GLO-BUS: An Online Simulation for Developing Winning ... - COPLAC

GLO-BUS: An Online Simulation 

to Develop Winning Strategies 

BADM 510 GLOBAL BUSINESS www.glo-bus.com 

Ben A. Kahn MCLA

Outline 

Overview: Learning objectives … What is GLO-BUS and 

how does it work? … Scenarios and strategic options 

Getting Started: Registration … Corporate lobby page … 

Naming your company 

Decisions, Decisions … : 

Product, pricing, marketing … Determinants of sales and shares 

Assembly and shipping 

Compensation and labor … PAT decisions 

Financing 

Special order option 

A Battle of Strategies: Reports 

Course Grade: Quizzes … Performance and scores … 

Strategic plans … Peer evaluations 

Procedures, Schedule, Tips, Questions? 

Ben A. Kahn / Paul Miesing “GLO-BUS” BADM 510 Strategic Management MCLA / U Albany

Overview of a Simulation 

NLR’s Research Flight Simulator 

A business simulation puts you and your co-managers in 

as realistic a company and competitive market setting as 

possible and has you manage all the company’s operations 

This not only allows you to test your ideas about how to run a 

company but the “live case” nature of a simulation also provides 

prompt feedback on the outcomes of your decisions 

Teams make a set of decisions for a simulated firm 

These are evaluated against decisions made by competitors 

comprised of other class members 

Decisions are entered into a PC that compares the relative 

“merit” of the decisions made by all teams 

“Firms” that “win” the simulation: 

1. do an outstanding job of tracking competitors 

2. analyze their own performance 

3. work as a team 

4. … and don’t shoot themselves in the foot 

Ben A. Kahn / Paul Miesing “GLO-BUS” BADM 510-70 Strategic Management MCLA / U Albany

Learning Objectives 

GLO-BUS is an online, PC-based exercise 

where your team runs a digital camera 

company in head-to-head competition 

against companies run by other class 

members 

Objective: “To successfully operate a multiproduct 

firm in the international environment” 

Your challenge: Craft and execute a strategy 

for your company which, when pitted against 

the strategies of rival companies, proves capable 

of consistently delivering good bottom-line 

results and building shareholder value 

Ben A. Kahn / Paul Miesing “GLO-BUS” BADM 510 Strategic Management MCLA / U Albany 

NLR’s Research Flight Simulator

Learning Objectives (Cont’d.) 


Competing against rivals will give you a chance to 

apply theory to practice in crafting and executing a 

strategy in a globally competitive marketplace: 

Your team must chart a long-term corporate direction, set and 

achieve strategic and financial objectives, and adapt to changing 

industry and competitive conditions 

Your team must analyze a full array of industry statistics, examine 

company operating reports and financial statements, consider 

import duties and fluctuating exchange rates and interest rates, and 

understand an assortment of benchmarking data and competitive 

intelligence on what rivals are doing 

Your team must match strategic wits with the managers of rival 

companies, “think strategically” about your company’s competitive 

market position, and figure out the kinds of actions it should take to 

out-compete rivals in satisfying shareholder expectations 

These are the heart and soul of business 

strategy! 


Learning Objectives (Cont’d.) 


In addition, GLO-BUS is designed expressly to provide 

you with a hands-on, learn-by-doing experience that will: 

Integrate business functions and consolidate your knowledge 

about the different aspects of running a company in creating 

a cohesive strategy 

Deepen your understanding of cause-effect and revenue-costprofit 

relationships based on sound business and economic 

principles, hence build your confidence in utilizing the 

information contained in company financial statements and 

operating reports 

Provide you with practice in sizing up a company’s strategic 

situation, making sound, responsible business decisions, and 

being held accountable for delivering good results 

Provide a capstone experience for your business school 

education that is fun and engaging! 


Notable Quotable 

“The other teams could make 

trouble for us if they win.” 

