Competitor Manual · StratyaLab

02 How StratyaLab works

The business lab flow, step by step.

StratyaLab simulates running a real company that competes in a market against other companies managed by your classmates. Time is divided into periods — each one represents a fiscal year. In each period you open your panel, analyze your situation, submit your decisions before the deadline and then receive the results.

The market engine processes all decisions simultaneously and computes the market results: who sold more, who gained share, who went bankrupt. There are no shortcuts and no cheating possible — only strategy, analysis and adaptation.

1

Period opens

The instructor activates the period and the clock starts running.

2

You decide

You enter your decisions across the four management areas.

3

Close and compute

On close, the engine evaluates the market and processes the results.

4

Results

You see your figures, the ranking and prepare your next move.

The clock runs for real

Each period has a closing date and time. If you don't submit your decisions before the deadline, your company does not inherit the previous period's: it is processed with default values (no management) and receives the no-submission penalty your instructor configured — a fine to your cash and less demand that period, which increases if you miss consecutive periods. There is no extension: always submit, even with minimal changes.

03 Complexity levels

The instructor configures your business lab's level. Each level unlocks more decision variables.

Level 1 — Basic N1

The essential decisions: price, units to produce, total salaries and digital campaigns. Finance is read-only. Ideal for those starting out in business competition. The focus is on understanding a company's basic cycle.

Level 2 — Intermediate N2

Traditional advertising and brand investment are added. Now reputation matters and marketing decisions carry greater strategic weight.

Level 3 — Advanced N3

R&D, working-capital management (collection and payment days), dividends, overtime and bonuses are activated. Financial and talent management come fully into play.

Level 4 — Expert N4

Automation, share issuance and buyback (with limits based on financial health), short-term investments, FX hedging, insurance, leadership development and a default-risk indicator that penalizes the stock valuation. The dashboard looks like a real corporate company.

Level 5 — Elite N5

The complete level. Bond issuance, ESG, organizational climate, talent retention and quality certifications. Export markets and multinational operations. High-complexity strategy with impacts across multiple periods.

04 Your company at the start

What every company receives at the start and what each indicator means.

All companies begin on equal footing: the same cash, the same machinery, the same employees and the same initial debt. The instructor sets these values when creating the business lab. What sets the winners apart is not the starting point — it's the quality of their decisions.

Available cash

The liquid money your company has. It is the most critical resource: if cash reaches zero without access to credit, you cannot operate. Always make sure your outflows do not exceed your available cash + loans.

Machinery (net value)

The current value of your production plant. Production capacity is estimated as machinery × 10% × Human Resources efficiency. Without enough machinery, you cannot produce what the market demands.

Employees

Your human team. More employees allow greater production but raise fixed payroll costs. The team's efficiency depends on the salary, training and workplace well-being you choose to invest in.

Total debt

The accumulated bank liability. At the start there is a base debt from the initial capital structure. Debt generates interest each period: use it as a growth lever, not as a permanent crutch.

Inventory and installed capacity

If you produce more units than you sell, the surplus becomes inventory. Inventory has a storage cost and represents immobilized capital. Plan your production close to expected demand so as not to pile up stock.

Brand customization

From the company panel, teams can customize the visual identity of their organization and of each product they develop. This adds realism and brand engagement during the lab.

Company logo

Upload a logo (PNG/JPG up to 500 KB) that appears next to the company name on the dashboard, results and rankings. Professors also see it in the simulation detail views.

Product name and logo

Each product (P1, P2, P3 if the simulation is multi-product) can have an independent commercial name and logo. They appear next to the price cell and in the per-product results breakdowns.

Example: A company "TechCo" develops a second product at N3 and calls it "AirFlow Pro" with its own logo. In the results tables, the rows are labeled with each name — useful when teams present their strategy.

If your lab is a SERVICES business

Your instructor may have set up a services business instead of products. The core economic rule changes.

Whatever you don't sell is lost

An hour of consulting nobody bought is not saved for next month. A room left empty last night cannot be sold today. There is no inventory. In a products business, over-producing leaves stock you can sell later; here there is no such safety net.

You will notice because your tab reads Operations, not Production, and instead of “units to produce” you decide how much capacity you offer.

Your business	Unit
Consulting, software, law firm	hours to bill
Hotel	nights to offer
Restaurant	covers to serve
Clinic, salon, repair shop	appointments to offer
Gym, coworking	memberships

What limits how many clients you can serve?

Your team

Consulting, software, agency, legal, call centre — no matter how many offices you buy, you serve no extra client. You only grow by hiring.

Your premises

Hotel, gym, coworking — you invest in capacity to grow.

The scarcer of the two

Clinic, restaurant, salon, repair shop, academy — with 10 consulting rooms and 3 doctors you serve like 3. Buying an eleventh room treats no additional patient.

Why utilisation is your key metric

Your costs are almost entirely fixed: salaries are paid whether or not anyone hires you. That is why a drop in sales hurts you far more than it hurts a factory. The panel shows your break-even point:

You need to sell 218 hours — 68% of your capacity, just to avoid losing money.

Above 85% you are at risk. Above 100% the business does not add up even at full capacity: raise the rate, cut costs or expand capacity.

Your team IS your product

In consulting, clinics and salons, who you hire changes both how much you can deliver and how much you can charge. A senior team produces more billable hours and makes your service more attractive, so the market accepts a higher rate. It costs more: that is the decision.

Marketing works differently

In consulting and clinics, brand and reputation dominate — nobody hires a partner because of an advert. In restaurants, hotels and salons, reviews and digital dominate. Campaigns cost the same and pay off differently.

If you run a restaurant: food spoils

It is the only business where over-offering costs money. In a consultancy, a consultant without a project was already paid and you bought nothing extra. In a restaurant you bought food for diners who never came, and it is lost. You will see that input spoilage on your screen.

Your business case

In the menu you have Case: about three pages on your specific sector. It is not filler — it is the data source you build the strategic analyses your instructor will ask for on.

You will find, among other things:

Which capabilities and which gaps your company starts with
What is happening outside: regulation, economy, society, technology, environment
The four segments, what each one wants and how fast each one grows
Who you compete against, how easy it is to enter and what can substitute you
How the service is delivered and where your money leaks
Five open questions you will have to decide on

Note: the case gives you facts, not conclusions, and it deliberately does not tell you which analysis each piece of data feeds. Realising that one paragraph is raw material for an environmental analysis and another for a portfolio one is exactly what is being assessed.

Below the text there is a table with your lab's real parameters: the reference price, what limits your capacity, your variable cost, the weight of each channel and how much each campaign type pays off. Those figures are not examples — they are the ones the engine uses to calculate your results.

What you will NOT see

If your business has no premises (consulting), you will not see machinery, installed capacity, maintenance or depreciation. Nor inventory, because it would always be zero. Nor distribution, because you sell direct with no intermediaries.

Marketing

Positioning, pricing and brand building in the market.

The marketing area determines how your company presents itself to the market. The price you set positions your product as economy or premium against competitors. Investments in campaigns, digital channels and advertising broaden your reach and increase potential demand. The brand, however, is the most durable asset: it accumulates period after period and can become your hardest-to-replicate competitive advantage.

$

Selling Price

N1 Required

The price at which you offer your product to the market. It is the variable with the greatest impact on demand: a lower price attracts more customers but reduces your margin. A high price improves the margin but may drive away cost-sensitive consumers. The engine computes your company's demand considering the relative price against the market average. Each segment has a different price sensitivity: the Economy segment is extremely sensitive, while Premium barely reacts to price changes.

Reference price

The market has a reference price set by the instructor. Use it as your initial compass.

Elasticity

Raising the price too much can collapse your sales. Lowering it too much erodes your profitability.

Strategy

Low price + high volume vs. premium price + high brand investment. Choose your path.

Commercial Campaigns

N1

Budget for the sales force and direct commercial activities: account executives, trade shows, point-of-sale promotions. It generates short-term demand and is especially effective when your price is competitive. The return decays with diminishing marginal returns: doubling the budget does not double sales.

Digital Marketing

N1

Investment in digital channels: social media, SEO, online platform advertising, email marketing. It reaches high-value segments with highly measurable returns. It complements traditional campaigns: combining both amplifies the effects synergistically.

Traditional Advertising — TV, radio

N2

Advertising in mass media: television, radio, press and billboards. It has a higher cost per impact than digital, but builds large-scale brand presence and reaches segments that are not on digital channels. Effective for positioning mass-consumption products.

