Extending the Industry Evolution Management Flight Simulators: Premium Golf Club and Solar Panel Industries

摘要

The Industry Evolution Management Flight Simulator (MFS) was developed at the MIT Sloan School of Management for use in the MBA Strategic Management curriculum. The simulator portrays a generic firm and industry structure that is then adapted to various industries to illustrate different strategic environments. Earlier applications include the salt industry and video game console industry. Here, we summarize this work and present two new applications, both tested in a spring 2007 MBA elective course. The first is a simulator of the premium golf club industry. This simulator allows students to experience typical boom and bust dynamics following the introduction of a new consumer durable and experiment with strategies related to price, R&D and marketing. The second new application portrays the solar photovoltaic panel industry. In addition to introducing students to the potential for profit and growth in this emerging and socially relevant industry, this MFS gives users the opportunity to experience how learning curves and knowledge spillovers can affect their choice of strategy when introducing a new technology.