LINKS Simulation Reference Notes
Background:
About LINKS:

* LINKS is a supply chain management simulation * It details all the steps that go into efficiently running a supply chain and how they are interrelated including: analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. * Your team can view the results from lasts month’s decision on the LINKS website under the Excel Monthly Results. You should look at trends to determine how your decisions affect your performance. * Although your team might have high customer satisfaction or a high stock price, your performance in regards to the overall competition is determined via a multi-dimensional scorecard that takes the following criteria into account: * efficiency (input
* This is the home page you will see when you sign into LINK S.
Generate Demand: * First, there are different pages for determining prices and marketing spending for product 1 and product 2. * [Active Product] - choose yes if you want to sell this product in Region 1 and Channel 1; choose no if you do not. * [Manufacturer Price] * Channel 1: * Channel 1 represents the retail channel (Think about dell computers selling their product to best buy, which will then sell it to the public…thus the prices in channel 1 are lower than channel 2 because the retail store will mark up the price). * Channel 2 represents the direct channel (Think about Dell selling its product on Dell.com to the final customer). * Prices will vary by region and your team will need to learn price sensitivity through experience. * [Marketing Spending] * Marketing spending spills over into both channels because marketing in channel 2 can have an effect on channel 1 as well. * Spending budgets may not exceed $220,000 or fall below $20,000. * Impact of marketing declines as spending increases. * If you drop an active product, you MUST reduce marketing spending to $0. * Keep in mind the green notes on bottom of screen (breakdown of spending by channel and grand total).

Forecasting: * You actually lose money for being off target!