Yogi Berra, one of the most-quoted 

sports figures, famous for fracturing 

the English language in provocative, 

interesting, and nonsensical ways 

popularly known as “yogi-isms” 


Specifically … What Is GLO- 

BUS? 

Company operations and the functioning of 

the marketplace are made as realistic as 

possible, allowing you and your co-managers 

to proceed rationally and logically in deciding 

what to do: 

Industry setting is modeled to closely approximate 

the real-world characteristics of the globallycompetitive 

digital camera industry 

Company operations are patterned after those of a 

camera company that designs and produces its 

digital cameras at a company-operated plant and 

that also outsources some of its cameras from 

contract manufacturers 


How Does GLO-BUS Work? 

Virtually all GLO-BUS activities take place online 

All you need is an Internet connection and a PC installed with 

both Internet Explorer and Microsoft Excel 

You can either gather around the same PC for all GLO- 

BUS sessions or you can use different PCs 

GLO-BUS automatically transfers the needed software 

from the GLO-BUS server to the PC you are working 

on very quickly (within a couple of minutes even on a 

slow connection); when you exit a session, your work 

is saved and transferred back to the server 

Note: The last decisions saved to the GLO-BUS 

server at the time of the decision deadline are 

the ones used to generate the results! 


The Scenario of Your Firm 

All companies start out on the same footing 

Equal sales volume, global market share, revenues, 

profits, costs, digital camera quality, etc. 

Each decision period represents one year 

Operations began 5 years ago, so the first set of 

decisions is for Year 6 

Your company is selling close to 800,000 entry-level 

cameras and 200,000 multi-featured cameras annually 

Prior-year revenues were $206 million; net earnings 

were $20 million ($2 per share of common stock); stock 

price was $30 per share 

The company is in sound financial condition, performing 

fine, with products well-regarded by digital camera users 


The Scenario (Cont’d.) 

Distinct product offerings: 

“Entry-level” (price) + 

“multi-featured” (quality) 

Worldwide marketplace: 

Headquarters and production 

at Taiwan plant 

Sales activities can be 

pursued in North America 

(Toronto regional sales 

office), Latin America (Sao 

Paulo), Europe-Africa 

(Milan), and Asia Pacific 

(Singapore) 

8 potential market 

segments: 

2 product categories x 4 

geographic areas 


The Scenario (Cont’d.) 


Strategic Options 

There is wide strategic latitude in staking out a market 

position and striving for good performance … There’s 

no built-in bias that favors any one strategy: 

Companies can pursue a competitive advantage keyed to 

low-cost/low-price 

top-of-the-line camera quality and performance 

more value for the money (“good products at low prices”) 

Companies can have a strategy aimed at being the clear 

market leader in (a) entry-level cameras or (b) multi-featured 

cameras or (c) both 

Companies can focus on one or two geographic regions or 

strive for geographic balance or even global dominance 

Companies can pursue essentially the same strategy 

worldwide or craft slightly or very different strategies for the 

Europe-Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America 

markets 


Strategic Options (Cont’d.) 

No One Strategy Is “Best”: 

Most any well-conceived, well-executed competitive approach 

can succeed, provided it is not overpowered by the strategies 

of competitors or defeated by too many copycat strategies 

that dilute its effectiveness 

Strategies that deliver the best performance depend on the 

strength and interplay of the strategies employed by rival 

companies 

… there is no mystery “silver bullet” decision combination that players 

are challenged to discover! 

