identify what you will consider the standard to be for "successful" goal attainment for each of the objectives. This assignment is due in class (i.e., do NOT e-mail this to me) on Monday, October 30th.

I recommend that students use the Initial Strategic Planning Form as a guide for this purpose, found on page 74 of the Student Manual. Don’t just turn in the form as it does not include a space for your actual Period 3 decisions.

Here are some additional hints:

·        In terms of your mission and objectives/goals, don’t focus exclusively on financial considerations. For example, don’t forget customer satisfaction.

·        Please remember to define your target market within the constraints of the game. For example, do not focus solely on geographic markets, rather, consider general psychographic targets such as “price sensitive people,” or “people who want the finest shoe on the market.”

·        In terms of your strategy related to the 4 P’s, first discuss your product in terms of product development intentions. Second, identify your price strategy (e.g., generally higher-priced or lower-priced). In terms of promotion, identify the venues you wish to employ (e.g. consumer promotions and/or B2B promotions). Finally, "Place" also refers to which specific markets you intend to compete within (i.e., home, domestic and/or foreign).

·        Don’t forget to include your decisions for Period 3, which should match your articulated strategy.

Remember, this strategy is what you will want to compare your decision-period results against!

Team Reports 2 through 8 -- Management Report Summarizing Your Decision for Period 3: Each team submits this report! Print out the P&L statement, and interpret it for your professor. Discuss:  your judgment as to what happened and why (i.e., was it a "good" or "bad" outcome and why); your interpretation of your team's success toward achieving your individual objectives identified  in Report 1 above, and your new decisions and their underlying rationale. Please be sure to include copies of any tools you used such as the break-even analysis and/or the response curves you considered. This report is due in class (i.e., do NOT e-mail this to me) essentially twice a week toward the end of the semester.

I recommend that students organize these documents and their associated responsibilities as follows:

1.      Print out the P&L statement that is produced from the last decision period‘s decisions (include this with the documents you turn in each period). Write a brief interpretation of the results which identifies whether or not the results were “good” or not in terms of helping your team achieve their strategic objectives.

2.      Articulate whether or not you intend to continue your current strategy into the next decision period, or whether you intend to change your strategy. Be sure to include the reasons why or why not as part of your statement. If you do choose to revise your strategy, please use the document titled “Revision of Strategic Plan” found on page 75 of your Student Manual as a guide or template.

3.      Please articulate your new decisions and their underlying rationale. The use of break-even analysis, contract bid analyses, and response curves are strongly encouraged to help guide/explain such decisions. Please be sure to include copies of these tools along with this discussion.

October 17, 2006:  Grades earned on the Simulation Game Manual quiz will be posted later today.  The average score was 78.8.  This is a very good result, on the average, because 16 students earned scores between 30 and 55 which brought the overall class average down considerably.  There were several students who chose not to take the quiz, and their scores of zero are not factored in to the average reported above.

Here's an opportunity that might be of interest: 

I just received this information regarding a paid Internship:

"One of our alumni, Bob Jacobsen (2003) is an account executive with Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG), the world’s 4th largest insurance brokerage & risk management services firm. The Department of Marketing's Professional Sales Institute is hosting a "meet the firm" event to introduce students to this internship and to career opportunities available with AJG.  Individuals assuming the role of insurance broker or producer at AJG work with Chief Financial Officers, Chief Executive Officers, Presidents and risk managers to assist them in managing risks using insurance products.  The insurance broker does not take on any of the risk but serves as a conduit to the thousands of insurance companies in the United States or abroad.

 Bob is recruiting Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors for their paid, 9-week summer internship program at the company headquarters in Itasca, IL. The "meet the firm" event will be:

Wednesday, October 25th in COB 353 at 5:30 p.m. with refreshments served in COB 234 following the informational meeting.

We are encouraging students to make a reservation to attend the session by contacting Dr. Jill Attaway at 438.2935 or by e-mail (jsattaw@ilstu.edu)."

I have attached a PowerPoint on the U: drive for interested students. Please let me know if you have any questions related to this opportunity.

