Marketplace Goes to the Web

From: University of Tennessee College of Business Administration Perspective, Summer 2002

by Mary Holcomb, Interim Assistant Dean & Ernest Cadotte, professor of marketing, logistics, and transportation

Dr. Ernest Cadotte, professor of marketing, logistics, and transportation at UT, has created a new sixth edition, web-based version of Marketplace, a simulation game for business students.

The impetus for this new version is the College’s innovative business core in the undergraduate program that will begin in Fall Semester 2002. The new business core follows in the footsteps of the pioneering and highly acclaimed MBA and EMBA programs by emphasizing integrative curriculum with hands-on learning.

A key feature of the new program will be an integrative learning experience at the end of the student’s junior year. After all of the core courses have been taken, students will have the opportunity to pull together the disciplinary material by participating in the Marketplace game. With Marketplace under their belts, they will then take advanced courses in their major or concentration.

As with past Marketplace simulations, the students will work in teams of four or five and build an entrepreneurial firm. They will experiment with strategies and compete with their classmates in a virtual business world filled with tactical detail. They will struggle with business fundamentals and the interplay among marketing, manufacturing, supply chains, human resources, finance, accounting, and team management.

The team will take control of their enterprise and manage its operations through several decision cycles or business quarters. Repeatedly, the students will have to analyze a situation, plan a strategy to improve it, and then execute that strategy out into the future. The new version of Marketplace will include human resource and supply chain management and an expanded emphasis on strategic planning and execution. Students will have to compete for workers and make sure their employees are well trained and compensated. Peter Matis is leading the development of the new software with the expert help of Jozef Briss and Peter Kolciter. All three are visiting scholars from the University of Zilina in Slovakia.

Creators are especially excited about the new web delivery. With this new Virtual Team capability, students will be able to log on to Marketplace from anywhere at any time, even at the same time.

The new version will also modify the learning approach. In addition to Cadotte as the course instructor, as many as five teaching assistants will serve as “coaches” for the student teams. These coaches come from multiple disciplines so the undergraduates will have a variety of expertise to draw upon. For the 2002-2003 academic year, Jennifer Hespen (statistics), Teresa McCarthy (supply chain), Simon Walls (marketing) and Ya-wen Yang (accounting) will become the first set of coaches.

Each week the coaches will meet briefly with the teams assigned to them. Students will brief the coach on their progress and plans for the current decision period. Coaches will challenge the tea’s analysis, strategy and tactical execution. The doctoral students will also be available for mini-tutorials and back-of-the-envelope chalktalks to help students deal with difficult topics or issues.

The goal is to develop the critical thinking skills of each student and insure that all students are developing the desired integrative perspective on business.

Students will make 8 to 10 rounds of business decisions and prepare a business plan (Quarter 5) and a report to their board of directors (end of the exercise). Performance in the competitive simulation will be graded via a balanced scorecard that quantitatively measures their management skills in all key areas of business.

Marketplace has evolved for more than a dozen years and is becoming a highly refined learning tool. This interactive game has created excitement about its inclusion in the new undergraduate program. In addition to developing each student’s critical thinking skills, the goal of the College is to provide the following benefits:

• Facilitate the learning of important business concepts, principles, tools, and ways of thinking
• Enhance student understanding of the linkages among the functional areas of business
• Promote better decision making by helping students see how their decisions can affect the performance of others and the organization as a whole
• Develop strategic planning and execution skills within a rapidly changing environment
• Crystallize the financial implications of their business decisions by linking them to cash flows and bottom line performance
• Instill financial accountability and the simultaneous need to deliver customer value
• Internalize how important it is to use market data and competitive signals to adjust the strategic plan and more tightly focus business tactics
• Excite the competitive spirit and the drive to excel in the market
• Build confidence through knowledge and experience.

Source: University of Tennessee College of Business Administration Perspective, Summer 2002

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