Results depend on your analysis, planning, and decision making 

process 

Decisions must be consistent and compatible 

The most efficient method of organizing is to assign a particular 

person or persons to one aspect of your company (function, 

product, geography, etc.) … and one person may be assigned as 

Chief Financial Officer and/or Chief Information Officer 



Out-competing Rivals Is the Key to Market Success … 

Stay on top of changing market and competitive conditions 

Try to avoid being outmaneuvered by the actions of rival companies 

Make sure your digital cameras are attractively priced and 

competitively built and marketed 

Just as you are trying to win business away from rival 

camera companies, they are actively striving to take 

camera sales away from your company 

It is the competitive power of your strategy vis-à-vis the 

competitive power of rivals’ strategies that is the deciding 

factor in determining sales and market shares in each 

product-market 



GLO-BUS is all about practicing and 

experiencing what it takes to develop 

winning strategies in a globally 

competitive marketplace: 

When the exercise is over, the only things 

separating the best-performing company from 

those with weaker performances will be the 

caliber of the decisions and strategies of the 

management teams of the respective companies 

It’s an exercise calculated to spur competition 

and to get your competitive juices flowing 


Getting Started 

How Do You Register? 

Step 1: Have your assigned company registration 

code handy (this code is used to put you into the 

database for this specific course and to certify you 

as a co-manager of your assigned industry and 

company) 

Step 2: Go to www.glo-bus.com 

Step 3: Click on the “Student Registration” button 

and enter your company registration code in the box 

Step 4: Click that you are registering with a prepaid 

code that came packaged with the text (or with a 

credit card) 

Step 5: Complete the personal registration 

information (user name, password, etc.) 


Getting Started (Cont’d.) 

The Corporate Lobby Page: 

Each time you log-on to www.glo-bus.com, you are 

automatically routed to your company’s “Corporate 

Lobby” Web page, the hub from which you will operate 

as a co-manager of your assigned company and your 

gateway to all GLO-BUS activities with links to: 

Decisions and viewing/printing the results 

The Participant’s Guide (manual) 

The recommended decision procedures 

The decision schedule (please verify!) 

The two quizzes that are taken online 

The 3-year strategic plans 

The peer evaluations that are completed online 

… and scoreboard, exchange rate adjustments, new interest 

rates, upcoming deadlines, messages, co-managers log-ons 



Naming Your Company: 

At your initial meeting, you and your co-managers 

should decide on a name for your company 

Your company’s name must begin with the letter 

of the alphabet that you have been assigned 

Names can be up to 20 characters 

To name the company, click on the link at the top of 

the Corporate Lobby and enter your company’s full 

name in the space provided 

All company names are “public” and appear in the 

GLO-BUS Statistical Review 

Select a name that you are proud of and reflects the 

image you want to project to your customers, 

shareholders, and other company stakeholders (Bad 

example: “Hoocares”) 



“Image is everything!” 

Andre Agassi (in 1990 Canon ad 

campaign) 



All company co-managers can access the latest decisions 

and results from any PC connected to the Internet 

The Corporate Lobby screen indicates the last date at 

which a co-manager saved decisions to the server and 

whether other co-managers are currently logged on 

All co-managers can be logged on simultaneously 

If another logged-on co-manager clicks on the Save icon 

and uploads new decisions to the server, you will be 

notified the next time you press the Save icon – you then 

have the choice of: 

1. overriding the co-manager’s saved decision entries by saving your 

decisions to the server; or 

2. importing the co-manager’s decisions onto your decision screens 

and overriding your own entries 

Remember: The last set of decisions saved to the 

server are used to process the results!!! 


Decisions, Decisions … 

You and your co-managers are responsible for the 

following decisions each period (entered in the decision 

boxes): 

Total 

Items Entries 

Product design and performance (for each camera model) 10 20 

Pricing and marketing (for each geographic area) 

15 60 

+ special order discount bids (begin decision #6, year 11) +7 +7 

Entry-level assembly and shipping (for each quarter) 4 16 

Multi-function assembly and shipping (for each quarter) 4 16 

Annual compensation and quarterly labor force 7 13 

Financing company operations (annual equity; quarterly debt 

and dividends) 

4 10 

Total = potential max 44/51 

135/142 


Decisions, Decisions (Cont’d.) 


Let’s Go To The Demo … 


Product Design 

Note! 