October 12, 2006:  Hello folks!  I suspect that you have all figured this out on your own by now, but just in case there is any remaining confusion, I want to "set the record straight."  What I have been referring to as the Simulation Game "Student Guide" is the same, identical document also referred to as the "Student Manual."  This is an 86 page manual that you have access to on-line when you log on to Interpretive.com/students. 

You have no doubt also noticed that the page numbers I have referred to in this student guide/manual do not correspond exactly to the actual  page numbers in your document.  I apologize for my error:  the hard copy of the student guide that the company sent to me is numbered a bit differently than your copy, and I went by my copy when originally setting up the page numbers. 

What follows are the correct pages numbers, by Section of the document:

Introduction = pages 1 - 7.

Section I =  pages 9 - 18.

Section II = pages 19 - 32.

Section III = pages 33 - 38.

Section IV = pages 39 - 60.

Appendix A = pages 61 - 62.

Appendix B = pages 63 - 84.

Appendix C = pages 85 - 86.

Please note that I have amended the "Course Calendar" to reflect the above-detailed correct information.  Here's hoping that each of you earns an A on the in-class Quiz on Monday, October 16

October 9, 2006:  Please note:  Due to unforeseen opportunities, Brian Borowski will not be able to hold his help sessions this week.  He will definitely be available on Wednesday, October 18 and again on Thursday, October 19. 

October 5, 2006:  Please amend your calendars:  in order to accommodate a request from another department in the College of Business....on Thursday evening, November 2, Brian Borowski will hold his help session in COB 366 instead of COB 139.

October 5, 2006:  Grades earned on examination # 2 have been posted (click on "course grades to date" in the left column). For those who actually took the test, the average score on exam 2 was 81.15.  An Excellent Result!  Here is an overall summary:  26.2 % of the class earned an "A", 40.5 % earned a "B", 16.1 % earned a "C", 12.5 % earned a "D", and 4.7 % of the class earned an "F" on examination # 2.  The highest score on the test was 98.  Wow! :) !

Keep the momentum going, folks -->  as you know, the Bittebourg Case exercise is due by not later than the start of class on Monday, October 9.   Give me your best effort!

October 4, 2006:  Interested in career opportunities in professional selling and/or sales management?  Check this out!

Sales Career Fair & Networking Reception

  •  Date:  Wednesday, October 11th

  •  Time:  4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

  •  Where:  Ballroom, Bone Student Center

  •  Professional dress recommended

  •  Light appetizers and beverages will be served

Meet with over 30 companies recruiting students for internships and full-time career opportunities in professional selling capacities. View participating companies on the PSI website (www.prosales.ilstu.edu) under the link "What's Happening". (Sponsored by Pi Sigma Epsilon & Professional Sales Institute)

September 27, 2006: 

Opportunity! I just received this e-mail from the student chapter of the American Marketing Association. Marketing majors in particular are strongly encouraged to attend.

"My name is Christine Suhr and I am the Vice President of Finance from the American Marketing Association on campus.  We are holding our ALL MEMBER MEETING on October 3rd in the CAT Auditorium at 7 PM for anyone involved or interested in joining AMA. If you could pass along this information to all of your marketing students, we would greatly appreciate it." 

Another Opportunity! I just received this e-mail from the Marketing Internship Coordinator.

Marketing Faculty:

"Caterpillar did not have the response they’d hoped for at the Career Fair. They have a Technical Marketing Representative internship with a rather shallow pool of candidates and would like for us to seek some students (preferably juniors) with a high GPA in addition to campus activities, etc. CAT will be at the Career Center this Thursday at 6PM for an information night (Department of Marketing faculty are invited to attend).

CAT would really like to have some top-notch students use eRecruiting to send application information to them before the Thursday evening event… but they realize the timeline is rather tight. Even if students are unable to attend the meeting, they still would like to have applications submitted."

 

September 26, 2006:  This is a note about the simulation game. The online practice sessions are set for October 9th-13th and October 16th-20th. To better ensure that all students have read the simulation game's student guide prior to beginning the process of making real decisions, you can expect an in-class quiz on Monday, October 16th.  In addition, you should have communicated with your teammates by the end of next week so that everyone understands their responsibilities as well as the process of decision-making for your team going into the two weeks of practice decisions.

