Markstrat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Markstrat is an online learning software for strategic marketing, authored by Hubert Gatignon and Jean-Claude Larréché of INSEAD and distributed by StratX. It is used to teach students the concepts of strategic marketing in a simulated online world known as the Markstrat World. Markstrat allows students and executives to practice their skills in a concentrated amount of time before trying them out in a real business environment.
It is a common tool to aid teaching courses in strategy in business schools around the world.
[edit] Key features
Markstrat world is an imaginary world of 250 million inhabitants whose currency is the Markstrat dollar. The world has 5 competing firms each with its own range of products. The products fall into two distinct categories of consumer durables - Sonites and Vodites.
Working in groups of three to six participants, each team competes against each other to successfully pilot their industrial company over a multi-year period. The name of the game isn’t just tactics, but long-term strategy. Because decisions are made over a six-to-twelve year period, teams are forced to not only plan for short-term profits, but long-term objectives.
The decisions have an impact on the bottom line of the company which is reflected at the end of the period, after the simulation has run.
From competitive forces to the effects of sales, distribution, R&D and advertising, every aspect is real. Teams get their results at once, and use it to refine their decisions over time. Nothing else provides such immediate feedback.
Since each team’s actions directly influence the market, competitive analysis is a must. Competitor actions and reactions, new product launches, sales and distribution strategies all define how teams manage their own product portfolio, R&D projects, positioning, pricing and distribution channels.
