LINKS Sign-Up Form:
LINKS Marketing Tactics
Simulation
This LINKS Sign-Up Form provides essential information to permit LINKS Simulations staff to
manage LINKS on your behalf.
This LINKS Sign-Up Form is for one industry or for multiple industries with identical game-run
schedules. Use separate LINKS Sign-Up Forms for industries with different game-run schedules.
LINKS Simulations Variant
Marketing Tactics Simulation
Instructor’s Name
Instructor’s College/University
Instructor’s Phone Number(s)
Instructor’s E-Mail Address
Course Number/Title/Section
Number of Firms (between 2 and 8)
For multiple industries with identical game-run schedules, identify the number of firms for each industry in
the “Number of Firms” line above. For example, “Two Industries: A (4 firms) and B (5 firms).”
Payment Method
If students are paying for LINKS with personal credit cards via the “Pay For LINKS” link on the LINKS
website, Payment Method is “Students Pay With Personal Credit Cards.” If the instructor’s institution is
paying for LINKS via institutional invoice attached to an e-mail message sent to the instructor (for forwarding
to the relevant within-institution person), Payment Method is “Institutional Invoice.”
LINKS staff execute scheduled game runs daily at 900am, 100pm, 500pm, and 900pm U.S.
Eastern Time. Please choose one of these four times for each round in your LINKS event.
If other game run times are desired (e.g., with multiple game runs per day or in
corporate/ExecEd events with LINKS), please contact us (LINKS@LINKS-simulations.com)
well ahead of time to ensure that our staff can meet your specific game run scheduling needs.
LINKS Schedule
Date
Time
(your local time)
Special Instructions and
Instructor-Optional Switches
Initialization (and
advancement to M#3 and
passcode e-mailing to you
and your students)
M#4
M#5
M#6
M#7
M#8
[round 1]
[round 2]
[round 3]
[round 4]
[round 5]
In academic degree-granting programs, the LINKS Marketing Tactics Simulation costs $27 per
student for a four-round event (after initialization and advancement to month #3, the normal
starting position when students assume managerial control of their LINKS firm). Extra rounds
beyond four cost an additional $4 per student per extra round.
Here’s a sample LINKS schedule for a LINKS Marketing Tactics Simulation event. For
information about other instructor-optional switches, access the LINKS sign-up webpage
(http://www.LINKS-simulations.com/sign-up.php) or the “Customizing LINKS” link on the LINKS
Simulations website. To discuss the design of your LINKS event and the use of instructoroptional switches, please contact Randy Chapman (LINKS@LINKS-simulations.com).
LINKS Schedule
Initialization (and
Time
Date
(your local
time)
February 22
Anytime
March 1
March 8
March 15
March 29
13:00
13:00
13:00
17:00
Special Instructions and InstructorOptional Switches
advancement to M#3 and
passcode e-mailing to you
and your students)
M#4
M#5
M#6
M#7
M#8
[round 1]
[round 2]
[round 3]
[round 4]
[round 5]
Last LINKS round is a double-run.
Notes: This sample schedule shows regular weekly decision inputs on the same week days.
Such “regularity” is not a requirement, but it’s a typical scheduling pattern in academic degreegranting programs to help LINKS students in their time management and work-life scheduling.
Please send the completed “LINKS
Sign-Up Form” as an e-mail
attachment to LINKS Simulations
(LINKS@LINKS-simulations.com).
Please communicate any necessary
scheduling changes after your LINKS event
begins via e-mail to LINKS Simulations
(LINKS@LINKS-simulations.com).
About the LINKS Marketing Tactics Simulation
The LINKS Marketing Tactics Simulation focuses on tactical, “go-to-market” decisions: pricing
and marketing communications (marketing spending, marketing mix allocation, marketing
communications positioning, and promotional programs). LINKS firms market existing low-end
and mid-range products through a retail channel in multiple regional markets.
