News Archives

New Modern & Intuitive Business Simulation Interface

Our new simulation interface is now available for all courses using our:

This has been a long-term project focused on modernizing the interface and decisions, making the user experience more intuitive and improving student’s user experience.

The new interface and navigation experience is built around a new onboarding process, a new company dashboard and decision screens which provide students with relevant information when they need it. We believe these changes will expedite students becoming power users, and therefore, accelerate learning outcomes.

A New Onboarding Experience

When students first log in, and after each rollover, they are provided with information for the year ahead and a short explainer video to help them get started.

And after a rollover key results are displayed:

The New Company Home Page

Students now have a new company dashboard as the default start page:

The Home Page features company info, KPIs, quick links to product decisions and new decisions, key reports and relevant videos for the year ahead.

Top Menu Navigation

A modern top-menu navigation system groups decisions into logical, functional decision areas.

Select menu items feature a drop-down to access a sub-menu:

Intuitive Decision Screens

Our improved decision screens feature information, results and reports all relevant to the decisions they are making on that specific screen. Also, our integrated Live Forecast at the top-right.

Our New Help Widget

The new Help widget includes a search feature, screen-specific FAQs and videos, and links to updated articles, Player’s Manual and access to the Smartsims Support Team.

Improved Report Menu & Reports

An easier to use approach to the Reports menu, sorted by functional area and each includes a description to help students Updated reports and a new search feature.

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions please contact us.

– January 2022

MikesBikes Introduction: New Interface & Updates

We have released the new top-menu version of the MikesBikes Introduction to Business Simulation.

This has been a long-term project focused on modernizing the interface and decisions, making the user experience more intuitive, and improving student’s access to relevant information as they are making decisions. The new release also includes new corporate social responsibility decisions.

A New Onboarding Experience

When students log in they are provided with key results, information for the year ahead, and a short explainer video to help them get started.

The New Company Home Page

Students now have a new company dashboard as the default start page:

The Home Page features company info, KPIs, quick links to product decisions and new decisions, key reports and relevant videos for the year ahead.

Top Menu Navigation

A modern top-menu navigation system groups decisions into logical, functional decision areas.

Select menu items feature a drop-down to access a sub-menu:

Intuitive Decision Screens

Our improved decision screens feature information, results and reports all relevant to the decisions they are making on that specific screen. Also, our integrated Live Forecast at the top-right.

Our New Help Widget

The new Help widget includes a search feature, screen-specific FAQs and videos, and links to updated articles, Player’s Manual and access to the Smartsims Support Team.

Improved Report Menu & Reports

An easier to use approach to the Reports menu, sorted by functional area and each includes a description to help students Updated reports and a new search feature.

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions please contact us.

– June 2022

2021 MWC winners

2021 MIKESBIKES WORLD CHAMPS WINNERS

It is a huge milestone for Belmont Abbey College as this is their first time to win the MikesBikes World Champs title! The winning duo from Belmont Abbey College, Jake Rybarski and Timothy Gosnell of Abbey Bikes share their experience and the lessons they have learnt in the World Champs.

What is your decision-making process within the simulation?

Before decisions are made, we like to look at what everyone else is doing and mainly go for sure thing sales as opposed to compete on the advertising and PR, although these are important and maintaining an average rating on them is a must to avoid slipping behind.

For every period we had a general idea of what we wanted certain ratios to be such as the gross margin percent and the operating margin. For every period we looked through essentially every report and collected information to look at trends. After a lot of practice with the simulation in class this semester, you begin to sort of develop a decent intuition about how high some expenses should be. The advertising and PR budgets were prorated based on the viewership for the target audience which is given in the reports. The internet section involves more analysis and that section as it usually sees one of the quicker upticks in the budget and the fastest cutoffs, at least for our decisions which are based on the viewership reach based on spending graph that is given in the reports.

What was your strategy going into the simulation?

Our main strategy was mainly competing on the variables with high sensitivities in their respective industries. For instance, we competed with prices in the kids and commuter bike markets, for adventurers, it was a bit of everything, but mainly price and later in the simulation, product specs, and for racers we tried to ensure product spec accuracy was high and maintain rising quality levels with every rollover. We found both in the qualifying rounds and the final rounds that teams like to charge a little more than us or less, but quickly lower or raise prices to our levels. This resulted in our team gaining more sales after the first rollover than we compete for with advertising and quality. We also watched teams that spent a lot on advertising and PR and focused on gaining more of a market share for our team in these segments in order to make their cost of sales even more detrimental to their bottom line. Usually, this can be done through a simple price adjustment because several segments will respond more acutely to price than an increase in advertising awareness. After this happens, Teams then lower their prices in a sort of panic mode. Though, they keep advertising expenditures high, so their strategy of selling for a higher price but more awareness doesn’t work if you have a team that focuses on these things. We instead maintained our price levels and we observed in every game we played teams would adjust their prices closest to ours and in a sense, we maintained the industry standard. If you can get in the lead, this phenomenon will only become more pronounced as the teams that lag behind will begin to copy the front leader as a strategy to catch up. In the spirit of Napoleon, we did not “interrupt our enemy [competition]” when they were making a mistake by raising our prices in panic mode.

It’s tempting for teams to close the gap between worker SCU and plant SCU early in the simulation to maximize the work gained from a single factory worker. However, A large increase early on makes maintaining quality levels extremely expensive. We observed several teams fall into this in the first rollover by doubling their plant sizes and their quality levels in future rollovers were quick to fall. Our goal then was to slowly increase plant size, and in fact never closed the gap between factory and employee SCU, as this is not actually strictly needed and provides the ability to gain higher quality for less cost. With virtually every team entering every market, the sales one team can gain in an economic way never truly reaches a point where massive amounts of plant size are needed.  

In summary, the strategy was to compete in “high” sensitivity areas so that our firm could go for the “sure thing” sales to better predict outcomes and maintain stricter control over costs.

What challenges did you face? How did you overcome these?

A challenge we had in the qualifying round was buying more plant one the first rollover than we would usually do since we thought this would give us a slight advantage in the subsequent rollover. Instead, it made cost projections more difficult and quality levels suffered as we entered the high margin market of the racer segment. We had good control over the gross margin percentage increases for all the rounds except one, though we quickly adjusted with more careful planning and being more exact in data trends.

Was there anything, in particular, you did that you think helped to prepare yourself?

Practicing in single player, in class this semester, and paying very close attention and maintaining detailed records to identify trends with the closest accuracy possible.

What do you think of the business simulation?

Jake: I really enjoyed the business simulation, and we think the results showed. It was always a fun and competitive challenge which had our team striving to do better every round.

Timothy: really like the simulation because I like constructing models, analyzing data, and making that data tell me something that isn’t explicitly contained within it. The business simulation gives me a lot of data and information to use and makes it so that my work in excel and have actual results that can be tested against the predictions I made.

Comments on your experience in your course simulation and with the MikesBikes World Champs

I really like the business simulation and think it’s a must for any student studying a business related major. It gives you the opportunity to see how well you perform based on how much work you put into it. I think we put a lot of work into winning the World Champs. The mikes bikes champs were also fun, challenging, and just a bit stressful, but only because we really wanted to do well.

Advice to future students

The most important thing is to make sure you read every single report before every round. The more information you can correlate, the better. The operations report and marketing report are going to be the most important. Also, keep a close eye on the manufacturing quality report. You’ll want to make sure the quality index is slowly increasing. What will be the biggest road block to increasing it steadily will  be purchasing too much plant in the first round. Purchase some, but in manageable amounts so as to prevent the quality systems index from having to receive a massive infusion of cash to maintain current quality levels.

If you find yourself behind the other teams, evaluate your cost of sales. This issue seemed to be common in our game as we observed several teams spending a lot on advertising and PR and the benefit was much less than the cost. It will take some time to find the balance, especially while competing, which is why we think the best strategy is to focus on those areas where target audience has a “high” preference for something, as outlined in the reports.   

teamwork

THE 2021 MIKESBIKES WORLD CHAMPS QUALIFYING ROUND COMPETITORS

We are proud to present the final list of competitors in the Qualifying Rounds of the 2021 MikesBikes World Champs!

These teams and solo competitors will be competing from the 7th until the 12th of December in the Qualifying Rounds to land a spot in the Top 10 for the Final Rounds!

We have over 113 students representing 27 universities and colleges around the globe.

Algonquin College
Australia Catholic University
Baker University
Belmont Abbey College
Cal Poly Pomona
Central Carolina Technical College
Christopher Newport University
Des Moines Area Community College
Drexel University
Hartwick College
Linn Benton Community College
Loyalist College
Manukau Institue of Technology
Midwestern State University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Olds College
Pi Sigma Epsilon
Rochester Insititute of Technology
Santa Clara University
Southern Institute of Technology
Universit of Saint Thomas
University of Auckland
University of Oregon
University of Pretoria
University of Southern Maine
University of Winnipeg
Westmoreland County Community College

Keep an eye on their progress here and show them your support on our Facebook page. You can also use #2021SmartsimsMWC on Facebook.

