During the course students will simulate a copy machine company in which they have the full responsibility as board members. Teams have to take both operative and strategic decisions for every period based on the provided business information and its’ analysis. Teams are expected to be able to justify their strategies and decisions fact based.
Developing marketing strategies and implementing them, building a financial strategy and braking it down to day to day operations as well as using management accounting tools like product costing will be your daily business. Managing and motivating your workforce at an efficient level and keeping the production capacities in mind will complement your managerial tasks. The combination and alignment of those individual functional strategies to an overarching corporate strategy under time pressure will be your masterpiece. Your shareholders expect rising share prices and want to be updated on development after every period.
In TOPSIM -business simulation teams must take decisions on several fields:
• Corporate objectives and strategies
• Sales: Competition analysis, marketing mix, product life cycles, product re-launches, new product launches, entering a new market, costing of special transactions, contribution margin accounting and market research reports as a basis of information for marketing decisions
• R&D: Technology, ecology, value analysis
• Procurement/ warehousing: Optimum order quantity
• Manufacturing: Investment, disinvestment, in-house production or external procurement, capacity planning, ecological production, rationalisation, learning curve
• HR: HR planning, qualification, productivity, absences, fluctuation
• Finance and accounting: Cost type, cost centre, cost object accounting, gradual contribution margin accounting, financial planning, balance sheet recognition and income statement, cash flow, share price and company value, portfolio
When the implementation type of the course is CONTACT, ONLINE or BLENDED it is required that the student is present during those teaching hours that are marked in the study schedule. If you are absent more than 25 %, your grade will be lowered by one. If you are absent more than 50 %, the course is failed.