September 26, 2006:  This is a note about Part B of your Bittebourg case assignment, which pertains to your recommendations and their assigned weight of 80 %.  Students are strongly encouraged to read ahead in the text to the sales and sales management discussions (see pages 435-449). Please make it a point to understand the concepts presented in these pages, and, where you deem it to be relevant, incorporate some of  these concepts into your recommended strategies.

September 21, 2006:  Mea culpa, folks!  {That's Latin for "I think I blew it, folks!).  Here's an important update:

Contrary to what I may have led some of you to believe, when Brian meets with you on Wednesday and/or Thursday evenings, 7 - 9 p.m. this week and the next two weeks, he will come prepared to REALLY help you deal with the numbers for the income statements pertaining to the Bittebourg Company case.  That's right, he will be prepared to provide you with specific numbers. 

Remember,  Part A of your case assignment pertains to the income statements,  and the weight assigned to this part is 20 %.  Please note:  The focus of my attention as it relates to grading your answer to Part A will be squarely placed on part D (see the rubric for the details).  In short, you must explain the logic behind the numbers in the income statements.  To paraphrase from the rubric, "Show/Explain how the numbers were derived."  

In order to minimize additional confusion, I will touch upon this matter in class this coming Monday evening.

In the meanwhile, please read/re-read the case and have a great weekend!

September 20, 2006: 

The information meeting for next summer's study abroad programs will be Wednesday, October 4th, at 8:30 pm in COB 366. Students are strongly encouraged to consider this resume-building, perspective-broadening experience. See me with any questions.

Also, please be advised that Brian Borowski will again be available tonight and Thursday night in COB 139 from 7 - 9 pm.   Please bring your questions about The Bittebourg Case, the simulation game, and/or the tests. Please also be aware that if you intend to be very late to a session, please let Bryan know at btborow@ilstu.edu .  Finally, my colleague, Dr. Taylor, is planning to be present for at least part of the time tonight (Wednesday, September 20).   If you have any questions about the take-home survey, this would be a good time to ask them!

September 15, 2006:  Just a gentle reminder, folks: the required Case Exercise is to be completed and turned in at the outset of class on Monday, October 9.  That's only a bit more than 3 weeks from now.  Please, if you haven't already done so, click on "Case Exercise:  The Bittebourg Case" [see link in left-hand column].  I would recommend that you budget time this coming week to reading, re-reading, and then reading again the case itself.  Then, carefully examine the required questions pertaining to this case exercise, and read the "tips" provided.  In short, don't make the mistake of waiting too long before getting involved with this assignment.

I will provide some tips and hints in class over the next several sessions, of course, but initially you need to thoroughly immerse yourselves in the case itself.  Get busy!

September 14, 2006:  GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS

Let's get the bad news out of the way first:  I have checked with Interpretive.com, the company that created and manages the New Shoes simulation game.  As of today at 2 p.m., only 50 students have secured their simulation game license.  This means that 120 students have not.  PLEASE take care of this important matter right away.  The stated deadline for securing your simulation game license (refer to the Course Calendar) is Monday, September 18.  I will check with Interpretive.com again on Tuesday, September 19.  I expect to learn that all students have secured their simulation game licenses by then.

And now for the good news:  Examination # 1 scores are now posted (click on the "course grades to date" link in the left-hand column).  The class average on this test was an impressive 76.92 (this does not factor in scores of zero which are given to students choosing not to take the exam at all). This is a very good start! 

The grades break down as follows:  A's =   10.7%;  B's =   39.3%;   C's =  26.8%;  D's =  13.7 %; and F's =  9.5 %.  In other words, 9 1/2 percent of the class failed the test, 10.7 % of the class aced the exam, and so forth. 

Let me know if you have questions or concerns.  I'm just an E-mail away at sagoodwi@ilstu.edu .