Wishing everyone all the best! Hope you enjoy and find this to be a valuable experience!

company selling subsidiary

2020 MikesBikes World Champs Winner

Get to know the 2020 MikesBikes World Champs Winner, Ivan Bondarenko from Webber International University. He shares his experience in the simulation, his strategy and advice to future students.

Ivan B (Webber)
Ivan Bondarenko

What is your decision making process within the simulation?

In terms of managing the company, I was always trying to make the most accurate decisions based on the goal of long-term profitability and market growth. My main objectives were to become a company with a dominant market share while providing quality products to my consumers. Therefore, I based my decisions upon selecting specific strategies that would give me the highest possible chance to achieve my goals. Besides that, a big part that helped me came from analyzing my opponent’s strategies. After selecting the way to achieve my objectives, I had to analyze if those would be a good fit according to the current market conditions and the market power my company possessed in that specific period. In other words, my main decision-making processes and changes were based on two main goals:

To achieve and sustain the highest profitability and market share.

To analyze the decisions of my competitors to make short-term reworks and changes to achieve and sustain the first goal.

What was your strategy going into the simulation?

There is one strategy that I follow during any activity in my life. That is to gather as much knowledge as possible from the opportunities I have been provided. My main strategy during the simulation was to acquire the necessary knowledge about conducting business operations. I believe this knowledge will help me a lot in real life too.

In terms of technical aspects to acquire the highest shareholder value, my strategies were to dominate in the two most high-quality demanding markets which are Adventures and Racers. The reason for it is because capturing “quality markets” requires more time and investments than other segments. That is why it is important to start investing in quality as early as possible. To accomplish that I referred to the knowledge gathered in my management courses about the TQM techniques. That is why in the beginning I decided to invest heavily in the quality aspects of the company to become a company where quality matters a lot. I managed to become a dominant force Adventures segment which gave me enough financial freedom to invest more in quality and cash to finance my capital expenditures required to get into other segments. After establishing and capturing markets where the quality of your products makes the most weight, I acquired an opportunity to invest more in another segment while maintaining my dominance in high-quality markets.

What challenges did you face? How did you overcome these?

My main enemy was my ignorance which sometimes did not allow me to have fully comprehensive and realistic expectations towards the future of our competitive market, rather than expecting a favorable outcome based upon my hopes and mathematical forecasts. Based on my experience in the simulation there are always operational and financial risks related to conducting business operations. However, with proper analysis, there is always a way to minimize your risk (also known as “to hedge” your company) against unreasonable and unexpected market swings which could happen due to the competitors, or something even more dangerous like the inappropriate demand forecast. To avoid those mistakes I decided to refuse to look at risky methods of profiting which could potentially collapse my company, thus I went with a more “safe” approach which provided me with less risk but limited potential net income for each year.

Was there anything, in particular, you did that you think helped to prepare yourself?

The best thing which helped me to prepare myself for the simulation is the ability to learn. Spending time in school with different students and professors helps a lot with acquiring new skills and knowledge which you can use in your daily life. The information and knowledge I managed to comprehend in my classrooms were necessary for obtaining the results during the competition. In other words, something that you learned in your life can have an impactful meaning towards achieving the necessary goal if you will find a proper way to utilize that knowledge.

What do you think of the business simulation?

This is one of the best tools I know which is used for learning about business and the conduction of business operations. I would even go as far as to say that it is my second favorite tool (after books) to acquire important knowledge about a specific subject. So far it has been the best business experience in my life and I greatly appreciate people from SmartSims for creating and improving such an interesting learning tool. You guys are tremendous!

Comments on your experience in your course simulation and with the MikesBikes World Champs

That was a wonderful experience full of learning and enjoyment. The competition was very interesting and something I will be remembering for a long time. I did my best in acquiring as much knowledge as I could and I am happy to feel that way. I hope you will keep developing the simulation and will come up with new comprehensive ideas to implement within the simulation for future students!

It is worth mentioning that my success would not be possible without the important people who supported me in my educational journey. I appreciate my school at Webber International University for providing me with proper business education. Also, I am very grateful to Dr. Thomas Aaron and Dr. Jeannette Eberle for supporting me a lot during my student journey and giving their best so I could get the most essential knowledge throughout my college life.

Advice to future students

There many things which could be said and considered the most important to succeed. As for me, there is one thing that I put above everything else. It is to have fun. There is nothing more important for me during work than feeling joy from the process I participate in. Results are important, and you can work your hardest to get great results. But the best results come from the process in which you like to participate and you have a passion to do it. Knowledge is important when it is fun to obtain. The competition is truly interesting and meaningful when it is fun to participate. The results are meaningful only when they are obtained in the process of passion and enjoyment. Fun is a truly enormous and powerful tool that can lead to great achievements under proper selection and guidance.

bike competitors

THE 2020 MIKESBIKES WORLD CHAMPS QUALIFYING ROUND COMPETITORS

We now have the final list of Qualifying Round competitors for the 2020 MikesBikes World Champs!

These teams and solo competitors will be competing from the 8th until the 13th of December in the Qualifying Rounds to land a spot in the Top 10 for the Final Rounds!

We have over 140 students representing 28 schools around the globe.

Algonquin College
Australian Catholic University
Baker University
Christopher Newport University
Des Moines Area Community College
Drexel University
Duquesne University
High Point University
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Johnson & Wales University
Keyano College
Linn Benton Community College
Midwestern State University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
North Carolina Area Technical College
Pi Sigma Epsilon
Santa Clara University
Selkirk College
Slippery Rock University
Southern Institute of Technology
Tarrant County College District
University College Dublin
University of Auckland
University of Idaho
University of Oregon
University of St. Thomas
University of Winnipeg
Webber International University

Keep an eye on their progress here and show them your support on our Facebook page. You can also use #2020SmartsimsMWC on both Facebook and Instagram.

Wishing everyone all the best! Hope you enjoy and find this to be a valuable experience!

Cartoon Trophy

Latest Hall of Fame Updates and New Entrants

2020 Third Quarter Hall of Fame Update

Congratulations to the latest entrants on this quarter’s Hall of Fame! Well done on this outstanding achievement! 

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants

In the Single-Player (2019/20), we have Deepak Guring (3rd), Sandip Sunuwar (4th), Lachhu Hang Aguwa (5th), Ras Kumari Pun (12th) and Syed Saad Ali (18th). 

In the Single-Player (All-Time), we have Deeapk Gurung (3rd), Sandip Sunuwar (5th), Lachhu Hang Aguwa (7th), Ras Kumari Pun (14th) and Junaid Azam (15th). 

Music2Go New Entrants

In the Multi-Player (2019/20), we have a student from University of Utah, Thomas Gentry of Beats by T at 7th place. 

2020 Second Quarter Hall of Fame Update

Congratulations to our latest entrants! Well done on making it to the Top 20, it’s no easy feat, but you did it! 

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Date Institution Firm SHV Team Members
1 May-20 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Skidmarks Inc. $553.57 Fritz, Matthew J.
3 Jun-20 King’s Own Institute (KOI AIBM) Evil Geniuses $497.16 Sohaib, Mohammad | Shehzad | Khan, Sifat | Rai, Kajol | TAMANG, Sony
5 Jun-20 King’s Own Institute (KOI AIBM) Royal $484.14 Pal, Vikas | Kaur, Jaspreet | Bhangu, Manpreet Kaur | Kaur, Lovejot | Khushbu
16 Jun-20 University of Oregon Niks Biks $395.94 Nik Kovacevic
20 Apr-20 Midwestern State University High Riders $373.41 Gustave, Ronnette S. | Johnson, Celia C. | Ledbetter, Chadrik D. | Reynolds, Hannah M.

