Relationship Dashboard
Anton Fenik (Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee) and Dr. Ernie Cadotte have created a Relationship Dashboard for ILS’ Supply Chain and Channel Management simulations. Suppliers and Resellers evaluate their channel partners during the last quarter of the simulation. Each team receives a Relationship Dashboard on how they conducted their business dealings. Fenik and Cadotte are looking for faculty to pilot test the system.
Here is the procedure:
Suppliers and resellers engage in normal business dealings throughout the simulation. They are free to behave in whatever manner they see fit. They might take a transactional point of view or a relational one. They might be helpful, cooperative, competent, aggressive, selfish, or hurtful partners. The question is, how are they perceived?
Fenik and Cadotte have devised a feedback survey so that teams can learn how their business partners perceive them. During the last quarter of play, the simulation is halted after 30 minutes into the quarter. The students are asked to complete a 12-minute survey where they are asked to judge their top two business partners. As an incentive, the team is awarded 50,000 in “Other income” for each person that completes the survey. *
Within an hour after the final quarter is processed, Fenik will prepare a Relationship Dashboard for each team. These are emailed to the instructor so they can be shared with the class. A sample of the Dashboard can be found below.
The Dashboard provides students with valuable feedback on how others perceive the way they do business in a supply chain or channel setting. Instructors will find these reports to be very valuable in debriefing the simulation. They certainly provide fertile ground for a discussion on how a firm might want to be perceived in business.
If you would like to participate in the pilot program, contact ILS Support at [email protected] or 865-522-1946..
* The team receives the money so it can be used in the final quarter. Fenik and Cadotte have found that they get a 95%+ response rate with this incentive.