Determine 

productivity 

Component costs 

decrease 5%/year 

“Dashboard”: 

•Same for all screens 

•Re-calculated instantaneously 

•See “What-if” changes 

• 5-10% as long as gauge rival efforts 

Trade-off quality and costs 


Pricing and Marketing 

Note! 

Gauge rival efforts 

Based on prior year 

competitive efforts 

•Carries over for both E-L 

and M-F 

•Enter zeros to withdraw 


Determinants of Sales and 

Shares 

Market growth 8-10% years 6-10; 4-6% thereafter 

Your strategic challenge is to craft a competitive strategy 

that you believe will produce the desired results when 

pitted against the competitive strategies of rival 

companies, region by region: 

Price (enter zero to withdraw from market) 

Performance/quality (P/Q) rating (currently 2½ stars) 

Promotions (number, length, amount) provide price discounts 

Advertising (enter zero to withdraw from market) 

Number of camera models (but can reduce P/Q and productivity) 

Size of dealer network (enter zero to withdraw from market) 

Warranty period (claims = $50/E-L and $100/M-F) 

Technical support (should be constant per camera; enter zero to 

withdraw from market) 

Image and reputation 

P/Q and market share penetration 

Tough to change momentum (loyalty results in market share stability) 


"We're pleased to report that competitor envy is running at an 

all-time high as well." 

Cartoon by Dave Carpenter 

Copyright 2005, Harvard Business Review 


12,500 retailers per region 

Sales and Shares (Cont’d.) 

Size of Dealer Network: 

50,000 available retailers worldwide 

Sales offices for 8,000+ dealers = $3.3 million in year 5 

100 chains/region @ $10,000 each (price-sensitive, preferring 

{ 

entry-level cameras) 

400 online/region @ $4,000 each 

12,000 camera shops/region @ $200 each (quality-sensitive, 

preferring multi-feature cameras) 

20 “full-line” shops per region carry everything 

Markups = 50-100% 

Decision to carry = Prior-year shares + P/Q ratings + 

Cumulative ad spending + Prior-year promotions 

Cannot change in upcoming year 


Assembly and Shipping 

Note! 

Note! 


Compensation and Labor 

Note! 

Cost vs. productivity trade-offs to 

minimize labor cost per camera (vs. 

$25 for outsourcing) 

Determine 

productivity 


PAT Decisions 

Assembly: 

Max = 10% more than projected orders 

Requires 1Q lead time, with peak in Q3 

4-Member Product Assembly Teams: 

Each requires 1 workstation 

100 workstations/PATs can = 10,000 units/year 

Utilized 80 workstations/PATs in year 5, Q4 

Productivity increasing to 12,000 units/year 

Can add up to 50 workstations/PATs per quarter @ $75K each 

Productivity cut 4% per model added; 2% boost per model dropped 

Labor Utilization: 

Overtime @ time-and-a-half up to 30% max. 

Severance for laying off full-timers = 50% base pay per worker 

Full-timer = more than 2Q 

Additional Costs: 

Outsourcing = $25/camera (for labor) 

Handling & shipping = $3/camera 

Import duties = $5/E-L; $10/M-F 

Depreciation = 4%/year 


Financing 

Note! 


Financing (Cont’d.) 

Collection of receivables = Last Q’s sales + 2Qs for unsold inventories 

Emergency Loan: Automatic draw on (and repay of) $100 million credit 

line if necessary to cover cash outflows 

Outstanding loans = $25 million 

Pay for components, interest, taxes, and dividends in following Q 

Dividends should = 2-5% stock price and < 75% EPS 

Beginning equity = Common stock + Additional capital + Retained 

earnings = $99.9 mill.: 

10 mill. shares outstanding; can issue 5 mill. share max per year; can 

repurchase 50% per year but cannot drop below 7.5 mill. 

Total equity cannot drop below $50 mill. 

Stock repurchase if price ≥ $10 

Credit Rating (based on 4Qs): 

D/E Ratio ≈ .10 to .33 

Times-interest-earned (annual operating profit/annual interest) ≈ 2 to 10 

Debt payback (≈ 3 years) 

Credit used (≈ 5-15%) 


Decisions Printout 

Compare 

to results 

Note: Print and check carefully! 


