Assurance of Learning Assessment Examination
Spring Semester 2013
Comp-XM Exam Overview
• Each student becomes the CEO of their own “Andrews” Company.
• Students individually compete against three computer teams.
• Students take over a unique, dominant company with significant weaknesses.
Comp-XM Exam Scenario:
As CEO of your company, the Andrews Corporation, you will make four sets of
decisions. Your competition, Baldwin, Chester and Digby, are run by computer teams.
All participants compete against a standard set of competitors, but each scenario is
structured differently. As with your current simulation, the quality of your decisions
directly affects the position of your company. Your individual simulation decisionmaking performance is evaluated using the Balanced Scorecard.
Introduction:
• The Comp-XM® examination is an integrated assessment tool.
• An extension of the Foundation® simulation that will allow students to individually
demonstrate their business skills and acumen.
• There are two parts to the Comp-XM® Examination
1) A business simulation (similar to the current simulation)
2) A series of quizzes/questions presented called “Board Queries.”
There are four unique Market Segments:
Note: “Thrift” and “Core” (similar to Low-Tech).
Thrift Segment
Buying Criteria
Core Segment
Buying Criteria
“Nano” and “Elite” (similar to High-Tech).
Nano Segment
Buying Criteria
Elite Segment
Buying Criteria
• The competitive landscape is not even:
• Each company begins from a different starting point.
• Each company has four existing products.
• Students compete against 3 computer-managed companies.
How is it graded?
There are 2 grading components.
#1: Balanced Scorecard (50%)
The Balanced Scorecard
examines how well your
company is managed.
4 Perspectives:
•Finance
•Internal Business Process
•Customer
•Learning and Growth
#2: Board Queries (50%)
• Exam
questions (Queries) from the Board of Directors.
• 5 question sets (Number of questions each round may vary).
• Questions are unique to your particular environment.
Specific questions may cover:
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Strategic Analysis
Finance
Marketing
Accounting
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Operations
Quality Initiatives
HR & TQM
Situation Analysis
Sample Question #1 of 3:
Key: Analyze the “Inquirer” to answer.
Sample #2 of 3: How to answer this?
Sample #3 of 3: How to answer this?
• Question Value: 15 Pts
Your Competitive Intelligence team reports that a wave of product liability lawsuits
is likely to cause Digby to pull the product Daft entirely off the market this year.
Assume Digby scraps all capacity and inventory this round, completely writing off
those assets and escrowing the proceeds to a settlement fund. Assume these
lawsuits will have no effect on any other products of Digby or other companies.
Question: Without Digby's product Daft, how much can the industry currently
produce in the Core segment? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment
last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures are in thousands (000).
Step 1: Per the Production Report (FT), find the products that exist in the “Core”
Segment and the production capacity available for each of these products.
Step 2: Combine all potential production for the Core segment.
Note: Be sure to consider that existing capacity can be used to produce *double*
the amount of product (due to second shift potential).
Prep Work
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Half an Hour
1.5 Hours
1.5 Hours
1.5 Hours
1.5 Hours
Final
1 Hour
• Decision rounds take about
• There are 5 rounds of
30-75 minutes per round.
“Board Queries”.
•In essence, there is a
“wrap-up” set of Board
Queries after the four
decision-making rounds.
• There are 4 decision rounds.
• Student registration, using the codes provided, is due today in lab.
• For Round 1, we will meet Thurs, April 18th, from 7:30-9:30 PM in “Lab TBA”.
• After round one, proceed at your own pace through the remainder of the exam.
• This is an individual exam. No consultation with fellow students is allowed.
• Any procedural questions can be addressed during office hours/via email.
• The exam due date is Monday, April 29th at 1:00 PM (EST). No exceptions.
• Exam results will be distributed at our May 1st “Capsim Summit” in “Room TBA”.