The Business Policy Game: An International Strategy Simulation

Welcome to The Business Policy Game.  This manual will provide the basics for participating in a competition.  Use the Player’s Manual as a reference to gain an in-depth understanding of the simulation.

We strongly recommend that you use the Player's Program Tutorial available under the Player's Program Help menu as well as at software.bpgsim.biz.

You are about to become a member of a team that has taken over a simulated company producing and selling a product to three or four markets.  You will be making quarterly finance, marketing and operations decisions for your firm.  Prior to making your first set of decisions, you will be given historical data for your company showing its first two years of operation.  Your first decisions will be for the first quarter of year three.  You or your simulation administrator will enter your decisions into a computer file each quarter.

The output from a simulated quarter will be provided to you in a series of reports (w = world number, c = company number).

ReportA.wc.txt – Income Statement

ReportB.wc.txt – Cash Flow Statement

ReportC.wc.txt – Balance Sheet

ReportD.wc.txt – Operating Information Report

ReportE.wc.txt – Operating Information Report, page 2

ReportF.w.txt – Quarterly Industry Report

ReportG.w.txt – Yearly Industry Report (updated each 4th quarter)

ReportJ.w.txt – Historical Data for Years 1 and 2 (distributed prior to a competition)

ReportO.wc.txt – Market Research Report (available when research purchased)

The reports may be viewed and/or printed using the Player's Program.  From time to time you may receive other reports.

Your company will be identified by a World and a Company number assigned by your simulation administrator.  Sometime during Year 3, you will need to obtain a license to continue using the simulation.  The license grants your company the right to use the simulation manuals and the software for one competition.  Unless instructed otherwise, you may obtain a license by going to the following web site: software.bpgsim.biz.  Log onto the Player’s Area (user name:  player, password:  swb30oss, all lower case).  You will be asked for your world and company numbers as well as an email address to which the license will be sent.  Avoid using Hotmail or Yahoo email addresses as they often block the license that is sent as an attachment.  Your license will be sent within 24 hours.  You must have the license prior to entering decisions for Year 4, Quarter 1.

Note:  Make sure you enter the correct World and Company numbers and the correct email address where you want the license sent.