The Special Order Option 

As the simulation progresses, your company will be given 

an opportunity to bid against rivals and obtain a special 

order of entry-level cameras to be assembled Q3 and 

shipped to chain store retailers in time for the peak retail 

demand in Q4 

When the special order bid option is activated, a screen for entering 

bids will appear on the decision menu 

All interested camera-makers can bid for these orders 

Bids are taken in each of the four geographic regions and there are 

two winning bids in each region (both for 100,000 entry-level 

cameras) 

The winning bids are based solely on low price (with brand image 

and P/Q rating as tie-breakers) 

Normally, winning bidders outsource the assembly of the cameras 

needed to fill these special orders 

Winning bidders are shown on the Statistical Review’s 

“Benchmarks” page 


Special Order (Cont’d.) 

Note! 


A Battle of Strategies 

Following each year’s decisions, you’ll be provided with 

“Competitive Intelligence” reports containing 

information of the actions rivals took to capture the 

sales and market shares they got 

Note: All industry members get identical reports 

Armed with this information, you will be in pretty good 

position to figure out some of the strategic moves they 

are likely to make in the upcoming decision period 

Analyze your opponents thoroughly and develop a 

game plan to defeat them … 

scout their strategies 

judge what they will do next 

and come up with a competitive strategy of your own aimed 

at “defeating” their strategies and boosting your company’s 

performance 


Global Retail Sales 

Note! 


Benchmarking Data 

Note! 

Note: Compare to decisions, costs, operations, etc.! 


Financials 

Note! 


Financials (Cont’d.) 


Quarterly Snapshot 

Note! 

Compare competitive 

efforts for any rival 


Strategic Groups 

Niche players 

Obtain for any rival 

Key rivals 


Company Analysis 

Note! 

Counter potential 

moves of key rivals 


Company Analysis (Cont’d.) 

Note! 


Production Costs 

Note! 

Monitor 

costs 

Note: Compare to projections! 

Totals and 

per/camera 


Regional Operations 

Note! 



Financials 

Note! 



Financials (Cont’d.) 



Virtuous/Vicious Cycle 

Components 

P/Q 

Equity 

+ Debt 

R&D 

Productive 

PATs 

Image 

Volume 

Costs 

Marketing 

Mix 

Price 

Retailers 

Revenues 

Share 

Profits 

Gears must mesh or it will be a grind! 


Course Grade 

50% of final grade: 

10 points for 2 Quizzes 

10 points for Team Reflections (cumulative) that apply 

the course materials to the simulation and are the bases 

for your decisions 

10 points for Company Performance (2 measures) 

10 points for 3-Year Strategic Plans (Decisions #4- 

6/Years 9-11 and #7-9/Years 12-14) 

10 points for Group Presentation and Final Report 

Adjusted by Self Evaluation and Peer Evaluations 


Course Grade (Cont’d.) 

The Two Quizzes: 

There are 2 “open book” 20 multiple-choice question quizzes 

built into the simulation, taken online and scored immediately 

upon completion 

5 pts – Quiz 1 (45-minute time limit) covers the Participant’s 

Guide – its purpose is to spur you to read and absorb how 

things work in preparation for managing your company 

Average Score = 84 

5 pts – Quiz 2 (75-minute time limit) covers the Company 

Operating Reports and certain information in the GLO-BUS 

Statistical Review – its purpose is to check to see if you 

understand the numbers and how they are calculated 

Quiz 2 Average Score = 64 

Click on the links for the quizzes on your “Corporate Lobby” 

Web page for more information 

The three sample questions for each quiz give you an idea of 

what to expect 



Company Performance: 