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player (All-Time)

Rank Date Institution Firm SHV Team Members
4 May-20 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Skidmarks Inc. $553.57 Fritz, Matthew J.
8 Jun-20 King’s Own Institute (KOI AIBM) Evil Geniuses $497.16 Sohaib, Mohammad | Shehzad | Khan, Sifat | Rai, Kajol | TAMANG, Sony
11 Jun-20 King’s Own Institute (KOI AIBM) Royal $484.14 Pal, Vikas | Kaur, Jaspreet | Bhangu, Manpreet Kaur | Kaur, Lovejot | Khushbu

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Date Registered To Firm SHV
2 May-20 O’Grady,Timothy Queens Bikes Inc $261.81
5 Apr-20 Kaur, Lovejot KAUR, Lovejot Inc $252.44
6 Apr-20 Pal, Vikas –,Vikas Pal Inc $252.11
9 Apr-20 Sohaib, Mohammad Sohaib Inc $251.12
16 Apr-20 Gurung, Ashma Gurung,Ashma Inc $248.74
17 Apr-20 Bhangu, Manpreet Kaur manbhangubikes $248.71
18 Apr-20 Khushbu Khushbu top bikes $248.68
19 Apr-20 Khan, Sifat Sifat khan Bikes Inc $248.65
20 Apr-20 Khatri, Samriddhi Khatri,Samriddhi Inc $248.61

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player (All Time)

Rank

Date Registered To Firm SHV
2 May-20 O’Grady,Timothy Queens Bikes Inc $261.81
7 Apr-20 Kaur, Lovejot KAUR, Lovejot Inc $252.44
8 Apr-20 Pal, Vikas –,Vikas Pal Inc $252.11
13 Apr-20 Sohaib, Mohammad Sohaib Inc $251.12

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Date Institution Firm SHV Rollovers Team Members
4 Jun-20 University of Southern Maine Joes Bikes $698.97 6 Cote, Joe
1 May-20 American University of Kuwait Iman Dana Manar Inc $863.18 8 Dana Najem | Iman El-Husari | Manar Al-Ajmi
7 May-20 Mount St. Mary’s University Velocipede $640.52 7 Jason May
13 May-20 American University of Kuwait MTZ Bikes $448.34 8 Mohamad Dakik | Tala Fahas | Zuhair Ali
16 May-20 American University of Kuwait Nada Ali Nour CO $421.61 8 Ali HassabAlla | Nada Shehadeh | Nour Chaalan | Sara Mohamed
10 Apr-20 Louisiana State University Shreveport Firm1 $506.78 7 Ariana Boyd | Leonardo De Figueiredo | Lilly Humphreys | Austin Lott | Madison Sewell | Sharla Wilkerson
19 Apr-20 University of Southern Maine Chain Reaction $403.12 8 Taryn Grenier | Justine Hutchings | Steve Roy

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Date Registered To Firm SHV
3 May-20 Chris van der Westhuizen Westwood Bikes Inc $676.52
4 May-20 Silvana Chilurane Cycles Inc $642.17
6 May-20 Johannes Lodewikus (Wihan) Hansen Cycle-Tech $613.12
9 May-20 Loren Rudling Loren Inc. $581.19
10 May-20 Damian Rudling Damian Rudling Inc $579.80
17 May-20 Stephanie du Plessis Behind Bars Inc. $532.42

Music2Go New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Date Registered To Firm TMC
3 Jun-20 Tan, David Musifun Inc $419,254,036
9 Jun-20 Ilangovan, Pradeep Pradeep Ilangovan $332,116,261
16 Jun-20 Farnworth,Kaleb CrazyGoodMusic $277,144,681
19 Jun-20 Palmatier,John T Palmatier John T Inc $266,840,593

Music2Go New Entrants | Single-Player (All-Time)

Rank Date Registered To Firm TMC
20 Jun-20 Tan, David Musifun Inc $419,254,036

AdSim New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution Firm TMC Team Members
2 Jacksonville University Snap-Shot Inc. $874,241,252 Lohwater, Meaghan M.
8 Jacksonville University Capture $807,116,014 Suplee, Mia F.
10 Jacksonville University Finderson Photos $797,258,255 Finderson, Delaney M.
11 Jacksonville University Quik Shot $783,154,477 Tavani, Devon W.
14 Jacksonville University McWillie Flim Inc $763,930,390 McWilliams, James

2020 First Quarter Hall of Fame Update

Congratulations to our new entrants! Well done on this outstanding achievement!

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution Firm SHV Team Members
9 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Darr Bikes $411.02 Zach Darr
8 University of Oregon Ryans Bikes $412.19 Bamford, Ryan
15 University of Oregon Bangladesh Bikes $378.80 O’Brien, Wes
20 University of Oregon Bush, Delaney Inc $349.39 Bush, Delaney

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player (All-Time)

Rank Institution Firm SHV Team Members
20 University of Oregon Ryans Bikes $412.19 Bamford, Ryan

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution Name SHV
2 Madison College O’Grady,Timothy $262.91
5 King’s Own Institute Kaur, Lovejot $252.44
6 King’s Own Institute Pal, Vikas $252.11
9 King’s Own Institute Sohaib, Mohammad $251.12
12 King’s Own Institute Mukhtar, Atif $249.93
16 King’s Own Institute Gurung, Ashma $248.74
17 King’s Own Institute Bhangu, Manpreet Kaur $248.71
18 King’s Own Institute Khushbu $248.68
19 King’s Own Institute Khan, Sifat $248.65
20 King’s Own Institute Khatri, Samriddhi $248.61

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player (All-Time)

Rank Institution Name SHV
2 Madison College O’Grady,Timothy $262.91
7 King’s Own Institute Kaur, Lovejot $252.44
8 King’s Own Institute Pal, Vikas $252.11
13 King’s Own Institute Sohaib, Mohammad $251.12
17 King’s Own Institute Mukhtar, Atif $249.93

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution Firm SHV Team Members
6 EU Business School That Bike Shop $554.87 Amine Diab
8 Green River College Broadway Bikes $453.56 Bisson Darlene E | Costello Kellyn S | Elston April J | Marcenco Inna | Marks Bree J
11 Methodist University Fantastic 6 $409.54 Adam, Roua | Ghule, Jyoti Vijay | Sourinsack, Phonepaseuth | Soy, Pisey | Uwaifo, Wisdom | Vincent, Tyler Gary
19 Keyano College RJTs Biking Company $344.54 Kaur, Taranjit | Schaus, Riley | Victor, Joy

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Registered To Firm SHV Institution
18 Amer Khosla Amer Khosla Inc $572.93 American University of Kuwait
19 Shlomi Turgeman Shlomi Turgeman $510.01 University of Haifa
20 Shayla Strutton stratton, shayla Inc $504.81 Red Deer College

Music2Go New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution Firm TMC Team Members
8 University of Utah Lamb chop $1,063,646,462 LAMB,ALLISON ANNE
11 University of Utah Hales Electronic Co. $1,013,228,564 HALES,CHRISTOPHER
12 University of Utah Randy Lahey Inc. $1,004,195,514 DICK,JACOB RUSSELL

Music2Go New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Institution TMC Registered To
4 Worcester Polytechnic Institute $383,040,037 Witkin, Alex
8 Auckland University of Technology $328,900,403 Tan, David
14 University of Utah $278,412,560 HOLTRY,ROBERT A
17 Worcester Polytechnic Institute $266,003,322 Dolphin, Anthony

AdSim New Entrants | Multi-Player (2019/20)

Rank Registered To Institution Firm TMC
19 Lohwater, Meaghan M. Jacksonville University Snap-Shot Inc. $698,918,331

AdSim New Entrants | Single-Player (2019/20)

Rank Registered To Firm TMC Institution
9 Quinn Estes Estes Inc $578,831,810 Salem State University
11 Tavani, Devon W. Quick Shot Inc. $577,632,509 Jacksonville University
14 Finderson, Delaney M. PhotoSnap $570,529,575 Jacksonville University
2 Sitkins, Elliott Best Fotos co. $661,416,948 Northern Michigan University
7 Hodge, Jenna Hodge Inc $590,493,294 Northern Michigan University
10 Mottes, Jesse Mottes Inc. $578,630,133 Northern Michigan University
17 Trombley, Tommy Tommy Trombley Inc $553,719,197 Northern Michigan University

AdSim New Entrants | Single-Player (All-Time)

Rank Registered To Firm TMC Institution
16 Sitkins, Elliott Best Fotos co. $661,416,948 Northern Michigan University

2019 Fourth Quarter Hall of Fame Update

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player 

In the Single-Player Hall of Fame, landing first place, we have Derrick Schmidt from Madison College. He achieved a Shareholder Value of $262.15.

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player 

We have two students also from Des Moines Area Community College. At 3rd place we have Garrett Maakestad. He achieved a Shareholder Value of $509.49. At 8th place we have Chris Adams who achieved an SHV of $437.78.

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Single-Player

We have two new entrants: Naman Vaid from Selkirk College lands 11th place, achieving an SHV of $584.15. At 13th place we have George Van Campen from Red Deer College who achieved an SHV of $572.67.

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player

We have four new entrants: At 3rd place, we have Manoj Kumar Bhambri from Selkirk College who achieved an SHV of $690.85. At 4th place we have Daniel Heath, Elijah Martinez, Marion Miller and Wyatt Guthrie from Bethany College who achieved an SHV of $606.10. At 6th place we have Adham Abouelhawa, Yousef Al-Fadhli, Ammar Ban Bochi and Hossam Nagy who achieved an SHV of $544. At 18th place, we have Manmeet Kaur Ahuja who achieved an SHV of $406.26.

Music2Go New Entrants | Multi-Player

We have four new entrants: At 5th place we have Raleigh Garbielle Monroe-Pichardo from University of Utah who achieved a TMC of $1,266,538,253. At 9th place we have Josh Cahill, Jake Peavey and Hunter Rushing from University of Southern Maine who achieved a TMC of $1,213,254,992. In 11th place we have Jeffrey Dibb from University of Utah who achieved a TMC of $1,191,844,739. At 14th place we have Viktor Maksimov, Keenan Ruffin, Dylan Sinclair from University of Southern Maine who achieved a TMC of $1,145,014,191.