Brand Investment

Accumulates across periods

N2

The most valuable intangible asset in the market. Unlike other investments, brand value accumulates period after period as a stock that never fully disappears. Each year, the brand loses 10% of its value to natural wear, but every dollar invested converts half into new brand value. A company with a strong brand can charge more, sell more and better resist price competition. Don't expect immediate results: it's a medium-term bet that separates the great strategists from the tactical players.

Tip: Investing in the brand from the very first period, even modestly, produces compounding advantages that are almost impossible to catch up with if you start late.

Market Research

N2+

Generates competitive intelligence about the market. It works with a system of individual modules you can buy separately according to what you need to know. The cost of each module is proportional to the market's reference price.

Modules available by category

Prices

Market average price
Price range (min/max)
Price histogram by band

Demand

Total market demand
Market-share ranking
Demand-trend signal

Marketing and HR

Total spend and leader's investment
Average salary and employees
Training benchmark

Production and Finance

Average capacity and inventory
Market R&D stock
Revenue, profits and leverage

Volume discount: if you select 8 or more modules, you get an automatic 10% discount. Each module has a cost proportional to the market size — invest only in the information you really need for your strategy.

Distribution Channels

Price cascade, trade partners and channel services.

Where to find it: All channel decisions (price cascade, trade partners, 4 demand pools, physical stores, private label) are grouped in the Distribution tab of the dashboard. Marketing is exclusively for price and campaigns; Production for units, machinery and attributes. The Distribution tab automatically shows the model that applies to your lab.

Distribution is the last mile between the factory and the final consumer. In the platform, the price you set in marketing is the SRP (Suggested Retail Price): what the consumer pays. But what your company receives per unit depends on the channel you use, because each intermediary takes its margin.

The platform supports two distribution models, mutually exclusive depending on the lab configuration:

Legacy Model (no industry)

You decide the % going to each channel (Wholesalers / Online / Physical store / residual Retailers), edit the wholesale (21%) and retail (18%) margins, and hire specific trade partners from the catalog (N3+). Legacy private label available at N4+.

4 Demand Pools Model (with industry)

Market demand is split into 4 fixed demand pools per industry (retail / online / own store / private label). You choose canal_retail (wholesalers XOR retailers) and participation in each demand pool. Own physical stores (N3+) and deferred private-label contracts.

This system replaces the old "fixed discounts per channel" model with a price cascade with editable margins and a trade-partner catalog (legacy mode) or with demand pools per industry (4 Demand Pools mode).

If your lab is a services lab

The mechanism is identical — same formulas, same margins, same cascade. What changes is what the four routes to market are called, and that is decided by your service type: a clinic has no factory, no wholesalers and no SRP.

An intermediary that takes a margin and brings you volume in return is exactly the same mechanism as a wholesaler. The difference is that you know it as an insurer, a tour operator or a delivery app.

Service	Direct	One intermediary	Two intermediaries	Under another brand
Hotel	Direct booking	Online travel agencies	Tour operators	Operating for a chain
Medical clinic	Private patients	Insurers	Corporate agreements	Services for third parties
Restaurant	Own dining room	Delivery apps	Events and catering	Cooking for another brand
Marketing agency	Direct clients	Larger agencies	Corporate contracts	Delivery for another agency
Call centre / BPO	Direct contract	Brokers	Key accounts	Operating under the client's brand
Gym	Direct members	Multi-gym platforms	Corporate agreements	Running someone else's club
Coworking space	Direct sign-up	Real-estate brokers	Corporate contracts	Running someone else's site
Auto repair shop	Private customers	Insurers	Fleets	Authorised brand service
Training academy	Direct students	Course platforms	Corporate training	Courses under another brand

And the four that always sell direct: consulting, hair salon, software and legal services have no intermediaries. In those labs the Distribution tab does not appear — there is nothing to allocate.

Pricing models: SRP vs Factory Price

When creating the lab, the professor chooses one of two pricing models that defines which number the team enters in the "Price" cell:

SRP Model (legacy)

The team sets the Suggested Retail Price (what the consumer sees). The company's revenue drops by channel: the intermediary keeps its margin off the SRP.

Revenue = units × SRP × channel_factor
channel_factor ≤ 1.0 (always discounts)

Default model in labs created before the change.

Factory Model (recommended)

The team sets the Factory Price (what the company always charges). The SRP the consumer sees rises by channel: each intermediary adds its margin to the FP.

Revenue = units × FP (fixed)
SRP_channel = FP × multiplier ≥ 1.0

Reflects reality: the factory sells at the same price; the customer pays more in retail.

Key difference: In the SRP model, mixing channels reduces your unit revenue. In the Factory model, mixing channels does not affect your revenue per unit — what changes is the SRP the consumer perceives (and therefore demand, via elasticity).

Price Cascade

The channel value chain works like this (long chain):

Factory → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer

PV-Factory = what your company receives
PV-Wholesaler = PV-Factory × (1 + wholesale_margin)
PV-Retailer (SRP) = PV-Wholesaler × (1 + retail_margin) ← what the consumer sees

SRP Model — what your company receives by channel:

DTC (Online / Own physical): you receive the full SRP (×1.00)
Retailers (short chain): SRP ÷ (1 + m_ret) ≈ 84.7% of the SRP
Wholesalers (long chain): SRP ÷ [(1 + m_ret)(1 + m_whl)] ≈ 70% of the SRP

Factory Model — SRP the consumer sees by channel:

DTC: SRP = FP × 1.00 (equal to the factory price)
Retailers: SRP = FP × (1 + m_ret) ≈ FP × 1.18
Wholesalers: SRP = FP × (1 + m_whl)(1 + m_ret) ≈ FP × 1.43

Lesson: In both models, more intermediaries = more reach but lower pricing efficiency. In SRP the company absorbs the intermediary's cost; in Factory the consumer pays it (and demand elastifies from the higher price). DTC = full control but requires your own infrastructure.

Trade-Partner Catalog (N3+)

From Level 3 you can hire specific partners instead of using the generic margin. There are 8 wholesalers and 8 retailers with very different profiles: each brings capacity, per-segment strengths, included services and its own costs.

Wholesalers (8):

• MegaDist S.A. — mass, 20K units, 12% margin, harms brand
• Logistics Champion — full service, credit, logistics
• Distribuidora Regional Norte — requires zone exclusivity
• Premium Distributor — high-end, raises brand +500
• TechReach — innovator specialist
• B2B Marketplace Online — low commission, fast payment
• Corporate Accounts — high value, 90-day payment
• Cash & Carry — mass volume, cash, harms brand

Retailers (8):

• Cadena Nacional Mart — mass, heavy listing fee
• Boutique Premium — 55% margin, brand +800
• Red de Tiendas de Barrio — granular, no commitment
• Outlet Descuento — cheap but harms brand −500
• Marketplace Online Líder — mass reach
• Your DTC E-commerce — 100% margin, $10K upfront
• Cadena Especializada — innovator, 20% coop
• Pop-up Stores — experiential, brand +400

Attributes of each partner:

Required margin — overrides the generic margin
Maximum capacity — ceiling of units it can move per period
Per-segment strength — premium, mass, economy, innovator
Services: logistics, consumer credit, coop marketing, exclusivity
Costs: one-off listing fee, monthly fee, payment days
Brand impact: ± to brand_value per period

Limits per level: N3 = 2 wholesalers + 3 retailers · N4 = 3 + 4 · N5 = 4 + 5.

Channel exclusivity: the retail channel is exclusive per product (wholesalers or retailers). You can only hire the partner type that at least one of your products uses: if no product sells via wholesalers, the hire-wholesalers button is disabled (and vice versa). Since partners are company-level but the channel is per product, it is enough for one product to use that route to enable that partner type.

Economic Effects of Partners

When you hire partners, beyond the margin, these effects apply:

Capacity limit: If your sales via partners exceed the combined capacity you hired, the excess units are lost (lost sales). Hire enough capacity.
Push rebate (3%): If you sell ≥ 50% of the combined capacity, you receive 3% of the channel revenue as a volume bonus.
Coop marketing: Partners with coop_pct > 0 (5-20%) automatically discount from your channel cost.
Credit lift (+5%): If at least one partner offers consumer credit, your total revenue rises 5% (sales that would not happen in cash).
Brand impact: Each partner adds to or subtracts from ending_brand_value. Premium Distributor +500, Outlet Descuento −500, etc.
Costs: Listing fees are amortized over 6 periods, monthly fees are recurring, payment_days affects working capital.

