Major Auto Producer Narrowly Avoids Bankruptcy - Rescue Detroit - a Business Strategy Simulation from IndustryMasters

Wilmington, DE, May 06, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Imagine ... you are the CEO of a major auto producer, battling against a giant incumbent manufacturer with an aging product line, and also against a smaller, more nimble marketer of newer, more fuel efficient cars. At the same time, the virtual corporation that players take over is facing massive financial problems of its own – high inventories, aging product lines, cash shortages – and a major imperative is to avoid impending bankruptcy.

Your corporation has just 3 years – 12 quarters - to save your business, relaunch your product line, and beat the competition. Success is measured by growth in stock value – failure results in bankruptcy. Time is short - employees, suppliers, communities and investors are relying on you to turn the situation around. Sound familiar?

It should be – this business simulation game is based on the current and severe crisis in the worldwide auto industry – we now have to “Rescue Detroit.”

Unless we do something now to change our real world business model, and our way of thinking – from the most junior associate to the highest level of management - our businesses will face many more years of crisis. So there is a serious side to this “game playing” : using business simulations to run through alternative approaches will allow us to investigate different strategies in our real worlds – painlessly.

Go to http://rescue-detroit.industrymasters.com

This simulated Auto Industry market is a hugely competitive arena. There are two main competitors in the business, apart from your own company – The Big Car Corporation, and DynAuto Industries.

BigCar has a very traditional approach to business – it places high value on its customer relationships, and prides itself on a long pedigree in the automobile markets. It has a reputation in the industry for excellent staff and labour relations, with many of its employees spending most of their working lives with the firm. Their training programs are renowned in the industry, with many young apprentices and graduates being promoted through the firm to senior management levels over an extended period. Recently, BigCars’ products - which once offered world-beating technology and quality - have come to look dated. Consumers’ taste have changed over the years, but BigCar’s range has not moved with them. A company spokesman recently pointed to market research which showed that BigCar have the highest Loyalty Index amongst regular buyers in the business - and that there were no plans to abandon these “faithful partners in our business success.”

DynAuto is more of a maverick in the market – constantly improving their technology, investing in lean manufacturing processes and always testing new product ideas. They were the first company in the market to introduce a new Hybrid Car range in response to changing tastes and customer trends. They have also avoided some of the more traditional product-markets which are increasingly being left in car showrooms as the economic and credit crises develop. DynAuto is therefore seen by investors as having slightly brighter prospects than other players in this market.

Both of these competitors will (probably) react to market opportunities according to their own well established corporate strategies – they are both suffering from the recession, and have said they see opportunities for growth in their existing as well as entering into new markets.

Your mission - should you choose to accept this task - is to Rescue Detroit from bankruptcy and failure ... By using this “learning with fun” business simulation, executives and market participants will be able to develop a greater sense of what is happening in their industry, what the big issues are, to debate possible solutions within their teams – and hopefully come out the other end with better business strategies for the future. The simulation can be used as an entertaining game for personal use (get competitive), as a platform for team-based creative thinking (what new scenarios can be played out?) or as an element in your educational program for developing executives.

http://www.industrymasters.com/screencast.php

About Tycoon Systems, Inc
Tycoon Systems is a business education software company which develops web-based business simulation games used in business schools and in executive education - and for individual learning. Tycoon Systems' flagship product IndustryMasters is a powerful developmental experience for next-generation executives. The simulation develops entrepreneurial and strategic management skills through an exciting but risk-free "learn-by-playing" experience.

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