Board members and investors have annual performance 

targets for the company, each weighted equally 

1. Grow EPS at least 8% annually 

through Year 10 and at least 4% 

annually thereafter 

2. Grow stock price about 8% 

annually through Year 10 and 

about 4% annually thereafter 

3. Maintain ROE of 15% or more 

annually 

4. Maintain a B+ or higher credit 

rating 

5. Maintain an “image rating” of 70 

or higher 

EPS= 

Stock= 

Yr 5 Yr 11 Yr 14 

} 

$2.00 ≥$3.16 ≥$3.56 

$30 ≥$45.85≥$51.57 

ROE= 17.5% 

Credit= B+ 

≥15% 

≥B+ 

≥15% 

} 

≥B+ 

Image= 70 ≥70 ≥70 

Ben A. Kahn / Paul Miesing “GLO-BUS” BADM 510-70 Strategic Management MCLA / U Albany 

Grow 

Maintain


“The digital camera industry has 

reached maturity early, and the 

heady growth rates will slow ...” 

“Digital camera market peaked too 

soon” CNET News.com (April 28, 

2005) http://news.zdnet.com/2100- 

9595_22-5688981.html 



Company Performance (cont’d.): 

Scoring standards used to calculate 

“performance scores” for each company 

Absolute: Investors’ confidence (Did you 

meet or beat the annual performance 

expectations for each of the 5 performance 

measures?) 

Relative: Best-in-industry (How well does 

your company’s performance stack up against 

the company with the best 5 performance 

measures?) … as long as no losses and better 

than investors’ expectations! 


Company Performance (Cont’d.) 

EPS 

ROE 

Credit Rating 

Stock Price 

Image Rating 

= 20% 

= 20% 

= 20% 

= 20% 

= 20% 

Investors’ 

Confidence 

(5 pts.) 

Best-In 

Industry 

(5 pts.) 

… or, about 1 point for 

each possible cell 

towards final grade 

•High Score (average overall score of all first place teams at simulation end)=102 

•Average Score (average overall score of all teams at simulation end)=78 

•Low Score (average overall score of all last place teams at simulation end)=51 


Performance Scoreboard 

Expectations: 

≥100 = excellent 

90-99 = very good 

80-89 = good 

70-79 = fair 

Scoreboard (Cont’d.) 

Function of EPS, ROE, credit rating, dividends per 

share, and achieving performance targets 


Scoreboard (Cont’d.) 

The winner is not 

who is ahead the 

longest, only who is 

in front at the end 



“As you set out for Ithaka [I] 

hope your road is a long one, full of 

adventure, full of discovery. ... Wise 

as you will have become, so full of 

experience, you'll have understood 

by then what these Ithakas mean.” 

Konstantinos Kavafis, Ithaka (1911) 



The Two Strategic Plans: 

Commitment to Deliver Specified Results But Permits Full Strategic 

Flexibility 

Modify your strategy as often and as radically as necessary in response 

to unanticipated conditions as long as you meet or beat the 

performance targets set forth in the plan 

3-year strategic plan includes 

A strategic vision for the company 

Objectives for EPS, ROE, credit rating, image rating, and stock price 

appreciation 

To get a “good” performance score requires that a company achieve 

performance levels at least commensurate with investor expectations each 

year 

“Bonus scores” for setting “stretch objectives” that are higher than the 

investor minimum performance targets and then meet or beat these stretch 

targets 

Proportional points are awarded for under-achieving the target 

Declare a strategy for entry-level and multi-featured cameras 

Prepare a “pro forma” income statement that projects unit camera 

sales, revenues, prices, and costs per camera for each of the four 

geographic regions 



Peer Evaluations: 

At the end of the exercise, you will be asked to 

complete a 12-question evaluation of each of 

your co-managers and a self- evaluation of your 

own performance 

Used to make final individual adjustments 

These are completed online and can be 

reviewed by clicking on the Peer Evaluation Link 

on your Corporate Lobby Web page 

Are for your instructor only and are completely 

confidential … Please complete them in an 

honest and professional manner 


Some Procedures 

Follow the “Suggested Decision Procedures” 