Golden rules for choosing partners

Align with your generic strategy. If you compete in Premium, avoid Outlet and MegaDist (they harm the brand). If you compete on cost, avoid Boutique (high margin).
Match the target segment. Each partner has per-segment strengths. Boutique Premium reaches 90% in Premium but 0% in Economy.
Capacity ≥ expected sales. The combined capacity of the partners you hire must cover your sales, or you will lose units.
Diversify or concentrate by objective. Few partners with high utilization = rebates. Many diversified partners = reach but no rebates.
Watch cash flow. Listing fees are paid upfront; high payment_days (60-90) consume working capital.

4 Demand Pools Model (Industries)

When the professor chooses an industry at lab creation, market demand splits into 4 channel demand pools according to that industry's consumer behavior. Each demand pool has its own dynamics and coverage rules.

Retail Pool (60–80%)

The product is sold via retailers (short chain) or wholesalers (long chain) — exclusive per product. If you choose wholesaler, the consumer pays more (accumulated markup).

Online DTC Pool (5–35%)

Direct-to-consumer sale via web. No markup, but coverage ↑ if your brand is strong. Enable/disable per product.

Own Store Pool (2–35%)

Company physical stores. Each store adds ~10% of reach for this pool (how many customers you touch, not sales per store); cap 100% with ~10 stores. Fixed cost $12K/period + $25K to open + $8K to close.

Private Label Pool (0–30%)

B2B product fixed by a deferred contract (you sign in t, deliver in t+1). Price ≈ 50–60% of the average. No marketing and no brand.

The percentages are per industry and sum to 100%. Luxury: 45/20/35/0 — private label does not exist. OTC Pharma: 60/5/5/30 — private label dominates. Energy drinks: 75/3/2/20.

Private Label — Deferred Contracts

From N3, companies can sign B2B private-label contracts. It is an extra product slot that does not count toward the level's product limit.

Period t — sign: you declare wl_units_to_commit. The system fixes the price per unit and the shortfall penalty.
Period t+1 — deliver: you declare wl_units_to_produce to fulfill the contract. That production is deducted from your capacity before regular production.
If you deliver in full: you receive units × agreed_price, the contract becomes delivered.
If there is a shortfall: you pay (committed − delivered) × penalty_per_unit. The contract becomes defaulted.

Private label does not affect your brand_value (it is anonymous B2B) but consumes production capacity. Committing too much can leave you without stock for the retail channel.

Human Resources

Talent management, operational efficiency and organizational culture.

Human capital is the multiplier of all your production capacity. Every investment you make in your team — salary, training, benefits or leadership — translates into an efficiency index that directly amplifies what your machinery can produce. A company with 95% efficiency gets almost twice the output from the same plant as one with 50% efficiency.

Easy to understand: Imagine you have a factory that can make 1,000 units if everything runs at 100%. If your team operates at 70% efficiency, you actually produce only 700. If you raise efficiency to 90%, you produce 900 — with the same machinery and without hiring anyone else.

All HR variables — what they do and how much they're worth

Variable	What exactly does it do?	Maximum effect	Level
Total annual payroll	Total salaries paid in the year. The engine divides by employees and compares to the annual expectation of hired candidates. Raises base efficiency.	Very high — it's the pillar of everything	N1
Training	Raises base efficiency directly. If there is leadership investment, each dollar yields up to 30% more	High	N2
➕ New staff / Exits	Adjusts the workforce. Affects how many operatives each area has and whether they cover installed capacity well	Variable by situation	N2
Overtime	Extends the period's production capacity without hiring permanent staff	+15% production capacity	N3
Additional benefits	Compensate when the salary is below the employee's expectation. Reduce demotivation from the wage gap	Recover up to 15% of the gap	N3
Performance bonus	Raises final efficiency. Its effect is boosted when you have enough staff; it loses impact if you have fewer employees than the plant needs	+8% final efficiency	N3
Leadership development	Does not raise efficiency directly. It multiplies the return on training: with active leadership, each $1 in training is worth up to $1.30	Training ×1.30 more effective	N4
Organizational climate	Reduces the penalty for lack of HR staff when the company grows. It is the "shock absorber" of expansion	Mitigates up to 40% of the penalty	N5
International Operations	5th management area (N5). A local team that handles foreign trade and supply chain. Its adequacy (available staff ÷ required by active markets + exported volume) modulates your exports: it reduces tariffs (up to −40%), raises attractiveness in international markets (up to +15%) and lowers the handling/freight cost (6%→3%). If you open markets without enough team, there is an attractiveness penalty (up to −10%). A pool of 200 candidates (International Supply Chain, Foreign Trade, Cross-Border M&A, Compliance, Trade Marketing). They are hired from "New staff by area"; they pay off from the next period. Not to be confused with the workers of a foreign plant (a separate headcount).	Tariffs −40% · Attractiveness +15% · Handling −50%	N5
Talent retention	A direct efficiency bonus for the whole organization. The accumulated knowledge and experience of the team that stays translates into higher productivity	+4% final efficiency	N5

Production regions — where to manufacture

At N5 you can build a secondary plant in another region. Each region has its own economic profile: it is not just that producing abroad is cheaper, but a cost-vs-quality trade-off. Asia makes labor cheaper but lowers manufacturing quality; Europe charges a premium but adds a quality premium ideal for Premium/Innovator; North America is expensive but fast, with good quality and no exchange-rate risk.

Region	Labor cost /u	Base salary	Mfg. quality	Freight /u	FX risk	Plant CAPEX
Local	1.00×	1.00×	1.00×	$0	—	already built
Asia	0.55×	0.55×	0.90×	$12	±12%	$80k
🇪🇺 Europe	1.15×	1.15×	1.15×	$8	±7%	$120k
North America	1.25×	1.25×	1.05×	$5	0%	$150k

Base salary per region

Your foreign plant workers' payroll is multiplied by this factor. Producing in Asia (0.55×) makes labor cheaper; your blended labor cost drops the more you produce offshore.

Manufacturing quality

Your product's perceived quality is weighted by the fraction produced in each region. Making it in Europe (1.15×) raises the score; Asia (0.90×) lowers it. The effect is stronger in Premium/Innovator (more quality-sensitive).

On top of this come export tariffs (5–18% by origin→destination route) and exchange-rate risk (dampenable with a hedging budget). The optimal decision balances cheap salary, quality, freight, tariff and FX volatility.

Salary per Employee

N1 Required

The value you set is the total annual payroll you pay all active employees that year (period = one year). The engine divides that total by the number of employees to get the annual salary per person and compares it to the annual salary expectation of the candidates you hired. It has two simultaneous effects: it improves team efficiency (higher pay = more productive team) and it determines whether new employees arrive motivated or not. A candidate hired at a salary well below their annual expectation starts with lower performance and drags down their area's efficiency.

Low salary

Lower base efficiency. Candidates who accept come in demotivated, reducing their area's performance from the first period.

Competitive salary

Motivated candidates, full efficiency from the start. Check the average expectation of the available candidate market in the panel.

Premium salary

Excellent efficiency and candidates who accept without hesitation, but it consumes more of the budget. Assess whether the operational return justifies it.

Tip: The panel shows the annual salary expectation of each available candidate. To avoid a motivation penalty, the annual salary per employee (total payroll ÷ number of employees) must reach at least the average expectation of the candidates you brought in.

Training

N2

Training investment raises the team's efficiency each period directly and consistently. It is not a "one period and done" effect: stopping training makes efficiency stagnate while the competition advances. If Leadership Development (N4) is already available at your level, training becomes up to 30% more effective.

Training budget	Efficiency gain (no leadership)	With Leadership at max (N4)
$10,000	+1 efficiency point	+1.3 points
$50,000	+5 points	+6.5 points
$100,000	+10 points	+13 points
$300,000+	Near the maximum efficiency cap — diminishing returns

New Staff and Exits

N2

The number of employees impacts three different places: (1) how many production operatives you have to run the machinery, (2) how many salespeople execute the marketing campaigns, and (3) how much HR staff manages the whole team. If any of these areas is left without enough people, that process's efficiency drops with a progressive penalty.

How many production operatives do I need?

Each machinery type defines how many operatives it requires per unit of installed capacity. If you have few, effective capacity drops:

Operative coverage	Real capacity
No operatives	~55% of the ceiling
25% of required	79% of the ceiling
50% of required	88% of the ceiling
100%+ required	100% of the ceiling

What happens if an area is left with no one?