September 13, 2006:  Best wishes and good luck this afternoon on Examination # 1 covering material pertaining to Chapters 1 - 3 of your textbook and the class lectures and PowerPoint slide presentations!  Don't forget to bring a pencil and a picture I.D. with you to COB 139.  Also, be sure to take your seat and be ready to go by 4:55 p.m.  Finally, as I've mentioned in class, you may take until 6:20 p.m. if you need a bit of extra time.  You probably won't need it, but it will be there just in case.

Due to an off-campus obligation, I might not be able to get to COB 139 in time to help distribute or proctor this exam.  Not to worry, though:  several of my graduate students plus my colleague, Dr. Steve Taylor, will be present to distribute the exams and to proctor the test.  Dr. Taylor will also take your test upon completion and will give you your copy of the take-home questionnaire (see the September 7 note, below, if you need a refresher on what this questionnaire is all about). 

I plan to have the grades calculated and posted by early evening on Thursday, September 14, so click on "Course Grades to Date" any time after 8 p.m. on 9/14 to see how well you did.

September 12, 2006:  Here's an item of information that might be of special interest to you:

"Will what you post on Facebook or Myspace come back to haunt you? Do employers really look at them? Do student athletes and student employees have restrictions on what they can post? What kinds of information on your social web spaces could end up in the newspaper?"

Come to a panel presentation entitled "Be Careful What You Post; the Hidden Cost of Social Web Sites"

Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:00-1:00pm at the Bone Student Center, Circus Room.

Bring a brown-bag lunch and benefit from a panel discussion on the first amendment issues surrounding online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. Sponsored by the Illinois State University American Democracy Project. This event is free and open to the public.

September 8, 2006:  Interpretive.com, the company that makes your simulation game, New Shoes, has received the team and team leader information and has already e-mailed each of you the information you need in order to secure your license.  The "Subject" line in this e-mail will include the words "New Shoes," so be on the lookout for it.  Also, it is possible that your computer incorrectly assumed that this e-mail from Interpretive.com was Junk Mail.  If this happened, your computer dumped the e-mail into your Junk Mail box.  Please go to your Junk Mail folder to see if it is there.  Do not delete it!

Remember, once you have received your special password information, you need to secure your license.  For instructions, click on "The Simulation Game" link (in the left column) and scroll down to

"What Do I Need To Do To Prepare to Participate in the Online Simulation Game?" and follow the instructions.

Please secure your simulation game license ASAP...if not sooner!

September 8, 2006:  Here's an important message from Phillip Rodriguez, Student Government Association, pertaining to 9-11-06...

    ..."I am contacting you on behalf of the Student Government Association.

In commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, the Student Government would like to have four separate moments of silence, one for each tower hit and each tower's collapse.

This event is being held in an effort to provide the University Community with a forum to recognize and stand in memorial of the lives lost and those affected by the events of that day. In an effort to signal the University's observance of the four moments of silence, we will be ringing the Founder's Bell at 8:46, 9:03, 9:59, and 10:29 Monday morning.

We would appreciate a moment of silence during these times."

Sincerely,

Phillip Rodriguez

Speaker of the Assembly

Student Government Association

September 7, 2006:

Hey, folks, it's me again...this time with some good news about a significant extra credit earning opportunity for you in this course.

My colleague, Dr. Steve Taylor, is working on a research project, and he could really use your help.  It involves a  paper survey (i.e., NOT to be filled out online) concerning students such as yourself and their loyalty to their car insurance company. The survey is lengthy, taking about 45 minutes for the average student to complete based on some pretests.

I want to support my colleague in this interesting and relevant research project.  However, I do not expect any of you to participate in this project without some reward!  So, here is what I have decided to do:   I will add 2 course points of extra credit to the final course grade of students who successfully complete and return this survey. That's correct, I will add 2 course points to the final grade that you receive in this class at the end of the semester. So, for example, if you earn an overall course grade of 88 in this class, you will actually receive an "A" instead of a "B" by carefully and responsibly filling out the questionnaire and getting it turned in by the deadline.

