HOWTOPLAY

Copyright2011byHarvardBusinessSchoolPublishing.

Introduction

YouarethenewlyappointedDistrictManageroftheunderperformingFloridaregionofUniversalR t l CRentalCar.

Yourmissionistodevelopapricingstrategyfortheregioninordertoimproveperformance.g p p

Youneedtosetweekdayandweekendpricesforyourrentalcarinventory,orfleet,eachmonthforone year.oneyear.

Dependingontheconfigurationselectedbyyourinstructor,youwillmanageyourfleetinone,two,or three cities in the Florida regionorthreecitiesintheFloridaregion.

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Florida RegionEachcityinFloridahasdistinctcharacteristics.

Tampas industryincludesretail,finance,insurance,defenseandshipping.Thecitysportistheseventhlargestinthenation.ManyUScorporationsmaintain regional offices in Tampa The greater Tampa area has over 30maintainregionalofficesinTampa.ThegreaterTampaareahasover30universitiesandcolleges.ItisalsohometooneofFlorida'slargestthemeparks,BuschGardens,whichattractsvisitorsfromallovertheworld.

Orlando isavacationdestinationforpeoplefromaroundtheworldandtheareareceivesover50milliontouristsannually.Orlandoishometoanincredible assortment of famil entertainment attractions Ho e er it isincredibleassortmentoffamilyentertainmentattractions.However,itisalsooneofthebusiestAmericancitiesforbusinessconferencesandconventions.

MiamiisviewedasthegatewaytoLatinAmericaandishometoalargevarietyofcompaniesinthetechnology,financialandservicesindustries.

l d h hManylargecompaniesandcorporationshaveapresenceintheMiamiarea.ThePortofMiamiisoneofthebusiestshippingdestinationsintheworld.MiamiisknownforitsgoodweatherandtheSouthBeachregionofMiamihasbecomeamajorSpringBreakvacationdestinationforstudents.

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Step1:PrepareSection Thissectiongivesinformationonyour

roleasdistrictmanagerandprovidesbasicstepsforhowtoplayp p y

Readhereabout: The cities youll manageThecitiesyou llmanage Whetherornotyoucanchange

inventorybetweencities

Your performance criteria

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Yourperformancecriteria

Furtherdetailisavailableinthevideo

Step2:VisittheDashboard The Dashboard provides an overview of key metrics across all TheDashboardprovidesanoverviewofkeymetricsacrossall

theregionsyoumanage.AnaggregateviewofFloridadataisalsoprovided.

YoustartthesimulationinOctober,with three months of historical data for

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withthreemonthsofhistoricaldataforreference.

Step3:ReviewYour Data

Submenusprovideanopportunitytop pp yanalyzedatamorecarefully,includingsales,capacity,andmarketdemand.

Allscreensallowyoutotogglebetweengraphsandtables

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BreakevenCalculator

The breakeven calculator allows you toThebreakevencalculatorallowsyoutoexperimentwithchangesinpricingtoseehowthesemightaffectrevenue.Thebreakevenchangeinvolumeshowsthechange in unit sales resulting from a change

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changeinunitsalesresultingfromachangeinpricethatwouldkeeptotalcontributionconstant.

Step4:SetPricingfortheMonth

Eachmonthyoullmakedecisionsonthefollowing depending on the configurationfollowing,dependingontheconfigurationselectedbyyourinstructor:

WeekdayPricingineachcity WeekendPricingineachcity Changestofleetsize(onceeverythreemonths)

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Whenready,clickAdvancetoNextMonthtosubmityourdecisions

Step5:ReviewResultsandRepeat

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