Understaffed area	Consequence
Marketing	Campaigns are less effective (scales with the square root of coverage)
HR	−30% on all operational efficiency (coverage penalty)
Finance	Debt interest +30% more expensive (worse negotiation with banks)

At levels N3+, you can distribute hires among specific areas (marketing, HR, production, finance). At N1 and N2, the distribution is automatic and proportional.

Overtime

N3

Budget for extra shifts and overtime. Expands the current period's production capacity without hiring permanent staff. It is the short-term lever: ideal to respond to an unexpected demand spike or seize a one-off market opportunity.

Investment (as % of total salary)	Additional production capacity	Example: base capacity 1,000 units
2%	+3%	1,030 units
5%	+7.5%	1,075 units
10% or more	+15% (maximum cap)	1,150 units

Investing more than 10% of the wage bill in overtime produces no extra capacity — the limit is structural.

Additional Employee Benefits

N3

Health insurance, meals, transport, vouchers and non-monetary bonuses. Benefits complement the salary — they do not replace it. Their main function is to reduce the negative impact of paying a salary below what employees expected: with good benefits, a team that earns somewhat less than the average can perform almost as well as one that earns exactly what it asks for.

How much to invest?

The maximum effect is reached with 20% of the wage bill in benefits. Above that threshold, the investment yields no further improvement. Below it, every 10% of the wage bill you allocate recovers a significant fraction of the demotivation from the wage gap.

Optimal combination

The combination of a decent salary + complementary benefits beats "very high salary + no benefits" in efficiency at the same total cost. Employees value the full package.

Performance Bonus (%)

N3

An additional percentage over the total salary paid as a results-linked bonus. It aligns the team's incentives with the company's and directly raises final efficiency. The key: its impact is multiplied when your workforce is well sized. If you have too few employees for what your plant produces, the bonus yields only half.

% bonus over salaries	Full workforce (100% adequate)	Workforce at 50%	Workforce at 25%
4%	+4% efficiency	+2% efficiency	+1% efficiency
8% or more	+8% (cap)	+4%	+2%

The bonus is a percentage of total salary — make sure the cash flow can handle it before activating it.

Leadership Development

N4

Leadership programs, executive coaching and middle-management training. It does not improve efficiency directly — what it does is multiply the effect of training. Think of it as a lever: leadership makes every dollar you invest in training your team generate up to 30% more return.

When to activate it?

Only when you already have a meaningful training budget. Without training, leadership has nothing to multiply and its effect is nil. First consolidate training, then activate leadership.

Maximum-effect threshold

To reach the maximum +30% amplification, you must invest in leadership 10% of what you spend on total salaries. Above that threshold, the gain stops.

HR area staff — Organizational coverage

Invisible factor that multiplies all efficiency

N3+

When you distribute hires by area, the employees assigned to HR are the ones who manage the rest of the team: they recruit, evaluate, resolve conflicts and maintain culture. Their proportion relative to the total headcount determines a coverage factor that multiplies — or penalizes — all operational efficiency. Without HR staff, the whole organization performs at 70% even if salaries and training are excellent.

HR employees as % of total	Factor on efficiency	Diagnosis
0% — No HR area	×0.70 (−30% on everything)	Maximum penalty
1% to 4%	Between ×0.70 and ×0.95 (decreasing penalty)	Insufficient — improving
4% to 8%	Between ×0.95 and ×1.00	Almost optimal
8% to 15%	×1.00 — No penalty	Optimal zone
More than 15%	Slight penalty for bureaucratic excess (minimum ×0.92)	Too much HR

For MBA / advanced levels: At N5, when entering international markets or opening a foreign plant, the denominator of the coverage ratio grows automatically. If you don't hire more HR staff at the pace of the expansion, the coverage factor drops and penalizes the efficiency of the whole operation. The Organizational Climate budget acts as a temporary buffer for that drop.

Organizational Climate

N5

Well-being programs, surveys, workspaces and culture. Its main role is to cushion the penalty for low HR-area coverage: when your company grows faster than you can hire management staff, organizational climate keeps the team cohesive and reduces the damage.

When to use it?

When your company expands (more markets, more plants) and HR staff cannot cover 8% of the total. Climate compensates up to 40% of that gap.

Not a permanent substitute

Climate is a transitional solution. The definitive solution is to hire more HR staff. Use climate to buy time.

Talent Retention

N5

Programs to retain critical profiles and high-performing talent. It generates a direct efficiency bonus for the whole organization: the accumulated knowledge, internal networks and experience of those who stay translate into higher real productivity. If your company has invested heavily in training, retention is the way not to lose that return when people leave for the competition.

Maximum effect: +4% additional efficiency for the whole organization. Combine it with a good benefits and salary policy to maximize its impact.

Production

Installed capacity, manufacturing efficiency and product innovation.

The production area determines how much you can make and at what cost. Installed capacity (machinery) defines your production ceiling; process quality defines your unit costs; innovation (R&D) defines the perceived value of your product in the market. Do not produce more than you can sell nor less than the market demands.

Units to Produce

N1 Required

The number of units you plan to manufacture this year. If you set a number higher than your real capacity, the system automatically adjusts to the maximum your machinery and team allow — it never produces more than possible. If you produce less than the market demand, you lose sales and share. The unsold balance goes into inventory and can be sold the following year.

Estimated maximum capacity = machinery value × 10% × Human Resources efficiency
Check the indicator in your panel before deciding how much to produce.

Machinery Purchase — CAPEX

N1

Investment in new equipment and plant expansion. It permanently increases your production capacity. Machinery depreciates period after period, reducing its net value. It is a long-term investment: plan when you'll need more capacity before demand outstrips you. Requires available cash or financing.

Maintenance

N1

Budget for preventive and corrective maintenance of your plant. Adequate maintenance reduces accelerated depreciation and keeps operating capacity at its maximum. Neglecting maintenance is saving today to pay more tomorrow — in lost production or equipment replacement.

Research and Development (R&D)

Accumulates across periods

N3

Investment in product innovation. Like the brand, the R&D stock accumulates period after period and improves the perceived quality of the product in the market. Each year the stock loses 15% of its technological currency, but 70% of every dollar invested becomes effective stock. A technically superior product can justify a higher price and better resist competitors' price pressure. The effects are gradual but compounding.

When the R&D stock reaches $40,000, your company unlocks the market's Premium segment. In simulations with an industry, accumulated R&D is also a requirement to develop new products (see the Industries and Attributes section).

Automation

N4

Investment in robots, manufacturing software and automated processes. It progressively reduces the variable cost per unit produced. It is the high-volume producer's bet: if you plan to produce at scale, automation gives you a cost advantage that competitors cannot easily replicate in the short term.

The effect is cumulative (like a stock that decays 10% per period): sustaining the investment reduces the variable cost up to a cap of ~8% (≈2% with $2k/period, ≈5% with $5k, ≈8% with $8k). The investment is charged to the period's cash.

Learning curve (extra and free): independent of automation, your cumulative production throughout the game naturally reduces the unit cost (experience/scale economies), up to a cap of −15%. Producing more, period after period, makes you cheaper — with no extra investment.

Quality Management

N5

ISO certification, Six Sigma and quality-control programs. Improves the product's perceived quality, reduces defective units and opens access to markets and segments that demand high quality standards. At the Elite level, quality is a differentiation factor as important as price or brand.

Every dollar invested adds $0.06 to brand value (quality perception across all segments), which in turn feeds your attractiveness and customer retention. The investment is charged to the period's cash.

Finance

Capital structure, cash flow, risk management and dividend policy.

Finance is your company's circulatory system. A company can be profitable on paper and go bankrupt for lack of liquidity. Managing cash flow, debt and financing sources well is the difference between growing with smart leverage or collapsing under the weight of interest. At advanced levels, more sophisticated instruments appear that broaden your options — and your risks.

New Bank Loan

N1

Additional bank-debt amount you request this period. It increases your available cash immediately but raises your debt and future interest. Use it to finance investments with a return higher than the cost of credit. Leverage is a powerful tool — misused, it destroys value.

Dynamic interest rate: The rate you pay depends on your credit rating from the previous year. A company with an AAA rating pays up to 2 percentage points less than the base rate; one with a CCC rating pays 7 points more. See the full table in the Market Engine section.

🆘 Emergency debt (lender of last resort): If you exceed your normal credit ceiling, the loan is no longer rejected immediately. You can borrow up to an emergency ceiling (1.6× the normal one), but the portion exceeding the normal ceiling pays +18 percentage points of interest (distressed debt). It is an expensive lifeline: use it only to survive a one-off dip, not to finance growth.

