We won Marketplace 6

For the final course of my MBA we participated in a head to head game of Marketplace 6 in 3 member groups. In my group one person did not participate so I did marketing, sales, human resources and manufacturing and we won! We not only won but we kicked butt! I cut and pasted the final results (which give us an A+ on 50% of our grade) below so that I can save them long after the game results are no longer open. The game took place over 6 quarters of a computer company start up. We ended up with 67% of the market!!


Balanced Scorecard IP (Infinite Possibilities)


Quarter:6

Review your balanced scorecard for quarter 5. Your performance on the individual criteria should have improved.

Your balanced scorecard should be positive by now. If it is not, it may be that you have not generated enough sales to drive your costs down. You may have to consider revising and expanding your marketing program.

Check how well you performed relative to the industry. The industry scores represent your benchmark on how well you should be doing. Your firm should be above average in all areas measured. If not, try to find the weaknesses and correct them.

Industry results for quarter: 5

                                                                                          Minimum Maximum Ave.    IP (me)

                                                                                            0.21       45.43    15.69      45.43

Financial Performance                                 20.11       85.86    42.67      85.86

Market Performance                                      0.13         0.54     0.30        0.54

Marketing Effectiveness                                0.54         0.69     0.61        0.69

Investment in Future                                       1.55         4.83    2.69         1.70

Wealth                                                            0.85         1.58    1.12         1.58

Human Resource Management                       0.75         0.89    0.82         0.89

Asset Management                                          0.07         0.64    0.37         0.64

Financial Risk                                                 0.79         0.95    0.89         0.94
Review the results of your company's performance during the previous quarter. This scorecard will be used to measure your firm's performance in comparison to the other firms participating in the exercise. The final evaluation will be based upon your performance during the last four (4) quarter of play.

First segment: Workhorse
Second segment: Traveler

Total Business Performance = 85.86 * 0.54 * 0.69 * 1.70 * 1.58 * 0.89 * 0.64 * 0.94 = 45.43

Financial Performance = 85.86
Market Performance = 0.54
Marketing Effectiveness = 0.69
Investment in Future = 1.70
Wealth = 1.58
Human Resource Management = 0.89
Asset Management = 0.64
Financial Risk = 0.94

If one of the performance measures is less than zero, then the total overall performance measure will be zero.

Total Business Performance.

The Total Business Performance indicator is a quantitative measure of the executive team’s ability to effectively manage the resources of the firm. It considers both the historical performance of the firm as well as how well the firm is positioned to compete in the future. As such, it measures the action potential of the firm.

The index employs what is called a balanced scorecard to measure the executive team’s performance. The most important measure is the team’s financial performance, and thus its ability to create wealth for the investors. However, the focus on current profits has caused many executives to stress the present at the expense of the future.
The long-term viability of the firm requires that the executive team be good at managing not only the firm’s profitability, but also its marketing activities, production operations, human resources, cash, and financial resources. The management team must also invest in the future. These expenses might depress the current financial performance, but are vital to creating new products, markets, and manufacturing capabilities.
In short, top managers must be good at managing all aspects of the firm. The balanced scorecard puts this perspective into practice. It focuses attention on multiple performance measures, and thus multiple decision areas. None can be ignored or downplayed. The best managers will be strong in all areas measured.
The Total Business Performance measure is computed by multiplying several indicators of business performance. This model underscores the importance of all measures. This is because any strength or weakness will have a multiple effect on the final outcome, the Action Potential of the Firm.
The following is a summary of the measure of the firm’s Total Business Performance and its key performance indicators. The computational details follow.
Financial Performance measures how well the executive team has been able to create profits for its shareholders. A positive number is always desired and the larger the better. It is computed in three steps. First, the net profit from operations is computed by taking the operating profit shown in the income statement and adding back investments in the future that are expensed in the current quarter. It measures how well the managers are able to create revenue from the current quarter’s marketing, sales and manufacturing activities.
Note that the income statement includes expenditures for R&D, new sales offices and quality control. However, this money is spent to create future business opportunities. Thus, these expenses are added back to the operating profit so that the financial performance measure is entirely focused on current quarter revenues and expenses.
Second, the total number of shares of stock is computed by adding all forms of equity investment. If an emergency loan has been taken out, shares of stock will automatically be issued to the loan shark and they become a permanent part of the equity financing.
Third, the net profit from current operations is divided by the number of shares of stock issued to determine the net profit from current operations per share of stock.