Music2Go New Entrants | Single-Player

We have three new entrants: At 5th place we have Vineeth Nair Gopakumar from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who achieved a TMC of $367,941,265. In 14th place we have Nan Zhang also from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who achieved a TMC of $318,576,510. At 20th place we have Anand from Auckland University of Technology who achieved a TMC of $279,236,457.

Congratulations to all our new entrants! Well done on this outstanding achievement. We wish you all the best!

2019 Third Quarter Hall of Fame Update

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Single-Player 

In the Single-Player Hall of Fame, we have 9 new entrants:

Rank Name SHV School
3 SULEMAN, Hafiz Muhammad $254.14 King’s Own Institute
4 QADIR, Abdul $253.91 King’s Own Institute
6 NADEEM, Shaheryar $251.98 King’s Own Institute
7 DC, Stiphen $251.84 King’s Own Institute
9 DHITAL, Subash $250.90 King’s Own Institute
11 ALI, Irfan $250.18 King’s Own Institute
14 GIRI, Dhiraj $249.70 King’s Own Institute
15 Akbar, Umair $249.39 King’s Own Institute
17 MATEEN, Abdul $249.02 King’s Own Institute

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player

In the Multi-Player Hall of Fame, we have one new entrant, Xiaoyuxuan Xu from Arizona State University at 17th place, achieving a Shareholder Value of $401.76.

AdSim New Entrants | Single-Player

We have four new entrants in the Single-Player Hall of Fame!

Rank Name TMC School
7 Divya Macha $607,637,258 University of South Florida
8 Michael Eisenberg $604,643,978 University of South Florida
13 Courtney Stacho $573,655,146 University of South Florida
19 Oscar Lovera $557,085,781 University of South Florida

Congratulations to all our new entrants! Well done on this outstanding achievement. We wish you all the best!

2019 Second Quarter Hall of Fame Update

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player 

At 9th place in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame and 12th place All-Time, we have a team from King’s Own Institute, Firm2 with Bishal Tandukar, Salina Basnet Thapa, Anushka Dahal and Bich Ngoc Nguyen. They have achieved a Shareholder Value (SHV) of $417.69

We also have another team from King’s Own Institute, Firm3 with Than Binh Phu Trinh and Praadeep Acharya who managed to land the 12th place in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame.  They have achieved an SHV of $366.19.

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player

In the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame, we have a new entrant landing at the #1 spot, Roadies from Christopher Newport University with Ian Dors and Niall Mahaney. They have achieved an SHV of $708.57.

Another team from Christopher Newport University landed at 19th place at the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame, RR Bikes with Ryan Devine and Robert Stoner. The duo achieved an SHV of $393.59.

At the 20th place in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame, we have a student from Wallace State Community College, Everydae Bikes with Dae Spradlin. They have achieved an SHV of $361.59.

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Single-Player

We have several new entrants in the 2019/2019 Hall of Fame!

  • 7th and 11th place: Chandra Surendra (University of Auckland) who achieved an SHV of $702.26 and $583.82
  • 10th and 14th place: Rachita Rajendra (University of Auckland) who achieved an SHV of $589.88 and $554.80
  • 15th place: Juan Rodriguez (High Point University) who achieved an SHV of $552.01
  • 18th place: Xincheng Zhang (University of Auckland) who achieved an SHV of $508.31
  • 19th place: Tao Tang (University of Auckland) who achieved an SHV of $490.76

Music2Go New Entrants | Multi-Player

From Waikato Institute of Technology, we have a three new entrants in the 2019/2019 Hall of Fame and one of them managed to land a spot in the All-Time Hall of Fame!

We have Apollo with Jie Ding, Shanshan Liu and Qingwen Zeng who managed to land 3rd in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame and 12th All-Time. They have achieved a Total Marketing Contribution (TMC) of $1.3 billion. Another team, Vocal Music with Wenling Chen, Ashley He, Yuchen Pan and Wenli Wang who managed to land 17th place in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame. They have achieved a TMC of $1.02 billion. Last but not the least, on 20th place, we have The Avengers with Min Guo, Adelyn Lim and Zhizhao Luo. They haev achieved a TMC of over $987 million.

AdSim New Entrants | Multi-Player

We have 9 new entrants in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame!

  • 4th place: Cody McElveen from Jacksonville University. He achieved a Total Marketing Contribution (TMC) of over $829 million
  • 9th place: Savannah Siegrist from Jacksonville University. She achieved a TMC of over $778 million
  • 10th place: Zachary Parrish from Jacksonville University. He achieved a TMC of over $749 million
  • 11th place: Summer Fox from Jacksonville University. She achieved a TMC of over $732 million
  • 14th place: Yuki Sakate from Jacksonville University. She achieved a TMC of over $708 million
  • 17th place: A team from Salem State University, Capture Moments with Kiah Heron, Fred Kelley IV, Brianna Tufo and Jessica Tully who achieved a TMC of over $694 million
  • 19th place: A team from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Trap Inc with Kevin Duffy, Justin Chung, Troy Lombardi and Anthony Figueroa who achieved a TMC of over $673 million
  • 20th place: A team from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Firm1 with Amanda LaCroix, Hunter Strangis and Shelyese Perry who achieved a TMC of over $672 million

AdSim New Entrants | Single-Player

We have three new entrants in the 2018/2019 Hall of Fame! We have Veronica Szymack (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) in 4th place, who achieved a TMC of over $633 million. We also have Melanie Wong (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) in 5th place, who achieved a TMC of $620 million. In 10th place we have Tristan Vitale (Northern Michigan University) who achieved a TMC of over $570 million.

Congratulations to all our new entrants! Well done on this outstanding achievement. We wish you all the best!

2019 First Quarter Hall of Fame Update

MikesBikes Introduction New Entrants | Multi-Player

Landing in 10th place, we have Joseph Saponjian from University of Oregon who achieved a Shareholder Value of $404.93. Joseph also managed to land the 14th place in the All-Time Multi-Player Hall of Fame!

In 12th place, we have Business Group Solut with Nour Sinno, Anmol Karki, Himalaya Pokharel, Prabesh Upreti and Deepa Gurung from King’s Own Institute who achieved a Shareholder Value of $366.19. They have also managed to land the 20th spot in the All-Time Multi-Player Hall of Fame!

Lastly in 17th place is also a team from King’s Own Institute, 99 Grandsons Ltd with Muhammad Usman and Maninder Singh who achieved a Shareholder Value of $353.32. 

MikesBikes Introduction Hall of Fame

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Multi-Player

Landing 1st place is Sam Chowdhury from House of Cornelia. He achieved a Shareholder Value of $708.11.

Arizona University students managed to land 3 spots in the Top 20 2018/2019 Hall of Fame. We have Dominic Mayr who achieved a Shareholder Value of $477.11 and landed the 8th place. Next is Farhoud Salim who landed the 12th place with a Shareholder Value of $437.25 and at 17th place we have Kamil Kapitan, who achieved a Shareholder Value of $396.01.

Last but not the least, we have a team from Christopher Newport University, Roadies with Ian Dors and Niall Mahaney who landed the 19th place with a Shareholder Value of $358.64.

MikesBikes Advanced New Entrants | Single-Player

In 4th place we have Bryce Marleau from Algonquin College, with a Shareholder Value of $912.08. He also managed to land 6th place in the All-Time Hall of Fame.

In 7th place we have Gabriel Teramura from Algonquin College, with a Shareholder Value of $567.50. He has also managed to land 15th place in the All-Time Hall of Fame.

In 8th place we have Sajjad Arastu from University of Auckland, with a Shareholder Value of $561.82. He has also managed to land 16th place in the All-Time Hall of Fame.

In 16th place  we have Matthew Patrick Pierson from Cal Poly Pomona who achieved a Shareholder Value of $418.57.

MikesBikes Advanced Hall of Fame

Music2Go New Entrants | Multi-Player

Three University of Utah students managed to land 3 places in the Music2Go Hall of Fame! In 9th place we have Walker Austin Hess, in 15th place we have Blaise Pascal Shema and in 18th place we have Kyle Michael Bartley.

Music2Go Hall of Fame

AdSim New Entrants | Multi-Player

In 12th place we have a team from Salem State University, Captured Moments with Kiah Heron, Fred Kelley IV, Brianna Tufo and Jessica Tully. Another team from Salem State as well comes in 15th place, Smile Back Inc with Christa Elliott, Zachary Holt, Romello Mitchell, Alexa Ortiz and Kelsey Vargas.

AdSim New Entrants | Single-Player

In 6th place we have Richard Hamilton from Northern Michigan University. In 8th place we have Zachary Parish from Jacksonville University. In 16th place we have another student from Northern Michigan University, Andrew Poirer. In 20th place, we have Isabelle Fritz from Northern Michigan University as well.

AdSim Hall of Fame

Congratulations to all our new entrants! Well done on this outstanding achievement. We wish you all the best!


September 2018 Entrants in the Multi-Player (All-Time) Hall of Fame

We have 7 new entrants in the Multi-Player (All-Time) Hall of Fame!