If you exceed even the emergency ceiling: The loan is rejected. The way out is to sell assets (machinery, in Production) to generate immediate liquidity, restructure by cutting outflows, or recover positive equity with profits before cash runs out. Your company keeps competing: it can sell, produce and operate with its current resources.

Loan Payment

N1

Voluntary repayment of the principal of your bank debt. Reducing debt lowers interest in future periods and improves your financial profile. However, paying down debt excessively when you have profitable investment opportunities can be suboptimal. Find the balance between financial solidity and investment capacity.

Dividends

N3

Distribution of profits to shareholders. Paying dividends improves the perception of the company's financial health and can positively impact the valuation. However, it reduces the cash available for reinvestment. In stages of accelerated growth, retaining earnings is usually more valuable than distributing them.

Only what's in cash is distributed: the dividend is paid after tax and at the end of the period, capped at available cash. If you declare more than you have, it is automatically trimmed — a dividend never leaves you with negative cash or pushes you into emergency debt.

Target Collection Days and Payment Days

N3

Collection Days (AR): how many days it takes to collect from your customers after the sale.
Payment Days (AP): how many days it takes to pay your suppliers.
The working capital you immobilize has a financial cost (the money doesn't vanish each period: you pay interest to finance that tied-up capital). The reference value is 30 days for both.

Collection Days (AR)

Collecting in more than 30 days immobilizes capital in accounts receivable; financing that capital costs interest. Collecting earlier frees it up.

Payment Days (AP)

Paying in more than 30 days lets your suppliers finance you (a benefit). Net cost = (Revenue×(AR−30)/360 − COGS×(AP−30)/360) × interest rate. If negative, you gain (negative working capital, Dell model).

Optimal strategy: collect fast (low AR) and pay late (high AP) maximizes your available cash. But keep the competitive context in mind — very short collection terms can affect your business relationships.

Short-Term Investment

N4

Place cash surpluses in short-term financial instruments (money-market funds, term deposits). It works like a one-period deposit: the principal leaves your cash when you invest (it is immobilized) and returns with a 4% yield the following period. It is not free money — to earn the yield you must have the cash and not use it for anything else that period. Useful when you have idle cash you don't need right away.

Share Issuance

N4

Increases equity by issuing new shares. It generates no debt and pays no interest, but it dilutes existing shareholders' stake (reduces EPS). You can issue at most 20% of your current equity per period. The bank charges a 5% underwriting fee, so you don't receive the full amount — the 5% is deducted as a financial expense. Also, you can only issue shares if your credit rating is BB or higher; companies in financial distress do not have access to this option. It is a strategic financing source when you want to grow without raising leverage.

Share Buyback

N4

Lets you buy back your own company's shares, reducing the number of shares outstanding. With fewer shares, EPS (earnings per share) and BVPS (book value per share) increase, improving valuation metrics. It is a cash outflow — you need available cash. Strategically useful when your company generates cash surpluses and you want to improve per-share indicators instead of paying dividends or reinvesting in operations.

FX Hedging

N4

Instruments that protect the company against exchange-rate volatility when you operate in international markets. It only takes effect if your company has a production plant abroad (N5). Without international operations, this field does not influence results. When there is a foreign plant, that period's exchange rate affects the production cost in that region — investing in FX hedging reduces that volatility and makes your costs more predictable.

Insurance

N4

Business insurance policies: assets, liability, business interruption. Protects against adverse events that can hit your cash when you least expect it. In competition, insurance reduces the impact of negative market events (adverse news). A small expense that can save an entire period.

Bond Issuance

N5

Fixed-rate financing with a 3-period term. Bonds are corporate debt placed in the market in exchange for a predefined interest rate. They generate immediate liquidity without affecting the banking relationship, but they commit future flows. Ideal to finance long-maturing projects such as plant expansion or massive R&D.

Bond Payment

N5

Amortization of the principal of issued bonds. Manage the maturity of your market-debt obligations. Make sure you have available cash when the bonds mature — default impacts your company's financial reputation.

ESG Sustainability

N5

Investment in environmental, social and good corporate-governance practices. Improves the company's public image and opens access to market segments and corporate customers who prioritize suppliers with ESG standards. In a world where consumers and investors reward sustainability, ESG stops being a discretionary expense and becomes a real competitive advantage.

Profit Tax

N3+

On the pre-tax profit (EBIT − interest) the simulation's tax rate is applied (typically 25%, set by the professor). Debt interest reduces the taxable base — this is the tax shield, one of the reasons some debt can create value.

Loss carry-forward: if you lose in a period you pay no tax, and that loss accumulates to reduce the tax of future profitable periods. The net profit you see is already after tax.

05 Metrics and KPIs

The indicators that measure your company's performance each period.

Revenue

Total income generated by the units sold. Revenue = units sold × price. It is the business-growth indicator — but high volume with a low margin can be a trap.

Net Profit

Real profit after all costs: production, salaries, interest, taxes, depreciation, marketing and more. It is the number that matters most for the company's survival. Negative for one period can be tolerated; negative for several periods in a row puts operations at risk.

Market Share

Your percentage of the total units sold in the market. A growing share signals that you are gaining competitiveness. A declining share — even if you sell more — indicates that competitors are outperforming you in offer attractiveness.

Units Sold

The real number of units the market demanded from your company and that you were able to supply. Limited by your available production (plant + inventory) and by the demand generated by price and marketing.

Human Resources Efficiency

Index (0–100%) that measures how productive and engaged your team is. The floor without investment is 70%. Above that floor, salaries, training, benefits, bonuses and leadership push the index up — all multiplied by an HR-area coverage factor. See full details in the Market Engine section.

Available cash

Real cash available at the close of the period. Cash is the short-term health indicator. If cash reaches zero without access to credit, the company enters an operational crisis. Always monitor the estimated flow before saving your decisions.

Default Risk

A score from 0 to 100 that measures how likely it is that the company cannot meet its financial obligations. It considers the debt level, interest coverage, profitability and cash levels. The higher the risk, the lower the stock valuation — BVPS and the share price are penalized. On the dashboard it is shown as a traffic light: green (0–29, healthy), yellow (30–59, caution) and red (60+, danger). Good financial management — controlling debt, keeping cash and generating profits — keeps the risk low.

06 Ranking and score

How your company compares against the competition.

At the close of each period, StratyaLab generates a real-time ranking comparing all the companies in the business lab. The final score weights multiple dimensions of performance — not just who had the highest profit in the last period, but who maintained consistency, grew sustainably and managed risk better.

The instructor can define the specific evaluation criteria for your business lab. As a general rule, companies that balance growth, profitability and financial solidity outperform those that optimize only one of these dimensions.

Three ways to measure the winner

StratyaLab computes three parallel rankings in each lab. The instructor decides which is the official one based on the course's pedagogical goals.

Olympic Ranking

Sum of points by position across 4 KPIs each period: Revenue, Net profit, Units sold, Brand value.

1st = N pts (N = number of teams), 2nd = N-1 pts, ..., last = 1 pt. Ties earn the same points.

Rewards: Consistency and balance.

Firm Value

Total value created for shareholders at the close. Standard academic criterion (Capsim, Marketplace).

cash + (BVPS × shares) − debt + Σ dividends

Rewards: The ability to generate financial value.

Balanced Scorecard

Average % fulfillment of the BSC indicators your team defined (Kaplan & Norton 1996).

Capped at [0, 200%]. Supports ≥, ≤, == comparators for "lower is better" indicators.

Rewards: Strategic discipline.

How they look: In Results the 3 tables appear with medals and your team highlighted. The per-period ranking is also shown (your team's position in each KPI separately).

Revenue

Total income for the period

Profit

Net profit after tax

Units

Volume sold (real share)

Brand value

Brand value at the close

06b Grades, quiz and benchmarking

How your final course grade is computed and what other comparisons you can see.

Final course grade (configurable)

Besides the Team Grade and the Manager Grade (which your instructor sees in their Grades panel), StratyaLab computes a third grade that combines three components:

60% Results

Your already-computed Team Grade — your company's overall performance.

20% Participation

Always submitting decisions, without leaving streaks of no-submission periods.

20% Quiz

Correct answers to each period's knowledge question.

Your instructor can change these weights (they must sum to 100%) — they appear next to the breakdown in your Grades tab.

Knowledge quiz per period

Each period, your dashboard shows one multiple-choice business question (marketing, HR, production or finance) in the News tab.

You can answer it only once per period.
When you answer, you immediately see whether you were right, plus a brief explanation of the concept.
Not answering before the close counts as a miss (0) that period in your quiz grade.

