There will be three multiple choice exams. Each exam will consist of fifty multiple choice questions drawn from the textbook, videos and lecture. Approximately 50 percent of your grade will be based on the textbook. The remainder of your grade will be based on other material and lectures identified below. Your grade will be computed by simply multiplying the weighting factor for each exam times your exam score (raw score times 2 equals your exam score). Grades will be assigned on the basis of a straight (90= A, 80=B, 70=C, 60=D, below 60=F) scale. Significant improvement in exam grades may also be used to adjust your grade upwards. Finally, two extra credit options are available as described below.
Extra Credit Assignment
The assignment consists of developing a business plan incorporating a computer simulation program (this is the only acceptable assignment for extra credit). The assignment is divided into three sections as follows:
Section 1: In this section you will develop a business plan for the company that you will create to sell microwave ovens. The plan must address your company's mission, objectives, situation analysis, target market(s) and marketing strategy (product, price, promotion and place; see marketing audit on page 58 in text). The plan will outline your intentions for the fourth quarter in the third year of the simulation.
Section 2: In this section you will present the results of your computer simulation. These results will include a summary of the marketing decisions you made in the fourth quarter of year three and the overall financial performance statement (do not type these, this output must be printed from the computer program). Essentially, this section reflects how you went about executing the marketing component of your plan identified in section 1. If you have problems printing your results, you may submit your disk with the final decisions and performance results.
Section 3: In this final section, you will discuss how you would modify your plan based on your performance in the simulation. Remember, the plan stipulates what you intend to do and the simulation identifies what you actually did.
The computer simulation may be accessed through the computer network in the The computer simulation may be accessed through the computer network in the basement of Speakman Hall or you can stop by my office to copy the program to your formatted disk. To access the disk in the computer center at Speakman Hall, type "smith" at the Guest 29 prompt and hit return. In the subsequent window, you will see an option identified as "Smith's" applications." Choose this option and then, in the subsequent window, choose the option to copy Marketing 101 to your disk. To run the simulation, just type sim and the simulation will begin. The simulation is menu driven and is very easy to follow. Furthermore, I have a copy of a project that was submitted in a previous semester that you can use as a reference or guide.
The due date for the extra credit assignment is three days prior to the final exam. Assignments will not be accepted after this date. The rationale for this requirement is simple - in light of the number of potential assignments that will be submitted, I simply will not have enough time to grade them and the final exams prior to the date when final grades are due. Furthermore, you will not have the time to both study for the final exam and do a good job on this assignment at the same time. This assignment has the potential to add ten percentage points to your grade and will take a minimum of ten pages, including exhibits, to complete adequately. Only two grades will be given for this assignment: a 10 (perfect score) or an 8 (very good score). In other words, either give it your best effort and do a very good job or do not waste your time by producing a mediocre, or worst, effort. Your grade for this assignment will be divided as follows:
70% Sections I and III
30% Section II results Net Profit 100 million plus 100% of 30%
Net Profit 80-100 million 80% of 30%
Net profit 60-79 million 70% of 30%
Net profit below 60 million - no credit
Exam 1 30%
Exam 2 33%
Exam 3 37%