A big congratulations to Spencer Hesseling of SAB Inc from Des Moines Area Community Community College for landing the 4th spot in the MikesBikes Intro Hall of Fame! We also have Rabin Rimal, Dilasha Karki, Anjila Sharma and Birendra Chaulagain of Himalayan Carpet from King’s Own Institute who managed to rank in the 15th spot.

In the Music2Go Hall of Fame,  we have several teams and students who managed to land the top positions in the Hall of Fame!

Rank Date Institution Firm Team Members
3 Jul-18 University of Utah Thecrew BISHOP, JOHN STEVEN
6 Jun-18 University of Utah Firm5 BAGNELL, BRET
17 Jun-18 University of Utah Phase-X MP3 Players JOHNSON, BRET
12 May-18 Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) Winner Bihao Shi | Nan Li | Santosh Basnet
13 May-18 Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) Simple Lin Wang | Xiaoqin Du | Junnie Gan

Well done to all the students who made it to the Top 20 Hall of Fame! Congratulations and we wish you all the best!


April 2018 Entrants in the Multi-Player (All-Time) Hall of Fame

In MikesBikes Intro, we have 7 new entrants from Des Moines Area Community College, Westmoreland Community College and Fanshawe College!

In the number one spot, we have Joseph Powell from Des Moines Area Community College who managed to achieve a Shareholder Value of $1,032.09  in only 8 rollovers!

Rank Institution Firm SHV Team Members
1 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) 19BikesINC $1,032.09 Powell, Joseph
5 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) JP Bicycles $424.98 Patterson, Jack
12 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Vakn $360.31 Borsay, Nicholas | Creighton Crum, Ashby | Phan, Kha | Vang, Ngun
13 Westmoreland County Community College Superior Bikes Inc. $356.25 Shirey, Justin M.
18 Fanshawe College Bichael Kors $343.16 Craig Cooke | Calvin Catherwood | DAndre Austin | Amir Sandhu | Lex Veniperen
19 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Pedals 4 Proles $334.00 Adams, Trevor
20 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Tundra Bikes $326.88 Van Sloun, Katie

In Music2Go, we have two new entrants from University of Utah! At 5th place, we have Bret Bagnell who achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of $1,498,343,191 and Bret Johsnon who achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of $1,194,130,439 at 16th place.

Last but not the least, in AdSim we have a new student who managed to land the #1 spot in the Hall of Fame! This spot has been unbeatable for the past 8 years and Ashley Johnson from Delgado Community College did it. She achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of $1,347,276,558. In 13th place, we also have Ty Anderson, also from Delgado Community College who achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of $922,602,019.

Well done to all the students who made it to the Top 20 Hall of Fame! Congratulations!


2 New Teams Enter the Hall of Fame!

We welcome 2018 with two new teams entering the MikesBikes Introduction and MikesBikes Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame!

Congratulations  to Primatech Bicycles with Wayne Burch, Jarrett Hopewell, Courtney Nordin and Carter Nordman from Des Moines Area Community College for landing the 11th Place in the MikesBikes Intro Hall of Fame!

In the MikesBikes Advanced Hall of Fame, we have a team from Baker University, ZMB Entreprises LLC with Robert Farrell, Zachary Phillips and Michael Muhlbaier who managed to land the 9th Place!

Well done to both teams for this outstanding achievement! Best of luck in your future endeavors!


7 New Teams Enter the Hall of Fame!

We’re only halfway through the month and we already have six new teams enter the Top 20 Hall of Fame!

Coming in at the highly coveted Number 1 spot in the MikesBikes Intro Hall of Fame, we have Funday Bike Parade, with Baird Connor, Daughtey Benjamin, Goodwin Declan Pearson Sean and Westry Najiyah from Virginia Commonwealth College. We have also interviewed the team about their achievement, so keep an eye out on that! In 14th place, we have Speed Wheels with Nathan Cook from Des Moines Area Community College.

In MikesBikes Advanced, we have a new team from Selkirk College coming in at 10th Place. We have Arthur Inc with Dohyun Kim.

Last but certainly not the least, we have three students who smashed the Music2Go Hall of Fame! We have,  Jordan David Nilsson of Jordan Nilsson Inc coming in at third place. We have Miguel Perez of aMusiced at 12th Place and Rhett Steele Jessop of Steele Inc at 16th place. They are all from University of Utah. From Waikato Institute of Technology, we have MenPower with Jack Zhang, Henry Chu and Daniel Wang coming in at 10th Place!

A big congratulations from all of us here at Smartsims! This is such an amazing achievement. We wish you all the best!


9 New Entrants in the Hall of Fame

Winners Are People Who Never Quit quote

June, July and August brought out a new first placer in MikesBikes Introduction and a whooping six teams from University of South Florida took over the AdSim Hall of Fame! A big congratulations to our new entrants!

In MikesBikes Introduction, we have in 1st place, Dashcycle from King’s Own Institute. The team consisted of Adeel Malhi, Ahmed Nawaz, Hafiz Jawad Ahmad Malik and Ikhlaq Maqbool. In 5th place and 20th place, we have students from Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), Nicks Bikes and MRAT Cycles respectively. Nicks Bikes consists of Nicholas Millea and MRAT Cycles consists of Kelley Scott.

In AdSim, we have in 2nd place, Snapshot Inc, consisting of Samantha Salamino, Laura Mataitis and Joseph Cappy. In 3rd place, we have Digital Visuals, consisting of Andrew Bustamante, Sabina Jakupaj, Hilary Wedner and Parker Vansickle. in 11th place, we have Solange Gorleku, Waldir Ortiz and Blair Brooks. In 16th place, we have Picture Perfect from Angel Lathrop, Amanda Schoenberger and Eric Busch. In 17th place, we have Aperture Inc. consisting of George Pasteur, Zeynep Minareci, Elizabeth Lowery and Birttany Schoenberg. In 18th place we have CaptureIT, consisting of Amber Langdon, Laura Ricciardone, Trevor Gunn and Jeremy Singh.

Well done to all the teams who made it to the Top 20 Hall of Fame! Congratulations!

If you would like to view the Hall of Fame, click here.


16 Teams Enter the Hall of Fame!

Success does not lie in “results”, but in “efforts.” Being the best is not so important, but “doing” the best is all that matters.

April 2017 is a record-breaking month with 16 teams entering the Top 20 Hall of Fame!

In MikesBikes Introduction we have a whooping 9 teams enter the Top 20 Multi-Player Hall of Fame.

Des Moines Area Community College took 5 spots in the Top 10, including the 1st place! The new leader in the Hall of Fame is Gehling Inc. ran by Austin Gehling. Coming in at 4th place we have DankKongHarambeSwag ran by Luke Stillwell. In 6th Place we have BikesRUs ran by John Marcurella. In 8th place we have Pro-One Bicycles  ran by Garrett Peterson, Drew Synder and Terrance Wimmer. In 10th place we have Firm4 ran by Jade Hols.

Coming in at 10th Place, we have Spark from Nova Scotia Community College, ran by Janey Lee MacLean and Dana Welsh. In 12th Place we have Firm 1 from St. Francis Xavier University, ran by Matthew Halciopoulos, Jared Pauls, Ethan Tse and Chris Verheyen. In 13th place, we have Road Ragers from Virgina Commonwealth University, ran by Michael Blackwell, Andrew Eldrige, Hue-Nhi Nguyen and Brandon White. Last but not the least, we have another team from Virginia Commonwealth University at 14th place is PedalHeads. The company is ran by Adam Brittain, Victoria Colbert, Patricia Messenger and Jason Theriault.

In MikesBikes Advanced we have 3 new entrants in the Top 20 Multi-Player Hall of Fame!

Coming in at 11th place, we have Power in Motion from Hartwick College, ran by Shaheen Shaghaghi, Elena Kotanchyan and Gina Grauer. In 14th place we have Velocipede, ran by Jeffrey Gaff, Deandre Gamble and Christopher Rugen. In 16th place we have Pedal Pushers ran by Kendall Mclendon, Brandon Stump, Sarvin Tavakol, Clayton Vedder and Ashlie Wilkinson. Both teams are from Middle Georgia State University.’

We also have 1 new entrant in the Single-Player Hall of Fame. We have Yiqi Chen in 10th place from the University of Auckland.

In Music2Go we have 1 new entrant in the Multi-Player Hall of Fame. From University of Utah, we have Reverb Inc at 4th place. The firm is ran by Logun Williamson.

Last but certainly not the least, we also have 2 new Single-Player Hall of Fame entrants in AdSimIn 13th place we have  Prestige Pictures ran by Johnny Grayvold. In 15th place we have Groll Inc. ran by Alyssa Chomiczews. Both students are from Northern Michigan University.

A big congratulations from all of us here at Smartsims! We wish you all the best.

If you would like to view the Hall of Fame, click here.