It is purely educational: it does not affect any economic-engine formula — only your quiz grade.

Quality benchmarking

If your lab uses the industry system (Level 5+), Results shows, per product and period, the market average and the anonymous leader of each attribute and of the total quality score.

It does not identify which company is the leader — only the value, to compare against "the best possible" without revealing a competitor's strategy.

ESG Ranking

Also in industry mode, a ranking measures your cumulative sustainable investment across all periods.

The company with the highest cumulative investment gets a score of 100; the rest are scaled proportionally.

07 Key strategies

There are no magic formulas — but there are patterns that work.

Choose a position and defend it

Companies that try to be everything to everyone usually end up being nothing to anyone. Define whether your company is a cost leader (low price + high volume) or differentiated (brand + quality + premium price). And then invest consistently in that direction.

Cash is oxygen

Before saving your decisions, always check the estimated-flow indicator. Running out of cash not only prevents you from operating — it can trigger ranking penalties. Always keep a liquidity cushion, especially in the early periods.

⏳ Intangible assets are long-term bets

Brand and R&D deliver slow but compounding results. If you wait until period 3 to start investing in the brand, you'll be running 2 periods behind whoever started at the beginning. The advantage of an early mover in intangibles is almost impossible to recover.

Calibrate production to demand

Overproducing immobilizes cash in inventory. Underproducing makes you lose sales and share. Before deciding on units, estimate your likely demand based on your relative price, your marketing and the history of previous periods.

News changes the market

Each period may include a piece of news that changes market demand — for better or worse. Read it carefully at the start of the period: it may force you to adjust production, prices or investments. The companies that react quickly to market shocks are the ones that survive.

Watch the competition

Review the ranking and the published results of the other teams. Who leads in share? Who has high margins? Inferring your rival's strategy lets you anticipate moves and find market spaces no one has occupied yet.

Use the "Plan" tab as a control panel, not filler homework

The Plan tab of your dashboard (Kaplan & Norton Balanced Scorecard) has a recommended order, marked by the step indicator at the top: Strategy → Objectives and KPIs → Map → Monitor. Each step is marked complete automatically.

When defining an indicator, the form shows you inline your current value from the last closed period — use it to set realistic targets instead of guessing. The advanced fields (traffic-light threshold, driver/outcome type, gauge style) stay folded under "Advanced options"; open them only if you want to adjust them.

In "Tracking", each driver indicator (a decision you make, such as R&D or training investment) has an "Adjust decision →" link that takes you straight to the decision-form field — no need to hunt for which tab it lives in. Use "Tracking" to know what to do today (management by exception) and "Scorecard" when you need a full view to present to the instructor.

Your industry case

Before deciding your strategy, click the Case button in your dashboard navbar. It takes you to a ~3-page case study about your company's industry, written in your own language, designed as raw material for your analyses (SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's 5 Forces, BCG matrix, value chain) — not as a guide with the answer already solved: the case gives you facts, not conclusions.

The case covers six sections: 1) sector history, 2) macro environment (PESTEL), 3) market and segments, 4) competition and industry forces, 5) operations and value chain, and 6) strategic challenges posed as open questions for your team to discuss.

At the end you will find the "Your market in the lab" table, with the real data of your simulation: reference price, level, product attributes, demand channels, R&D/CAPEX intensity, the yield of your levers and the costs per attribute level. The page is printable, so you can take it printed or as a PDF to your planning session.

These analyses already have their own fields in the Analysis tab of your Plan (see the next card) — including the BCG matrix, which is now computed automatically from your real results instead of being estimated by hand.

Strategic analysis, per product and BCG Matrix

In the Analysis tab of your Plan you will find 5 free-text accordions with autosave: PESTEL, Porter's 5 Forces, Value Chain, SWOT and CAME. They are purely diagnostic — not graded and not affecting the lab's calculations — designed to document the analysis you do from your industry case.

In the Strategy tab you define your Porter positioning (Cost leadership, Differentiation or Focus) and your target segment, plus the Ansoff Matrix and the Growth Path (7 options). If your team has more than one product enabled, you define an independent strategy for each product.

In "Tracking" the portfolio's BCG Matrix appears, computed automatically from your relative market share and segment growth — available from the 2nd closed period — classifying each product/segment as Star, Cash Cow, Question Mark or Dog. You'll also see coherence alerts if your declared strategy doesn't match your real decisions: they are informative suggestions, they never block saving.

Industries and Product Attributes

Advanced attribute-differentiation system. Available when the professor selects an industry at lab creation.

When the professor chooses an industry for the lab, the generic material-quality system is replaced by a model of 4 specific attributes for that industry. Each attribute can be configured across 5 investment levels (0 to 4), and teams can develop multiple products aimed at different market segments. This allows much richer strategies: an economy product with basic attributes for the mass segment and another premium product with leader attributes for the innovator segment, for example.

What changes with industries?

1. Attributes instead of generic quality: Instead of choosing between "Standard / Superior / Elite", you configure 4 industry-specific attributes. Each attribute has a base weight reflecting how much the market values that aspect of the product. For example, in Smartphones the screen weighs more than the battery.

2. Investment levels (0-4): Each attribute is configured independently at a level from 0 (no investment) to 4 (market leader). Higher levels improve the product's perceived quality but raise both fixed costs per period and variable production costs.

3. Multi-product: Teams can develop several products simultaneously, each with its own attributes, price, production and target segment. The maximum number depends on the lab's complexity level.

4. Independent decisions per product: Each product has its own price, units to produce, marketing campaigns, distribution channels and attribute levels. Results are also broken down per product.

Investment levels per attribute

Level	Fixed cost / period	Var. cost impact
0 — No investment	$0	No change
1 — Basic	$2,000	+5%
2 — Competitive	$5,000	+12%
3 — Superior	$12,000	+22%
4 — Leader	$25,000	+35%

The fixed cost is paid per attribute on each product. The variable cost applies as a multiplier over the unit production cost.

Products allowed per level

Level	Max products	Configurable attributes
N1 Basic	1	0 (fixed at level 1)
N2 Intermediate	1	2 of 4
N3 Advanced	2	All (4)
N4 Expert	2	All (4)
N5 Elite	3	All (4)

At N1 the attributes are preset at level 1 and cannot be modified. At N2 you can configure 2 of the 4 attributes.

New product development

From N3, your company can develop a second product (and a third at N5). Development requires accumulating enough R&D investment and then waiting a development period during which the product cannot be produced or sold. Once development is complete, the new product is activated and you can start making decisions for it.

Product 2 (N3+)

R&D requirement: $30,000 accumulated in the R&D stock
Development time: 1 full period
Available at: Levels 3, 4 and 5

Product 3 (N5)

R&D requirement: $60,000 accumulated in the R&D stock
Development time: 2 full periods
Available at: Level 5 only (Elite)

Important: While the product is in development, you cannot produce or sell units of it. Once active, each product has fully independent decisions: price, units, campaigns, channels and attribute levels.

How to develop it: in the Product portfolio panel (Panel tab) each product shows its status — locked (missing R&D), AVAILABLE (with a Develop button), IN DEVELOPMENT (N periods remaining) or ACTIVE. When it activates, its decision card appears in the Production → Additional products tab.

The R&D threshold depends on the industry. The $30,000 / $60,000 are the base; they are multiplied by the sector's R&D intensity: ×2.0 deep-tech (Pharma, Smartphones, Laptops, EV, Solar → $60k / $120k), ×1.0 moderate innovation (Appliances, Gaming, Fitness, Cosmetics), ×0.5 short cycle (Sportswear, Drinks, Furniture → $15k / $30k).

Shared capacity

All your active products share the same production capacity. If together they request more units than your plant can make, production is split proportionally. Decide whether to concentrate capacity on your flagship product or diversify it.

Marketing per product

Each product has its own campaigns (digital, traditional, brand). A product's marketing spend improves ITS attractiveness; the total cost to the company is the sum of all. A product with no campaigns will compete only on attributes, price and brand.

Dynamic influence (attribute scarcity)

The attribute system includes a dynamic scarcity mechanism that creates a strategic game among competitors. Attributes in which few companies invest carry a greater effective weight in the product's attractiveness. If all competitors concentrate their investment in the same attribute (for example, "Processor" in Smartphones), that attribute's weight drops because there is a lot of competition there. Conversely, if you discover a "neglected" attribute and invest in it, you get a disproportionate advantage.