financial performance = net profit from current operations / total shares issued
= 8,473,844 / 98,698
= 85.86

net profit from current operations = operating profit + investments in firm's future = 7,038,945 + 1,434,899 = 8,473,844

operating profit: 7,038,945

investments in firm's future = 380,000 + 994,899 + 60,000 = 1,434,899

cost to open new sales offices and new web center: 380,000

R&D investment in new brand features: 994,899

R&D to create new brands: 60,000

total shares issued: 98,698

number of shares issued to executive team: 40,000

number of shares issued to venture capitalists: 40,000

number of shares issued to loan shark: 18,698

Market Performance is a measure of how well the managers are able to create demand in their primary and secondary segments. The firm’s market share in two target segments is used to measure this demand creation ability. The market share score is adjusted downwards if there were any stock outs. This penalty for stock outs is to underscore two points. First, unnecessary resources have been spent to generate more demand than can be satisfied. Second, ill will has been created by having potential customers become frustrated when they do not find the products that they have been persuaded to buy. The score ranges from 0 to 1.0 and will depend upon the number of competitors. If there are 3 firms, a good score would be greater than 0.5. If there are 8 teams, a good score would be greater than 0.35.

market performance = average market share in targeted segments/100 * percent of demand actually served/100

= (53/100) * (100/100)
= 0.54

average market share in target segments = (55 + 52)/2 = 53

market share in first segment: 55

market share in second segment: 52

percent of demand actually served = ((6,491 - 0) / 6,491) * 100 = 100

total net demand after ill will: 6,491

number of stock outs: 0

Marketing Effectiveness is a measure of how well the managers have been able to satisfy the needs of the customers as measured by the quality of their brands and ads. Customer perceptions of the firm’s brands and ads in its primary and secondary segments are used to measure customer satisfaction. The two scores are then averaged to obtain the indicator for marketing effectiveness. The score ranges from 0 to 1.0. A good score would be greater than 0.8

marketing effectiveness = [average brand judgment/100 + average ad judgment/100]/2

= [69/100 + 70/100]/2
= 0.69

average of best brand judgments in target segments = (65 + 73)/2 = 69

highest brand judgment in first segment: 65

highest brand judgment in second segment: 73

average of best ad judgments in target segments = (76 + 63)/2 = 70

highest ad judgment in first segment: 76

highest ad judgment in second segment: 63

Investments in the Firm's Future reflect the willingness of the executive team to spend current revenues on future business opportunities. They are necessary but risky. In the short-term, these expenditures can cause large negative profits on the income statement. As a result, the retained earnings may become highly negative, thus indicating that a substantial portion of the stockholder's investment has disappeared into the operations of the firm. In the long-term, these investments are absolutely necessary if the firm is to be competitive. Thus, there is a need to balance the loss of stockholder's equity against investments which could create even greater returns for the investors in the future. The score is always greater or equal to 1.0 and a good score would be greater than 3.0.

investments in the firm's future = (current expenditures that benefit firms future / net revenues) * 10 + 1
= (1,434,899 / 20,457,733) * 10 + 1
= 1.70

current expenses that benefit firm's future = 380,000 + 994,899 + 60,000 + 0 = 1,434,899

cost to open new sales offices and new web regional centers: 380,000

R&D investment in new brand features: 994,899

R&D to create new brands: 60,000

R&D licenses: 0

net revenue = 22,603,309 - 2,145,576 + 0 = 20,457,733

sales revenue: 22,603,309

rebates: 2,145,576

interest income: 0

Creation of Wealth is a measure of how well the executive team has been able to add wealth to the initial investments of the stockholders. During the start-up phase of the company, it is expected that expenses will greatly exceed revenues leading to large losses and retained earnings figures that are largely negative.

To compute the creation of wealth measure, the net equity of the firm is first computed by adding the retained earnings to the total of the investments from all of the stockholders. The retained earnings figure is the sum of all profits from the inception of the firm. As noted above, the retained earnings will be negative in the early quarters as the firm invests money to startup and grow the business.