April and May brings significant changes to our current Hall of Fame

Students are competiting internationally to hold these titles. Right when we think “this is going to be a tough one to beat” we are then astounded by new teams rising up to meet the challenge. April and May both saw several teams standing out of the crowd by rising to new positions in the Hall of Fame.

In MikesBikes-Advanced we saw a team from Bethany College called “The Three Stooges” (comprised of Adam Maisch, Josh Hickok and Tanner Wallace) take away 5th place after 8 rollovers. Coming in at 15th internationally, “Bykes 4 Sail” from Ohio State University run by Anthony McCollum is quite a significant achievement for an individual within only 6 rollovers.

Next, in MikesBikes-Intro we have a new 1st place from King’s Own Institute! “Aeither Bikes” (run by took away 1st place with a Shareholder Value of $400.65 run by Jaya Negi, Maria Theresa Silabay, Rezyl Marie Evasco, and Bindu Bohara. Following this, “Business Cycles” from Des Moines Area Community College (run by Austin Kingrey, Nicholas Porter, Alejandra Cardenas-Zamarripa, Joseph Wyatt and Rakim Tullis) placed 10th.

Music2Go had two new placements from Humber College! Here we see “Requiem” (played by Marcus Parks, Igor Ivanenko, Oleksandr Surkov, Olena Vidaiko, and Roman Margulis) taking in 10th place and “Reptar International” (taking inspiration from Rugrats for their naming convention?) pulling into 14th. Following behind these two Humber College teams we have “Culture Club” from Waikato Institute of Technology sitting comfortably in 18th place.

Quite a large number of teams entering into the Hall of Fame these past two months! Quite an achievement. The Smartsims Team would like to congratulate each and every student for their perserverence and success! If you would like to see more scores then click here.


Joshua Kalman and Christopher Scherr from Algonquine College just topped our Single-Player Hall of Fame!

The Smartsims Team is proud to congraulate Joshua Kalman from Algonquin College for absolutely annihilating the MikesBikes-Advanced Single-Player Hall of Fame. Placing first with a Shareholder Value of $1,564.34 within 8 rollovers is nothing short of astounding. His results from his latest rollover resulted in a profit of $142,832,492!

Second place was recently awarded to Christopher Scherr from Algonquin College as well! Reaching a Shareholder Value of $1,337.86 is an achievement in itself!

Congratulations to both Joshua Kalman and Christopher Cherr! It will be interesting to see what they achieve with their teams in the Multi-Player version of the simulation.

Click here for more information on the Single-Player Hall of Fame

Congratulations to California State Polytechnic University – Pomona and TAFE NSW for entering the Hall of Fame with Two New Teams!

In MikesBikes-Advanced, we have a team from California State Polytechnic University called Big 5consisting of George Chou Nghiem, Longgen Ni, Ryan Anthony Predergast, Shirley Erika Suguyuma and Kaly Trinh who managed to take the 10th place in our MikesBikes-Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame and achieved a Shareholder Value of $1053.81.

In MikesBikes-Intro, we have a trio from TAFE NSW, iBike consisting of Thi Anh Tuyet Le, Do Hoa Mi and Dang Hoang Khanh Pham who achieved a Shareholder Value of $277. This places them 7th in our MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame.  

As Conrad Hilton said, “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” One of the underlying concepts of MikesBikes is applying the theories you learn in the simulation itself and if something doesn’t work out, you have to keepmoving and figure out what works best for the team’s strategy. The reports in the simulation help teams find out where they are/might be going wrong. It truly is a good learning experience for everyone who participates in the simulation as it gives them a sense of understanding that in business, one decision can affect a whole lot of others and it also teaches them one of the core values/foundation of a successful business which is teamwork.

A huge congratulations from everyone here at Smartsims to the new entrants!

Congratulations to St. Francis Xavier University, Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) and Babson College for entering the Hall of Fame with Four New Teams!

MikesBikes-Intro

Bingo Bikes consisting of Sam Gan, Joshua Hartley, Andrew Kinzie, Brendan Saunders and Carolyn Smith from St Francis Xavier University managed to take the eighth place in our MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $272.25

CZHK Corp consisting of Hamood Al-Rahbi, Karri Ertl, Caleb McKim and Zach Sorensen from Des Moines Area Community College who managed to take the 14th place with a Shareholder Value of $236.41.

Music2Go Marketing

EG consisting of a duo, Yuckhen Hou and Wenshuo Huang from Waikato Institute of Technology achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of over $1 Billion which placed them 11th.

Dolce Vita consisting of Jonathan Choi, Sean Griffin, Ilaria Montefusco and Martina Vergara from Babson College achieved a Total Marketing Contribution of over $900 Million which placed them 16th.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure” – Colin Powell. This is one of the things we wish to impart to everyone who participates in our simulations that success comes to those who work hard for it. Win or lose, the most important thing is the journey that teams/individuals go through and the lessons they have learnt upon participating in the simulation.

Congratulations to all the students for this outstanding achievement from everyone here at Smartsims!
Drexel University and Australian Institute of Business and Management Enter the Hall of Fame Again With Two New Teams!

It is always great to see new entrants within the Smartsims’ Hall of Fame who have reached new levels and developing further understanding of what business and business simulations is all about. This month we have two new teams, one from Australian Institute of Business and Management called “CPA BK” and another from Drexel University called “BikesPro”.

Both teams have performed exceptionally well, achieving 1st place within their respective courses but also placing within the MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame. CPA BK achieved a Shareholder Value of $244.62 which placed them 11th and BikesPro was able to reach a Shareholder Value of $217.56.

Congratulations Nikolay Pevenev, Shreya Desai, Kendall Eng, Vu Le and Minxue Qiu from BikesPro; and Jing Cong, Fang Fang Yu and Guozhen Liu from CPA BK! You have all done a fantastic job of managing your respective simulated businesses.


Nine New teams entered into the Top 20 Hall of Fame!

It certainly has been a busy few months both in and out of Smartsims, we have 9 new entrants into the Top 20 Hall of Fame – kicking previous high performing teams completely out of the Hall of Fame.

A team from Baker University have done very well for themselves recently. They managed to take not only first place but second place as well on our MikesBikes-Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame with a shareholder value of $1,800.55 and $1,663.32 respectively.  ‘Spin Doctors’ achieved second place within eight rollovers occurring over several weeks while they managed to achieve first place within the top 20 during a “Lightning Round” where their seven rollovers were within hours of each other. An astounding achievement from team members: Sarah Neff, Todd Calhoun and Joao Tiengo.

Ohio Dominican University’s team ‘The Hall of Famers’ is astutely named having placed 8th within the MikesBikes-Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $1,041.06 after 8 rollovers. Huge congratulations to these team members: Jonathan Beshears, Davante McCoy, and Ronnel Spates.

The University of Adelaide have done impressively well this semester. The Hall of Fame has seen three teams from their MikesBikes-Intro enter into the Top 20 Hall of Fame after their final rollovers:

  • Coming in at 6th place, ‘Dick Van Byke’ gained a Shareholder Value of $251.04 after 8 rollovers and was led by Andrew McLeod, James Tilden, Joel Caddy and Wing Hau.
  • Sitting comfortably in 12th place, ‘The Town Bicycles’ walked away from the final rollover with an astounding Shareholder Value of $222.19. This firm was managed by a great team: Cameron Wong, Jorden Kent and William Madsen
  • Following ‘The Town Bicycles’ was ‘JYKs Bikes’; they were able to achieve a Shareholder Value of $218.30 which was so close to getting them 12th place within our Hall of Fame. A job well done by Joel Freke, Kate Powell and Ying Jiang who placed 13th.

Adding to other past student’s achievements at UNITEC, ‘Ninja Warriors’ was able to place 9th within the MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $236.11 after only 7 rollovers! This is an excellent achievement for Charly Abarro, Richard Liu, Xingyu Liu, and Xianbo Lu.

Coming in at 18th on our MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame; Hunter Jones, Katharina May, James Poe, Shunnom Pyeng and Brad Rodriguez from Midwestern State University made significant headway with the simulation, they were able to lead their firm (‘Bike Galaxy’) into 18th place.

A team from Waikato Institute of Technology who named their firm: ‘MIA Sounds’ have definitely hit the target, their firm reached 6th place within the Music2Go Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $1,144,077,031!  Congratulations to Mitchell Lucas and Abdalmaged Alaragjh!

Ending the simulation in 6th place within the AdSim Top 20 Hall of Fame ‘Ad Winner’ (directed by C Chen) made their way into the Hall of Fame with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $919,533, 131!

A huge congratulations from everyone here at Smartsims to the new entrants!
The University of Auckland’s Management Consultant Club and The Australian Institute of Business and Management make a serious dent in our Top 20 Hall of Fame!

The University of Auckland’s Management Consultant Club recently held their annual MikesBikes Challenge where participants compete against each other for bragging rights and highly coveted prizes. This year, three teams from this challenge made their way onto our MikesBikes-Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame:

Coming 2nd in our Top 20 Hall of Fame, Bing Zhang and Emma Liu lead their firm (“Hinault”) into achieving an incredible Shareholder Value of $1,112.47. This substantial Shareholder Value also placed them 1st in the MikesBikes Challenge.