Important Caveat: The survey must be carefully read with ALL questions honestly answered. Dr. Taylor can recognize hypothesis guessing, failure to read and follow instructions, and generally sloppy patterns of responses from the patterns in the data. If he believes that you did not take this assignment seriously, he will alert me to that fact and I won't award any extra credit to you. In short, Dr. Taylor and I are buying your time and attention, and we won't pay for work that is poorly done!

Dr. Taylor informs me that University policy requires that we make available an alternative means of receiving the extra course credit, in case any students wish to earn the credit but would prefer not to do so by filling out the questionnaire.  Therefore, if you prefer to write a research paper addressing the definition and measurement of the brand loyalty construct as an alternative to filling out the survey, then please feel free to e-mail me or contact me in my office for more details and in order to set this option in motion.

This opportunity will be made available beginning with your completion of Test 1 on Wednesday, September 13.   In other words, for those interested in participating in the survey, after you have turned in your exam and are on your way out of the classroom, you can then pick up your copy of the questionnaire from the pile on a table near the front of the classroom.   You will have two full weeks to return the completed survey to me in class or to me in my office. 

A bit of additional information about this opportunity will be made available at the outset of class on Monday, September 11.

Final remarks:  If you are not taking Test 1, and still wish to participate in this opportunity, then please let me know at your earliest convenience.  And, as always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

September 7, 2006:  

As you will see when you check out "course grades to date," I have now updated the list of students to reflect your team and leadership assignments pertaining to the NEW SHOES simulation game. If you are a team leader, you alone can enter team decisions. In other words, if you fail to meet your responsibilities in a timely manner, your team's performance will suffer. Please review my recommended team cooperation strategy found by clicking on "The Simulation Games" link in the left column. I will forward your e-mail addresses and team assignments to the simulation company later today. You can start looking for your "New Shoes" e-mails later this week. Please see or e-mail me with any questions.

September 6, 2006:  Here are three items of potentially useful information:

1) The Department of Marketing's Fall 2006 Internship Meeting will be held on Friday, September 8 from 10:30 a.m. to noon in COB 353. Students will learn about how to secure an internship; register for an internship; and receive updates as new positions become available.  In addition, the academic prerequisites and determination of grades will be explained.  Students unable to attend this meeting may meet individually with the Director of Marketing Internships, Jim Munz, by signing up for an appointment with him.  Available times are posted on his office door, COB 350.

2) The first informational meeting for the 2007 Summer Study Abroad Program to England and Belgium will be held in COB 366, Tuesday, September 12 at 9 pm.   Associate Professor of Marketing Gary Hunter will be taking the group to England and Belgium this coming Summer.

3)  As you know, we have available this semester a high-performing student (Brian Borowski) who is willing to meet with students on a regular basis for discussion and advice relative to this class. He has agreed to begin being available in the Caterpillar Auditorium tonight (Wednesday) from 7:00-9:00 pm for this purpose. He will also be available tomorrow (Thursday) night, same place and time. If your schedule permits, this opportunity could provide useful information for how to approach this course (and tonight or tomorrow night particularly about Test 1) from someone who went through this course last semester.

Starting next week, Brian intends to be available every Wednesday and Thursday evening in the Caterpillar Auditorium to discuss the Bittebourg case exercise, to assist you with test taking strategies, and to advise about the simulation game and team interactions. Please endeavor to take advantage of this additional class resource over the remainder of this semester.

August 31, 2006:  Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend, everyone! 

August 30, 2006:  The "Course Grades to Date" link is now operational.  Please click on this link (see left hand column), find your "Call Name," and check it to make sure that it is accurate.  Let me know if you want to change it in any way. 

The blank spaces represent students registered for this section of Mkt 230 who have not filled out and submitted the Mandatory Student Information Form.  Please...if you are one of these individuals, get this taken care of right away.  I will be creating the teams very soon and need the mandatory student information forms to be filled out by all registered students.

August 30, 2006:  STOP THE MUSIC, STOP THE MUSIC!  This topic is getting old, and the frustrations have been mounting and mounting...Yes, the message I posted yesterday is bogus.   In a word,  @#$%%^?+&!

It is now crystal clear that the links pertaining to the "pretest assessment" have not, are not, and will not be functional.

