Markstrat

Draft

Introduction

Markstrat is the product name of an educational business simulation environment, more precisely a strategy marketing simulation. It is developed an distributed by StratX. Its Strategic marketing simulation with Markstrat we page (retrieved April3, 2019) describes the product in the following terms: “Markstrat is a marketing simulation software which offers MBA students and professionals a risk-free platform in order to test theories and make decisions. StratX founder, Jean-Claude Larréché, developed MarkStrat on the simple theory: if you give MBA students a way to apply under real market conditions the theory they learned during their lessons, they will not only devote more energy but will also learn from their mistakes and successes alike.”

According to Kinnear & Klammer (1987) , it can be used both as and educational tool to teach an array of marketing skills and as a tool to conduct experimental studies. It also can be used as assessment tool.

History

Markstraat was founded by Insead professor Jean-Claude Larréché. It has been developed since the late 1997. As of April 2019 the current version is Markstrat 7.

According to [ Wikipedia], “Between 1974 and 1977, working with an assistant, Hubert Gatignon, he developed his work on marketing modelling to create a teaching simulation called Markstrat (Mazur & Miles 2007, p. 50). Markstrat is a game where teams of students compete against each other in an artificial world under realistic market conditions. It is claimed that Markstrat is now used in 8 out of the top 10 business schools in the world and 25 of the top 30 schools in the US.”

In 1987, Kinnear and Klammer (p. 491) describe the Markstrat simulation environment as follows: “Markstrat is a marketing-strategy simulation game in which five firms compete against each other. This competition is based upon the utilization of the classic marketing variables: product development and management, distribution, promotion, and price. Decision makers in competing firms utilize marketing research studies and develop strategies based upon effective segmentation and positioning. Their performance in the game is based upon such measures as market share, sales, contribution margin, and return on marketing investment. In many respects, then, it is a classic strategic marketing situation that a real-world manager would face.”

Links

• Markstrat (Wikipedia)
• Analysing the markstrat simulation (UKEssays). A student experience report.

Bibliography

Other

• Cook, V. J. (1987). Introduction to strategic studies in Markstrat. Journal of Business Research, 15(6), 467-468.

• Green, D. H., & Ryans, A. B. (1990). Entry strategies and market performance causal modeling of a business simulation. Journal of Product Innovation Management: AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, 7(1), 45-58.

• Ikeda, A. A., Campomar, M. B., & Campomar, M. C. (2015). Using Simulator Markstrat in Marketing Planning Courses in Brazil. In The Sustainable Global Marketplace (pp. 211-211). Springer, Cham.

• Kinnear, T. C., & Klammer, S. K. (1987). Management perspectives on Markstrat: The GE experience and beyond. Journal of Business Research, 15(6), 491-501. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0148296387900348

• Lant, T. K., & Montgomery, D. B. (1992). Simulation games as a research method for studying strategic decision making: the case of Markstrat (No. 1242). Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

• Larreche, J. C. (1987). On simulations in business education and research. Journal of business research, 15(6), 559-571.

• Larreche, J. C., & Gatignon, H. (1977). Markstrat: A Marketing Strategy Game, Palo Alto: Course Technology.