Zingchen Zhu and Vincent Fent guided their firm (“BOES Inc”) into 13th place in our Hall of Fame by achieving a Shareholder Value of $796.61 after only seven rollovers. BOES Inc also came in 2nd in the MikesBikes Challenge.

Closely trailing “BOES Inc” in the MikesBikes Challenge, Ben Reynolds and Matt Tier’s business strategy helped their firm attain 17th place in our MikesBikes-Advanced Hall of Fame. Their firm, called “Market Makers”, reached a Shareholder Value of $764.57 after seven rollovers.

From the Australian Institute of Business and Managent, Hyuongsup Lim was able to direct his firm (“ASA Bike”) into achieving a Shareholder Value of $215.71 and placing 11th in our Top 20 MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame.

As always, Congratulations to all teams who have recently placed in our Hall of Fame!


Students from UNITEC in New Zealand hit 5th place in the MikesBikes-Introduction Hall of Fame

Every two weeks we update this article, and each update we are proud to announce new entrants into our Hall of Fame. This week we are no less proud to announce another new entrant into our Hall of Fame from UNITEC in New Zealand.

‘Tyred Power’ from UNITEC made their way to 5th Place in the MikesBikes-Intro Top 20 Hall of Fame, with a Shareholder Value of $274.62 after only 7 rollovers! This firm was lead into this respectable position by students: Stuart Wesley Fowler, Andrew David, Rowan Ovenden, Dong Yuan and Samiuela Teulilo.

Congratulations to all students for their astounding achievement!


MusicPirates make their way to 9th Place and University of Wisconsin – Whitewater has placed another team in our Top 20 Hall of Fame!

Congratulations to ‘Music Pirates’ from the University of Kansas. Since our last Hall of Fame update, this team has managed to climb up to 9th place from 15th in the Music2Go Top 20! They now have a whopping Net Marketing Contribution of $1,029,057,776 after their 7th and final rollover.

Coming 16th in our Music2Go Hall of Fame we have Katie Kreuger from University of Wisconsin – Whitewater! Katie managed to lead her firm (called ‘Firm5’) to a massive Total Net Marketing Contribution of $823,101,088 after only six rollovers!


Three new teams from Pennyslvania State University, University of Kansas and University of Utah have smashed their way into our Top 20 Hall of Fame.

Our most recent entrant into our MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame, ‘No HandleBars’, hails from Pennsylvania State University. ‘No HandleBars’ had an excellent management team consisting of: David Heisey, Anam Khan, Devante Santana, Brooke Tompkins, and David Venturo. These students had successfully developed a strategy which delivered their firm to 12th place with a Shareholder Value of $200.67.

Students (Aaron Lim, Ian Cooperstein, Preston Coons and Stefanie Utley) from the University of Utah steered their firm into 13th place in our Music2Go Top 20 Hall of Fame. The firm (‘Firm 6 Wins!’) was able to develop a well-planned marketing strategy which landed them a Net Marketing Contribution of $851,781,655 after 8 rollovers.

After only 6 rollovers, the firm ‘Music Pirates’ from University of Kansas was able to gain 15th Place with a Net Marketing Contribution of $846,605,289. It will be interesting to see where this firm (led by Kory Suppes and Alex Bank) will place after their next rollover!
As always, a big congratulations and welcome to all outstanding teams mentioned!


Five new teams have cracked their way into our Hall of Fame

Recently placing 18th in our MikesBikes-Advanced Top 20 Hall of Fame is ‘TigerShark’ from Red Deer College. Comprised by students; Tanisha Bullick, Jaime Little, Jena-Lee Misanchuk, Dian Vandijk and Monsurat Ogunjimi, they managed to achieve a tremendous Shareholder Value of $737.61 in six rollovers.

After only 7 rollovers, ‘The Capable Jaguars’ from St. Francis Xavier University managed to place 9th in our MikesBikes-Introduction Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $218.26. Congratulations to team members: Sean Graves, Derek MacKeen, and Brendan Nickles.

‘MIA’, also from St. Francis Xavier University, managed to place 10th in our MikesBikes-Introduction Top 20  Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $205.12 after only seven rollovers. Congratulations to team members: Mitchell Donlevy, Ian McShane and Andrew Vaughan.

After 8 rollovers, students from Presentation College (Tonie Logandinski, Wyatt Sumption and Lauren Stearns) lead ‘Outspokin Bicycles’ into achieving 13th place in our MikesBikes-Introduction Top 20 Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $193.17.

Placing 2nd in our Music2Go Hall of Fame, ‘PlayPaws Inc.’ from Pepperdine University managed to achieve a Net Marketing Contribution of $1,421,026,756 in just 8 rollovers. Congratulations to team members: Victoria Tsen, AC Wichstrom and Jennifer Abohosh.

Congratulations and Welcome to all new entrants in our Hall of Fame!


Five new teams have stormed their way onto our Hall of Fame

In our Music2Go Top 20 Hall of Fame we now have the firm: ‘Baja Music’ from Seattle University. Comprised by students Belis de Brito, Adrian Green, John Ungur, and Alan Mui; their firm achieved the astounding feat of gaining a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $848,102,543 which has placed them as the 11th firm of all time in our Music2Go Hall of Fame.

Adding to their previous two firms currently in our MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame, Drexel University now has three new firms place in the Top 20:

  • Placing in 8th, ‘Two Wheels 500’ made their way to 8th place with a Shareholder Value of $229.13. Leading this firm was Sneha Yarlagadda, Brian Yildirim, William Shaw, Yujie Tang, and Matthew Walker.
  • Ending the competition in 9th place, ‘Ride On’ made their way into the Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $202.79. Running this firm was Brandon Foo, Duc Nguyen, Stephen Pronesti, Joseph Tighe, Jyothish Varghese, and Jiangzhou Wu.
  • The third team from Drexel Uni, ‘Bianco Inc.’ managed to gain 10th place in our Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $157.80. Directing this firm was Daniel Palombo, Sanjana Vasa, Amanda Abrams, Andrew Randisi and Xu Ye.

Nova Scotia Community College has also made a new appearance on our MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame. The firm ‘JC Cycles’, run by Chris and John, has placed 18th in our Hall of Fame with a Shareholder Value of $177.85.

Congratulations to all the new teams who have recently made it into our Hall of Fame!


Multiple students make their way into Smartsims’ Single-Player Hall of Fame

Congratulations to all the New Entrants in our Single Player Hall of Fame!

In our MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame we welcome:

  • Xudong Qiu from Drexel University. Within eight rollovers Xudong has placed 11th with a Shareholder Value of $232.90.
  •  Jonathan Roy from Nichols College. Within eight rollovers Jonathan has placed 13th with a Shareholder Value of $218.04.
  • Brian Yildirim from Drexel University. Within eight rollovers Brian has placed 18th with a Shareholder Value of $207.58.

In our Music2Go Hall of Fame we welcome:

  • Aaron Lim from the University of Utah. Aaron has reached 9th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $288,144,812 within eight rollovers.
  • Jacob Radovich from Milwaukee Area Technical College. Jacob has reached 10th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $280,849,640 within six rollovers.
  • Jacob Tischer from Milwaukee Area Technical College. Jacob has reached 11th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $285,889,986 within six rollovers.
  • Nicholas Jones from University of Utah. Nicholas has reached 12th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $278,552,281 within six rollovers.
  • Jason Fredrick from Milwaukee Area Technical College. Jason has reached 13th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $275,319,343 within six rollovers.
  • Logan Yewman from Milwaukee Area Technical College. Logan has reached 14th place with a Cumulative Net Marketing Contribution of $269,683,486 within six rollovers.

For more information on the Single-Player Hall of Fame, click here.


Australian Institute of Business and Management student places second in MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Yashvin Diana Ramila! After eight rollovers of MikesBikes-Intro, Yashvin’s firm managed to achieve a Shareholder Value of $322.39. This amazing Shareholder Value has placed Yash Diana Ramila second in our all time MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame.

Yashvin is a student at the Australian Institute of Business and Management. This firm will also be joining another Australian Institute of Business and Management student firm who has ranked 19th in our MikesBikes-Intro Hall of Fame, Bikebiz.

For more information on this firm, click here.

Methodist University students hit 9th Place in MikesBikes-Advanced Hall of Fame

Four Methodist University students have recently cracked the Top 20 MikesBikes-Advanced top 20 Shareholder Value results of all time.

The students, in a Firm named “Bike America” ended the competition with a Shareholder Value of $818.69, landing them in 9th place in the Hall of Fame. The students are from Michael Wayland’s Business Policy and Strategy class.

Methodist University currently has another team ranked 3rd in the MikesBikes-Advanced Hall of Fame, Teeter Taylor Trikes.

Congratulations to these students!