Saturated attribute

If all companies have level 3-4 in "battery", that attribute's scarcity factor is low. Investing more there yields diminishing returns because everyone is doing the same.

Differentiating attribute

If no one invests in "range" and you go up to level 3, the scarcity factor is high and your product gains a significant competitive advantage that others cannot replicate quickly.

This creates a game-theory mechanism: the optimal attribute strategy depends on what others do. Teams that monitor the competition and differentiate intelligently get more attractiveness with lower total investment.

Available industry catalog

The professor chooses one of the 13 industries at lab creation. Each one defines 4 specific attributes with different weights reflecting what that industry's market values.

Electric vehicles

• Battery capacity (30%)

• Motor power (25%)

• Charging speed (25%)

• Range (km) (20%)

Appliances

• Smart technology (25%)

• Power (25%)

• Energy efficiency (30%)

• Quiet operation (20%)

Sportswear

• Design (30%)

• Material quality (25%)

• Sustainability (20%)

• Breathability (25%)

Smartphones

• Screen resolution (25%)

• Camera performance (25%)

• Processor power (30%)

• Battery life (20%)

Laptops

• RAM memory (25%)

• Storage (25%)

• Portability (25%)

• Battery capacity (25%)

Energy drinks

• Energy concentration (30%)

• Flavor (25%)

• Can design (20%)

• Nutritional value (25%)

Luxury cosmetics

• Ingredient quality (30%)

• Fragrance (25%)

• Packaging design (20%)

• Sustainability (25%)

Fitness equipment

• Material quality (25%)

• Ergonomics (30%)

• Monitoring sensors (25%)

• Durability / Robustness (20%)

OTC medicines

• Active ingredient purity (30%)

• Speed of action (25%)

• Effectiveness (25%)

• Quality testing (20%)

☀️

Solar panels

• Conversion efficiency (30%)

• Peak power (Wp) (25%)

• Durability (low degradation) (25%)

• Heat tolerance (20%)

Video games / Digital

• Graphics quality (30%)

• Gameplay (FPS) (25%)

• Connectivity / Multiplayer (20%)

• Controller ergonomics (25%)

Designer furniture

• Base material (25%)

• Finish (25%)

• Design (30%)

• Sustainability (20%)

Custom

• Adjustment flexibility (25%)

• Integration ease (25%)

• Technical support (25%)

• Scalability (25%)

The professor can redefine the attribute names and weights.

Strategic tip for multi-product

Don't try to make all your products compete in the same segment. The advantage of having multiple products is being able to diversify segments: an economy product with basic attributes to capture volume, and a premium one with leader attributes to capture margin. Watch which attributes the competition invests in and look for the empty spaces — dynamic influence rewards differentiation.

Target each product to a segment

Each product has a target-segment selector (All · Mass · Premium · Economy · Innovator). This now also applies to Product 1 — previously it was fixed at "All". Targeting a specific segment gives you a focus bonus (×1.8) in that segment, at the cost of less presence in the rest.

Beware of cannibalizing: if two of your products target the same segment with similar attributes, they compete against each other for the same demand and steal sales from one another. Differentiate them by segment or by attributes.

With inventory, you always sell something

If you have stock and the market has demand, the engine guarantees a minimum sale even if you spend nothing on marketing — you never sell exactly 0 for running out of budget. The only case of 0 sales with stock is not participating in any channel: if you set 0% in all channels of a product with inventory, the panel warns you in red (You have X u. in stock but 0% in all channels → you will sell 0). Assign at least one channel.

08 Market Engine

There's no magic here — there's math. These are the exact formulas the engine uses to compute your results each period.

Total Market Demand

How many units the whole market demands this year.

The engine computes how many units the whole market seeks to buy that year by combining four factors: the base demand set by the instructor, the market's average price level (if all companies raise prices, total demand falls; if they lower them, it grows), a growth factor that accumulates year over year according to how the sector's quality evolves, and the period's news which can amplify or reduce demand that specific year.

Base demand

The market size set by the instructor as a starting point (e.g. 10,000 units/year). It is the market "at equilibrium" when the sector's prices match the reference price.

Average-price effect

If the average price of all companies rises above the reference price, the market contracts. If it falls, it expands. All teams collectively influence this effect.

Cumulative growth

The market can grow or contract year over year. Growth depends on the sector's collective investment in quality and innovation. It accumulates across periods.

News of the year

External event (economic boom, regulation, crisis) that adjusts demand that year. It can be positive or negative. It is announced when the period opens — read it before deciding how much to produce.

Attractiveness and Market-Share Formula

How the engine decides what fraction of total demand each company receives.

Each company generates an attractiveness score based on three factors: its marketing power, its product's perceived quality and its price. The market distributes total demand in proportion to those scores. If your score doubles that of your closest competitor, you receive twice the demanded units. The weight each factor carries depends on the segment — not all buyers value the same things.

M_i — Marketing power

Active campaigns + accumulated brand. The exponent α controls how much it weighs in the segment's attractiveness.

Q_i — Perceived quality

Accumulated R&D stock + brand effect. The exponent β determines whether the segment rewards quality or ignores it.

P_i — Price

Price appears in the denominator. Raising price always reduces attractiveness; how much depends on the segment's exponent γ.

The 4 market segments

Segment	% of market	α Marketing	β Quality	γ Price	What drives competition?	Winning strategy
Premium	20%	0.25	0.55	0.80	Product quality (R&D + brand). Price matters little.	High R&D, high price. Requires $40k accumulated in R&D to enter.
Mass	35%	0.30	0.20	1.50	Active marketing. Price has medium pressure.	Constant campaigns, competitive price, high volume. The largest segment.
Economy	30%	0.15	0.10	2.50	Price above all. Marketing and quality barely matter.	Minimum price, low costs, efficient machinery. Little spend on R&D or brand.
Innovator	15%	0.55	0.30	1.00	Marketing and quality together. Price is secondary.	Strong brand + moderate R&D. Flexible price — the customer pays for innovation.

= the segment's dominant factor. The sum of the shares of the 4 segments gives your company's total market share.

Strategic key: Share is NOT proportional to spend — it is proportional to relative attractiveness. If your rivals spend twice as much on marketing, doubling your budget only keeps you level. Choose the segment where your natural advantage is greatest and optimize the factors that segment rewards.

Human Resources Efficiency Calculation

How your investment in talent translates into real production capacity. Efficiency is an index between 0% and 100% that directly multiplies your available production capacity.

Core idea: If your plant can produce 1,000 units and HR efficiency is 80%, the real available capacity is 800 units. A company with the same machinery but 90% efficiency produces 900 — 12.5% more without investing a single extra dollar in equipment.

The 9 factors that determine efficiency

Factor	What exactly does it do?	Maximum gain	Level
Starting point with no investment	The minimum efficiency guaranteed even if you invest nothing. No company can operate below this level.	70%	N1
Salaries	Higher salaries = greater motivation and engagement. The effect is proportional to the total payroll paid.	+10 points	N1
Training	Training and skills development. Pushes efficiency up directly. With active leadership, the same budget yields up to 30% more return.	+10 points (+13 points with leadership)	N1
Staff adequacy	Do you have enough operatives for what you produce? If not, efficiency is penalized. See the coverage table in the HR section.	Can subtract up to −20%	N1
Wage gap	If you pay below what hired candidates expected, the factor deteriorates. Candidates who accept low salaries perform worse in the long run.	Can subtract up to −15%	N2
Benefits	Health insurance, transport, meals. They complement the salary: where the salary has market caps, benefits can keep adding well-being.	+5 points	N3
Performance bonus	An additional % over salaries paid as a results-linked bonus. Its impact is reduced if you have insufficient staff — the bonus needs people to pay off.	+8 points	N3
Leadership development	Does not add efficiency directly — it multiplies the training effect by up to 30%. With no active training, its effect is zero.	×1.30 over training	N4
HR coverage (area)	The % of employees assigned to the HR area relative to the total organization. With no one in HR, all other factors lose 30% of their effect.	Factor ×0.70 to ×1.00	N3
Talent retention	Programs to retain critical profiles. The accumulated knowledge of those who stay improves the whole organization's productivity.	+4 points	N5

Maximum cap: Efficiency never exceeds 100%. All positive factors add up but the final result is capped at 1.0. If you're already near the cap, prioritize HR coverage and retention instead of raising training further.

