FINANCE SIMULATION: CAPITAL BUDGETING
HOW TO PLAY
Presenter Name
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Overview
 You are playing the CEO and the head of capital committee for
New Heritage Doll Company.
 You are in charge of evaluating and selecting projects across
three divisions: Retail, Production, and Licensing for a period
of five years.
 Depending on the settings chosen by your instructor, you will
likely have a limited annual budget.
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Prepare Tab

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Review the preparatory
materials
•
Foreground reading (pdf)
•
Simulation summary
(screen text)
•
How to Play Video
Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Analyze Tab: Dashboard

The dashboard gives an overview
of your company’s status.
Project updates appear to let you know how
previously selected projects have performed.
Use the toggle to display
different performance graphs.
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If your instructor has set up a budget
constraint, your annual budget
appears here. Note that some years
will start with an amount used due
to project lifetime costs.
Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Analyze Tab: Financial Statements

Financial statements include the Income
Statement, Balance Sheet, Cashflow
Statement, and Financial Analysis screens.
Click on the tab below
each icon to display the
corresponding company
or divisional financial
statements.
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Analyze Tab: Project Details

This screen provides detailed information
about your available projects.
Select a project using the
dropdown menu.
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Project description and valuations
appear on the right, and year by year
projections are in the table below.
Change a project’s discount
rate by clicking here.
Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Analyze Tab: Historical Info

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Historical Financials
and Project Updates
screens accumulate
data as you advance
through the simulation.
Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Decide Tab

This is where you submit your project choices for the year.
When you’ve
made your final
selections for
the year, click
here to advance
to the next year.
Click on column headings to sort.
Select projects by
checking the
checkbox on the left.
Click View Details to link
back to the Product Details
screen on the Analyze Tab.
An hourglass next to a project
indicates that this is the last year
you can invest in that project.
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Completing the Simulation
 You will evaluate and select projects for five simulated years.
 Note that everyone starts with five projects to choose from,
but new projects will become available as you progress.
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Run Archive and Resuming Runs

If you do not complete the simulation in one session and
want to resume the run at a later time, you can do so
from the “run archive” link at the bottom of the screen.
Click on “open” to review
the decisions and results
from a completed run.
Click on “resume” in the
pop-up window to begin
where you left off.
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Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.