See the link on your Corporate Lobby Web page 

Decision Schedule link on your Corporate Lobby Web 

page has dates and deadlines for the decisions 

The decision deadlines are strictly enforced since the 

results are processed automatically on the GLO-BUS servers 

immediately following the deadline 

The results of each decision will be available online 

one hour following the decision deadline (and usually 

15 minutes) 

You will be notified via e-mail as soon as the results 

are ready 

At that point you can log-on, see what happened, and 

proceed with the next decision 


Schedule 

Quiz 1 

Decision 1 - Year 6 



Quiz 2 

3-Year Strategic Plan 




3-Year Strategic Plan 




End-of-Game Peer Evaluations Available 


Decision 

Practice Decision 1 - Practice Year 6 

Practice Decision 2 - Practice Year 7 

End of Practice Period (Data reset to Year 6 

and practice results are no longer available) 

Company Presentations 

Deadline For Saving Entries 

30-Jan-08 

6-Feb-08 

6-Feb-08 

7-Feb-08 

13-Feb-08 

20-Feb-08 

27-Feb-08 

27-Feb-08 

5-Mar-08 

5-Mar-08 

12-Mar-08 

19-Mar-08 

2-Apr-08 

2-Apr-08 

9-Apr-08 

16-Apr-08 

23-Apr-08 

23-Apr-08 

30-Apr-08 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

9:00 pm 

11:59 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

9:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

6:00 pm 

7:00 pm 

6:00 pm 

Note: See GLO-BUS 

schedule for precise 

deadlines for all simulation 

activities; please notify 

instructor of any 

discrepancies 


Tips for Success 

Use the practice decision to become fully 

acquainted with the menus and functionality built 

into the screens 

Make full use of all the “Help/More Info” sections 

Be professional! 

Run the company in a serious manner: 

Practice making business decisions, learn to craft winning 

strategies in a competitive market, and take responsibility for 

the results of your actions 

Don’t be imprudent, highly risky, or un-businesslike (that 

would get you fired in a real company): 

Who shoots from the hip almost always shoots themselves in 

the foot 

Don’t be a daring adventurer out to win some variant of a 

videogame by making wild decisions and testing the limits of the 

simulation 


Tips for Success (Cont’d.) 

Lessons Learned from the Past 

Do know the business 

… benchmark rivals and self 

Do agree on a long-term 

strategy and stick to it 

... be internally consistent 

Do craft “customer value” 

… build the needed 

infrastructure and develop the 

business model to support your 

strategy 

Do invest early and often 

… initial decisions are critical but 

watch out for dead ends 

Do create effective decision 

making process 

… organization and complete 

member involvement 

Don’t be “all things to all people” 

or you will be “stuck in the 

middle” 

… being average is mediocre 

Don’t follow others 

… watch the competition to 

make rapid adjustments 

Don’t treat projections as 

promises 

… use to examine small changes 

Don’t try to “game (or blame) 

the system” 

… evaluate the feasibility and 

risks of sustaining your strategy 

Don’t panic or make radical 

moves 

… be patient but persistent 



“Control your own destiny … 

Or someone else will!” 

Jack Welch, former GE CEO 


Questions? 

Please eliminate the “middle man”! 

Use the “help/more info.” screens 

Contact GLO-BUS Technical Support 

Team: 

Send a message, submit a request, or ask a 

question at http://www.globus.com/feedback.html 

Phone (205) 348-8923 

… but also notify instructor of issue and 

response! 


Good Luck!!! 


Dedicated to the Memory of My Son, Solomon Sharone Cyrus Jochnowitz-Kahn 

University of Rochester, Class of 2010 

“I Want to Live, Go to College, and Help People 

to Make This World A Better Place.” 

My Name Is Rocky Balboa 

My Name is Rocky Balbao 

I am Soly’s Dog

GLO-BUS: An Online Simulation for Developing Winning ... - COPLAC

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