Suggested priority order:
1st Ensure enough operations staff
2nd Competitive salary (avoid the wage gap)
3rd Continuous training
4th HR-area employees (8–15% zone)
5th Benefits + bonus + leadership

R&D Accumulation and Premium Segment

How the research stock accumulates and when the premium segment unlocks. N3+

The R&D stock is your company's accumulated technological knowledge. Each year you invest, the stock grows — but it also suffers a natural erosion of 15% because technologies age, competitors reach similar standards and the market raises the bar. This means you must invest consistently: stopping for a year makes the stock fall noticeably.

Gradual erosion (15% per year)

Each year the stock loses 15% of its value from loss of technological currency. Without continuous investment, accumulated knowledge degrades. Consistency matters more than the amount in a single year.

Conversion efficiency (70%)

Of every dollar you invest in R&D, 70% becomes effective stock. The rest is lost in projects that don't succeed, learning and adjustments. That's how real innovation works.

Gateway to the Premium segment: stock ≥ $40,000

When your R&D stock exceeds $40,000, your company unlocks access to the market's Premium segment. This segment (20% of the total market) is highly profitable, barely price-sensitive and very quality-sensitive — only companies with a sufficient demonstrated technology level can compete in it.

Example: If you invest $30,000 in R&D each year, at the end of year 1 your stock reaches $21,000. At the end of year 2, with the 15% erosion on the accumulated amount plus the new investment, you reach $38,850. In year 3, you exceed $54,000 and the Premium segment is available to your company.

Brand Value Accumulation

The brand is the longest-lasting intangible asset. N2+

Brand value behaves like a reservoir that fills with investment and drains gradually if neglected. Each year without investment, the value loses 10% to natural wear of reputation — the competition advances, consumers forget, visibility drops. Each dollar invested converts 50% into accumulated brand value.

Annual wear (10%)

Without constant investment, the brand loses relevance. Reputation requires continuous maintenance — pausing for a year costs more than it seems relative to those who do invest.

50% conversion

$100,000 in brand investment generates $50,000 of new accumulated value that year. The brand is the most enduring asset: built early, it is almost impossible to catch up with for those who start late.

Brand value enters directly into the market-attractiveness calculation. A company that invested from year 1 can have a brand 3× stronger than one that started in year 4 — and that gap is cumulative and hard to close.

Credit Rating and Effective Interest Rate

Your financial behavior in one period determines the interest rate you pay in the next.

At the close of each year, the engine assesses your company's financial health and assigns it a rating from AAA (excellent) to D (in default). That rating determines the interest rate you'll pay the following year on all your debt.

The engine considers two things: how much debt you have relative to your total assets (machinery + cash + brand value), and whether your operating result is enough to cover interest. The more debt and the less operating profitability, the worse the rating and the more expensive the rate.

Rating	Financial situation	Adjustment over base rate	Effective rate (base 12%)
AAA	No debt	−2 percentage points	10%
AA	Debt under 10% of assets and operating result covers 10× the interest	−1.5 points	10.5%
A	Debt under 25% of assets and operating result covers 5× the interest	−1 point	11%
BBB	Debt under 40% of assets and operating result covers 2× the interest	0 (base rate)	12%
BB	Debt under 55% of assets and operating result covers at least the interest	+2 points	14%
B	Debt under 70% of assets	+4 points	16%
CCC	Debt ≥ 70% of assets, but equity is still positive	+7 points	19%
D	Negative equity — debts exceed all the company's assets	No access to loans	—

How to improve the rating

Pay down debt to lower your leverage ratio. Increase sales and control costs so your operating result covers interest better. The rating is recalculated automatically at the close of each year.

Rating D — keep competing, but with no credit

Negative equity means debts exceed everything the company owns. Banks deny any loan that year. However, your company keeps operating: it can produce, sell and generate income with what it has. The way out is to generate operating profit so equity becomes positive again.

How is interest computed? At the close of the year, your net debt (previous debt + new loan − amortization) is multiplied by that year's effective rate. The effective rate is the market base rate plus or minus the adjustment based on your rating. That's why improving the rating has a direct impact on your net profit.

Market Research N2+

Competitive intelligence bought module by module. Each module delivers a specific market data point.

You individually select what information you want to buy. Each module's price scales with the lab's reference price. If you buy 8 modules or more in the same period, you get a 10% discount on the total. The report arrives at the start of the following year.

Category	Module	Data you receive	Price (× reference price)
Prices	Average price	Average price the market sold at that year	0.5×
	Price range	Minimum and maximum prices observed	1×
	Price distribution	How many companies compete in each price band	1.5×
Demand	Total demand	Total units the market demanded that year	1×
	Market shares	Share ranking (anonymous, by position)	2×
	Demand trend	Signal + estimated % change for next year	3×
Marketing	Total sector spend	Total marketing investment of all companies	1.5×
Marketing	Leader's spend	How much the highest-share company spent on marketing	2.5×
HR	Market average salary	Average annual payroll per employee in the sector	1×
	Average workforce	Average number of employees per company	1×
	Training benchmark	Average training investment + the company that invests most	2×
Production	Average capacity	Average installed capacity and sector inventory	2×
Production	R&D benchmark	Average sector R&D stock + innovation-leading company	2.5×
Finance	Sector results	Average revenue and profit of the market's companies	2×
Finance	Leverage level	Average sector debt ratio	1.5×

The report arrives at the start of the following year. The information is from the just-closed period — use it to adjust your strategy before your competitor does.

Income Statement Flow

The exact order in which the engine builds your P&L each period.

Revenue Units sold × selling price

− Cost of Sales Units sold × unit variable cost (materials + machine)

= Gross Profit

− Marketing Campaigns + brand investment

− Human Resources Total annual payroll + training

− Maintenance Plant maintenance budget

− Depreciation Annual machinery wear (10% of value)

− Storage Cost of holding unsold inventory

= EBIT Operating result before interest

− Interest Net debt × period's effective rate

= Net Profit

Note: EBIT is the operational-health indicator. If EBIT is positive but net profit is negative, the problem is financing — too much debt. If EBIT is negative, the problem is operational (costs, volume or price).

09 Glossary

Key market terms.

Term Definition

R&D stock Technological knowledge accumulated by the company through R&D investment. It builds year over year, loses 15% of currency annually and unlocks the Premium segment when it exceeds $40,000.

Attractiveness A score measuring your offer's appeal against the market, combining marketing, perceived quality and price. The market distributes demand in proportion to each company's relative attractiveness.

BVPS Book Value Per Share — book value of each share = (assets − debt) / shares outstanding. It is adjusted for default risk.

CAPEX Capital Expenditure. Spending on fixed assets such as machinery. It increases production capacity permanently and depreciates gradually each year.

Credit rating A rating from AAA to D the engine assigns at the close of each year based on your leverage and interest coverage. It determines the rate you'll pay the following year. Rating D = no access to new loans.

AR / Accounts receivable Money your customers owe you for sales already made. Collection days reflect your commercial-credit policy toward customers.

AP / Accounts payable Debt to your suppliers for materials and inputs. Payment days reflect how long you have before disbursing that money.

Depreciation Annual reduction of the book value of machinery from use and wear. It is a cost that affects profit but does not leave the cash directly.

EPS Earnings Per Share — net profit divided by shares outstanding. Measures how much the company generates per share.

EBIT Earnings Before Interest and Taxes — Operating Result. Profit before paying interest. If EBIT is positive but net profit is negative, the problem is financial (too much debt). If EBIT is negative, the problem is operational.

HR efficiency Index (0–100%) that measures the team's productivity. It combines salaries, training, benefits, area coverage and other factors. It directly multiplies available production capacity.

ESG Environmental, Social and Governance. Investment in environmental sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance. It improves brand image and can broaden access to certain market segments.

Inventory Produced units that were not sold that year. They have a storage cost and can be sold the following year, though they lose some value to obsolescence.

Margin Difference between the selling price and the variable cost per unit. High margin with high volume = high profitability. A low-price strategy sacrifices margin for volume.

Period A fiscal year of the business lab. Each period has an opening date (when you can enter decisions) and a close (when the engine computes the results).

Default risk A score from 0 to 100 that assesses the company's probability of insolvency. The higher the risk, the lower the stock valuation.

Effective rate The real interest rate you pay on your debt, resulting from combining the market base rate with the adjustment based on your credit rating. It ranges from 10% (AAA) to 19% (CCC).

Brand value Intangible asset accumulated through investment in branding and campaigns. It loses 10% of its value each year without investment. It enters directly into the market-attractiveness calculation.

Reference value The market's equilibrium price set by the instructor. If the sector's average price falls below this value, total demand grows. Use it as a reference to calibrate your pricing strategy.