MikesBikes Business Simulation

Student Testimonial on the Real World Application of the MikesBikes Business Simulation

I am currently doing my co-op placement, but first I just say at how my mind is absolutely blown at the level of applicability of everything I have learnt in our [Marketing Strategy] class to the real world. The [MikesBikes] simulation combined with the journals has really enhanced the way I see the bigger picture and back it up with the analytical side.

I was so surprised to find that the company I am doing [work] for had no structures in place whatsoever when it comes to measuring company performance; especially when the company looked so successful on the outside. On the second day of my [work] placement I managed to sell Kaplan’s Balanced Score Card to the CFO and the CEO of the company; through the use of [heuristics] but also, because the simulation has put me in the seat of the CEO, I was able to talk in their language by using jargon that was music to their ears. And only after hours of going through data and speaking with front line managers, I found, that this company is going through some of the devastating decisions we made on the [MikesBikes] simulation; for example, no vision, promotional abuse and mismanagement of customer loyalty.

I have also recommended this paper to all my friends doing Marketing as a MUST DO PAPER.

– Anonymous student

Source: Spanier, N., Franklin, D. (2013), Practitioner heuristics: adapting student to co-op placement, New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education: Strategic Directions in Cooperative Education, 31-33.

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Teaching Strategic Management Online at University of Colorado Boulder

With many courses transitioning online we thought it timely to interview Scott Livengood from University of Colorado Boulder. Scott has a great deal of experience using our MikesBikes Advanced Business Simulation in his capstone Strategic Management course which he teaches in both face-to-face and online formats.

How do you use MikesBikes in your course?

I use MikesBikes Advanced primarily for my capstone Strategic Management undergraduate course.

I have three “rounds” of play:

  • The first is the Practice Round, where students compete directly against a computer rival in two possible customer segments (Adventurer and Leisure). This round is not graded but gives the students some exposure to the simulation so they can learn about its mechanics and also so they can experiment with and fine tune their strategies.
  • Next comes the Solo Round, where the environment is exactly the same as the Practice Round (i.e. only one computer rival and two segments), except the rollovers occur on my schedule rather than giving the students the ability to roll forward, roll backward, or to reset the simulation. This occurs for five to six rollovers, depending on the length of the course.
  • Last comes the Competitive Round, where students are assigned to “worlds” of approximately eight firms and they compete head to head with other students in the course, also over five or six rollovers. The Competitive Round also introduces three other customer segments (Racer, Commuter, Kids) and a new distribution outlet.
How do you introduce MikesBikes to students?

I have created a Beginner’s Guide where I essentially walk students through the first two years of decisions, using screen shots and references from the simulation itself. I have also created a video with my voiceover using the simulation while following the Beginner’s Guide. I also give some background regarding the purpose and learning objectives of the simulation.

Do students use MikesBikes in teams or individually? If in teams, how do you facilitate teamwork in an online environment?

I’ve experimented with using groups of students, but have found that to be ineffective, mainly due to two reasons: coordination and effort (often students don’t respond to communication and one or two students end up doing all the work and making all the decisions) and learning (students usually use the “divide and conquer” method where one student is in charge of marketing, a different one in charge of new product development, etc. whereas the way I do it, every student has to learn about all the various parts of the organization and how they fit together, which I think enhances the benefit gained). Thankfully, MikesBikes Advanced is complex enough that students have to dive in and learn new things, but not so complex that an individual student can’t make all the decisions.

What simulation related assessments and/or activities do you use?

Students are required to write a paper on External Analysis (Porter’s Five Forces), another paper on Internal Analysis (Resource-based View of the Firm), and another paper on SWOT Analysis and Business-level Strategies during the Practice Round to create a Strategic Plan for their Solo Round.

After the Competitive Round, they write a longer Simulation Reflection Paper on lessons learned from the Solo Round, a Competitive Analysis based on their biggest rivals, challenges with Diversification, exploration of a Merger or Acquisition (why or why not to pursue), and their biggest takeaway from the simulation.

These assessments align with the course material on Business-level Strategies and Corporate-level strategies and count for approximately 35% of their overall grade for the course.

In addition, a small percentage of their grade (5% for Solo and 5% for Competitive, which is mandated by our course coordinator – I would prefer 10% for the Competitive Round) is based on their actual performance on the simulation itself, using final SHV as the measure.

I break the students into “quartiles” based on their final SHV and assign a grade accordingly (top 25% receive 50 points, next 25% receive 40 points, next 25% receive 30 points, and the bottom 25% receive 20 points). This helps to reward students who perform well but isn’t overly strict for those who struggle with the simulation.

I impose a 20% SHV penalty for students who are insolvent during the simulation after providing a cash infusion to help them continue to be able to participate.

What other applications do you use?

We use Canvas as our Learning Management System and I use that as an interface with students. I do use VoiceThread for students to give presentation, but that’s not directly related to the simulation itself.

Do you have any tips for using a business simulation in an online course?

I love using a business simulation, particularly over the typical case study method. Cases are usually obsolete, have students analyzing other people’s decisions, and don’t provide an opportunity for students to practice implementation, assessment, and adjustment of their strategic decisions. However, with a simulation, students are able to make decisions for their own firms, see the results of those decisions, and adjust accordingly, all within a dynamic (and fun) environment. It’s taken me a few years to tinker with different ways to use the simulation, but I like what I’m currently doing and feel the students gain a great experience.

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Teaching Strategic Management Online at USM

The MikesBikes simulation has been extremely well received by students. Many enjoy the opportunity to work in groups and learn from others, while nearly all love the ability to apply what they are learning in a safe environment.

Lisa Parrott from the University of Saint Mary uses the MikesBikes Advanced Business Simulation in her online Strategic Management and Ethics course.

Lisa has kindly shared how MikesBikes is used at USM and provided tips to others implementing a business simulation in an online course.

Introducing the Simulation & Single-Player Phase

Week 1

Students are introduced to the Single-Player (practice phase) in the first week. They are also required to read the player’s manual and watch the tutorial videos.

To ensure they have completed these tasks they take a 20-question introductory quiz where they must achieve at least 80% to pass. They are given three opportunities to obtain a passing grade, otherwise they must work with the instructor to determine if they can continue in the course. It is critical students understand how to participate in the simulation before they are put into a team environment.

Students are also asked a brief strategy questionnaire to help the instructor formulate groups.

Finally, students are asked to translate their learning into an individual analysis that looks at the lessons learned, elements of the simulation that are still unclear, and reports used to evaluate performance.

Multi-Player Phase and Assessments

Week 2

The second week moves students from the individual experience into teams. Teams are free to use any means to work virtually; Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime, etc.

Students first complete a team contract to establish methods of communication, meeting frequency, workload, steps for resolving conflict, and deadlines.

Before starting Multi-Player phase they create a strategic plan. This includes building a mission statement, vision, values, performance objectives, and a plan for weekly evaluation of results and decisions.

Week 3 to Week 6

Rollovers (decision deadlines) begin in week three, with two rollovers per week until week six.

Each week students conduct an individual analysis examining the decisions made by their team, explaining their performance using data from reports within the simulation and to apply the weekly learning objectives to their team performance. This presents a knowledge check at an individual level each week.

After Rollover 4 a consultation meeting is held between each team and their instructor. This provides teams the opportunity to discuss their strategic implementation and evaluate progress to determine if change is needed. Teams can also use this time to ask questions.

Week 7

Teams prepare a video presentation covering elements from their strategic plan, a SWOT analysis, best practices, analysis of overall performance, and recommendations for future directions of the company.

Week 8

The video presentation from week 7 provide the opportunity for students to see “behind the curtain” of the other companies. In response, they are required to evaluate the strategy of their competitors.

Students also complete an individual evaluation of the performance of each of their team members and how they will use skills learned in their next group experience.

The final assignment for the course asks students to write an individual analysis of the entire experience. They are asked to evaluate team performance, consider whether they would expand globally (and where) and reflect on the entire experience. The paper also addresses the ethical performance of their team, effectiveness of their strategy, and highlights three lessons learned. Students are asked to incorporate scholarly articles into this assignment to support their assessment.

Tips for using a business simulation in an online course:

  • The first few weeks are often more time consuming than normal, and it may require multiple reminders to read the manual and watch the videos!
  • When introducing the simulation, it is best to focus on one area of development at a time, and build on concepts each week. Students get overwhelmed in the first few weeks using a simulation, especially if this is their first experience. As they become more familiar with how their decisions impact multiple elements of the business they will begin developing more complicated analysis of their performance.
  • Team design is extremely valuable for a successful Multi-Player experience. Too many risk adverse students will create problems with overall performance and this should be avoided.
  • The ideal team size is three. Two will often result in group-think and passive agreement, four often yields social loafing by at least one member who may not feel they have a voice. With three there is a tie breaker for any decisions when the team is split on how to move forward.
  • The more students know how to read the reports available to evaluate the effectiveness of their decisions, the better their team will perform and often understand how different areas are connected.
  • Each team will develop at a different pace, be sure to push them forward based on their unique needs. Some may reach a higher level of understanding faster than others.

View the course syllabus: Strategic Management and Ethics Syllabus

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