Next, the net equity is divided by the total of all equity investments to obtain a ratio of wealth creation. A value of zero or less indicates bankruptcy. A value greater than zero and less than one indicates the executive team is relying upon the initial stockholder's investments to pay day-to-day expenses plus invest in the future. A value greater than one indicates the firm is adding wealth to the stockholders.

creation of wealth = net equity/total stockholders equity

= 12,616,490 / 8,000,000
= 1.58

net equity = 4,616,490 + 8,000,000 + 0 = 12,616,490

retained earnings: 4,616,490

common stock: 8,000,000

dividends paid to date: 0

total stockholders investment = common stock = 8,000,000

Human Resource Management is a measure of how well the executive team is able to recruit the best employees, satisfy their needs and motivate them to excel. Sales force productivity and factory worker productivity are averaged together to obtain a single score. High performance is only possible if the firm's compensation packages is competitive and in tune with what is important to employees over time. The scores range from zero to 1.00 and a good score would be greater than 0.80.

human resource management = (sales force productivity/100 + factory worker productivity/100) / 2

= (83/100 + 95/100) / 2
= 0.89

sales force productivity: 83

factory worker productivity: 95

Asset Management is a measure of the executive team’s ability to use the firm’s assets to create sales revenue. The first step in measuring asset management is to compute the asset turnover of the firm. Effective managers are able to use the assets to create sales which are two or three times the value of the assets. Thus, a very good score would be 3.0

In addition to asset turnover, ending inventories are also measured and included. To avoid stock outs, and their associated penalties, managers might be inclined to build excessive inventory. To discourage large ending inventories, there is a penalty for producing more inventory than is needed to meet demand. The penalty increases as the proportion of ending inventory to production increases.

asset management = asset turnover * penalty for excess inventory

= 1.42 * 0.45
= 0.64

asset turnover = net revenue/total assets = 20,457,733 / 14,424,183 = 1.42

net revenue = 22,603,309 - 2,145,576 + 0 = 20,457,733

sales revenue: 22,603,309

rebates: 2,145,576

interest income: 0

total assets: 14,424,183

penalty for excess inventory = (1-ending inventory/production) = (1 - 5,895 / 10,770) = 0.45

ending inventory: 5,895

production: 10,770


Financial Risk measures the executive team's ability to manage debt as a financial resource. The financial risk indicator is based upon the degree to which debt is part of the capital of the firm. As debt increases relative to the total capital, then the financial risk associated with the company increases. Conversely, as the proportion of equity in the total capital increases, then the perceived financial risk in the firm decreases.

To compute financial risk, the proportion of equity is obtained by computing the amount of equity in the firm and dividing it by the amount of capital invested in the firm from all sources. Specifically, the amount of equity is equal to the sum of common stock plus retained earnings. The amount of capital is equal to the sum of debt plus common stock plus retained earnings. As the ratio of equity to capital decreases (meaning more debt), then financial risk increases.

A value of 1.00 would indicate there is no debt and, therefore, no perceived financial risk.

It is important to realize that financial managers do not want to totally discourage debt. The optimum capital structure will vary by firm depending on its tax situation, overall risk, asset base, and financial slack. Some debt may be desirable in order to help the firm take advantage of value enhancing business opportunities (i.e., opportunities that earn more than the company's weighted average cost of capital).

In order to mitigate or downplay the effect of low amounts of debt in the capital structure, the value for the share of equity in the company is raised to a power of 0.5 (square root). Thus, if debt represented 20% of the capital structure, then the Financial risk indicator would be 0.89 (0.80 ** 0.5). If debt were 50% of the capital structure, the Financial Risk indicator would be 70.

A Financial Risk indicator below 0.80 (more than 36% debt) would be considered unfavorable.

financial risk = (total equity / total capital)0.5

= (12,616,490/14,424,183)0.5
= 0.94

total equity = common stock + retained earnings = 8,000,000 + 4,616,490 = 12,616,490

total capital = debt + common stock + retained earnings = 1,807,693 + 8,000,000 + 4,616,490 = 14,424,183