I apologize profusely to each of you for the confusion, frustration, and probable negative emotion. 

Here is the final decision:  this assignment is hereby declared NULL AND VOID.  Do not attempt to answer either the pre-assessment survey or the one that was scheduled to be taken at the end of the semester.

This is the final, final word on this matter...other than a repeat of this word:  @#$%%^?+&! Again, I apologize for this unfortunate state of affairs.  Send me an e-mail if you have questions.

August 28, 2006:  

 The online Adobe Acrobat files on the U drive (for purposes of note-taking) have now been replaced with a new, easier to read 6-slides to a page version. This 6-slides to a page version has the same size slide pictures as the previous files, only squeezes more slides to the page.  Plus, when these are printed out, they aren't quite as dark as the original 4-slides per page version.  I hope you find this new version to be more to your liking!

August 24, 2006:  Here's hoping that you are all in possession of the text and off to a great start in Mkt 230!  Don't forget...if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by e-mail at sagoodwi@ilstu.edu .  Usually, I can get back in touch with you within a couple of hours, and almost never later than within 24 hours.

A student contacted me earlier today, in fact, with an enthusiastic recommendation that I check out a New York Times website.  I did and I heartily recommend that everyone click on the link (below).  You will find the topic to be both timely and an extension of some conversation we had in class yesterday.  Take a look!

Here's the link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/fashion/thursdaystyles/24KIDS.html?ex=1157083200&en=ab640afc66b17af6&ei=5070&emc=eta1

August 21, 2006: Please note that Dr. Taylor and I have scheduled the Caterpillar Auditorium every Wednesday and Thursday from 7:00-9:00 pm for use for extra simulation game and/or P&L statement instruction, if necessary. We may also use some of this time to provide assistance leading up to each of the examinations.  Please keep your eye on future updates for the dates and times we will provide this out-of-class opportunity.

August 21, 2006:

COB Juniors are strongly encouraged to attend the COB Jr. Experience. I promise you that it will be a good use of your time!

August 16, 2006: Here is a great opportunity to add to your resume. Students are strongly encouraged to consider this opportunity! Please see me with any questions!

 

August 16, 2006: Here are two studies that were recently reported providing evidence supporting the need for our simulation game this semester! We will work together this semester to make sure that neither of these studies describes us.

(1) Study -- Students lack real-life skills: More than half of students at four-year colleges -- and at least 75 percent at two-year colleges -- lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks such as understanding credit card offers, a study found.

(2) Literacy of College Graduates Is on Decline: Survey's Finding of a Drop in Reading Proficiency Is Inexplicable, Experts Say

By Lois Romano, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, December 25, 2005; Page A12

Literacy experts and educators say they are stunned by the results of a recent adult literacy assessment, which shows that the reading proficiency of college graduates has declined in the past decade, with no obvious explanation. While more Americans are graduating from college, and more than ever are applying for admission, far fewer are leaving higher education with the skills needed to comprehend routine data, such as reading a table about the relationship between blood pressure and physical activity, according to the federal study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Experts could not definitively explain the drop.

"The declining impact of education on our adult population was the biggest surprise for us, and we just don't have a good explanation," said Mark S. Schneider, commissioner of education statistics. "It may be that institutions have not yet figured out how to teach a whole generation of students who learned to read on the computer and who watch more TV. It's a different kind of literacy." Please click here for the link to the article.

August 16, 2006: Please do NOT attempt to purchase your simulation game license or log onto the game until instructed to do so. I have to send in your names and e-mail addresses, randomly assign students to groups, and randomly select team leaders ... all BEFORE you sign up. You will receive an e-mail once I have done so providing instructions for how to purchase your game license and log onto the game. Look for the term "New Shoes" in the subject line. Do NOT delete this e-mail, and be sure to look in your junk e-mail boxes to ensure that it is not inappropriately withheld from the inbox.

August 16, 2006: Please complete the online student information form by Wednesday, August 30. By the end of next week, you will be randomly assigned to one of 50 teams. I have to have everyone's student information form completed before this can happen. As NIKE ads say, "JUST DO IT!!"