The LINKS Marketing Tactics Simulation is a sophisticated team-based, competitive, marketing
simulation designed for introductory marketing courses in undergraduate, MBA, and EMBA
programs and for executive education programs where a small tactical marketing simulation
experience is desired as part of a larger set of course activities.
Starting Conditions
 Two products (low-end and mid-range) actively distributed in one channel (retail) in three
regions.
 M#3 average per-firm profitability is approximately $3,000,000 on revenues of about
$46,000,000.
 Average per-firm M#3 demand in the three markets for the two products is about 34,000
(“Europe”), 48,000 (“U.S.A.”), and 54,000 (“Pacific”) units, respectively.
Some Initial Firm Decisions (For M#4 and Beyond)
 Since the firms have been on “auto-pilot” for the initial three months, forecasts must be
updated immediately, presumably with reference to the sales history provided in the
Forecasting Accuracy Report (included near the end of each firm’s standard financial and
operating reports).
 No research studies are provided with the initial M#3 results, so initial firm decisions must
include consideration of which research studies would be useful in the future. This
point/recommendation must be made quite forcefully by the LINKS instructor, to get the
students’ attention in the “blitz” of the overwhelming initial activity set in LINKS as students
assume managerial control of their firms.
Advanced Options
Advanced options aren’t normally a part of a standard 4-round event for the LINKS Marketing
Tactics Simulation. However, this possibility exists for instructors, especially if a longer than 4round event is of interest:
 Activate product 3, a high-end product, early in the event schedule (e.g., as part of the game
run for Month #4, for use by your students in their Month #5 and beyond inputs). See the
following page of these overview notes for the handout that you’d distribute to your students
at the time product 3 is activated. Some in-class discussion is presumably also appropriate
when product 3 is activated.
About Product 3
Exhibit 1 (updated): Set-Top Box
Configurations, Costs, and Perceived
Product Quality
1. Category
2. Alpha
3. Beta
Configuration
4. Bandwidth
Elements
5. Warranty
6. Packaging
7. Memory Capacity
Gamma SAC
Other Cost
Epsilon SAC
Elements
Labor and Production
Total Per-Unit Product Costs
Perceived
Product Quality
Region 1
Region 2
Region 3
“Low End”
“Mid-Range”
“High-End”
Product 1
[H551010]
H
5
$15.00
5
$20.00
1
$10.50
0
$0.00
1
$10.00
0
$0.00
$17.00
$24.00
$50.00
$146.50
Product 2
[H555022]
Product 3
[H556033]
1%
2%
2%
H
5
5
5
0
2
2
$15.00
$20.00
$72.50
$0.00
$14.00
$25.00
$17.00
$24.00
$50.00
$237.50
14%
21%
31%
H
5
5
6
0
3
3
$15.00
$20.00
$118.00
$0.00
$28.00
$45.00
$17.00
$24.00
$50.00
$317.00
44%
93%
96%
Definition: Perceived Quality (PQ) is the percentage of end-user consumers who rate the
product/configuration as “Excellent” on a 4-point “Poor”-”Fair”-”Good”-”Excellent” end-user
consumer survey questionnaire rating scale.
Source: Estimates of perceived product quality are based on Research Study #14
(“Regional Summary Analysis”) and comparable research for new (“hypothetical”) product
configurations. Perceived product quality is influenced directly by a product’s configuration
but also, to an extent, by a product’s marketing communications program.
Product Launch Reminders:
1. Your LINKS firm is limited to a maximum of one product launch per month. A “product
launch” is the activation of one product in one market region.
2. As part of a product launch, you’ll need to include marketing spending to support the newlylaunched product. Your LINKS firm is not constrained in total marketing spending (across
all products in all regions), so you don’t necessarily have to reduce marketing spending for
other products/regions to launch product 3. Of course, long-run profitability and ROI are key
to your firm’s performance.
3. Product introduction costs accrue with launches. See the LINKS manual for details.
4. Research Study #24 (“Price Sensitivity Analysis”) is only possible when a product is already
actively distributed in a market region.