1. http://www.LINKS-simulations.com
May-June 2015
LINKS Global Services Competition Results
Creative Uses of Consulting Fee Bonuses In LINKS Events
Encouraging Early-LINKS Engagement
Where In The World Is LINKS Simulations?
Forecaster Simulation @ 1,625
Big Data in LINKS
LINKS Train-The-Trainer Seminars
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LINKS Global Services Competition Results
T
eams from the University of Puerto Rico – Rio
Piedras and the University of Ottawa competed in
the March-April 2015 LINKS Global Services
Competition with the LINKS Services Marketing Simulation.
The overall winning team (firm 2) was from the University
of Puerto Rico. Team members (from left to right in the photo)
Carolina Arenas, Melanie Medina, Juan de la Vega, Ivana Gonzalez, and Patricia Arroyo are the Gold
Medalists in the 2015 LINKS Global Services Competition.
This photo, of course, reflects a typical LINKS Simulation team
meeting. And, behind the students is the tower at the entrance of
the UPR campus.
Performance evaluation in the LINKS Global Services
Competition was based on the multi-factor balanced scorecard
assessment system described in the LINKS participant’s manual.
Congratulations to all who participated!

2. Page 2
I
strategically use consulting fee bonuses during the semester of LINKS in my strategic marketing
management capstone course. Typically, these are used as a reward for an in-class competition
across my groups. Specifically, I use them for three main events in my class, including a financial
analysis competition, a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) calculation competition, and finally, for the
main event, which is a corporate board competition.
First, the financial analysis competition takes place
over a single class period right after the beginning of
LINKS. This event is designed to teach students how to
use their financial homework, including topics such as
contribution margin, breakeven, cannibalization, and
customer lifetime value, within the context of LINKS.
Students complete the group assignment before class
and bring their answers to class. Then we work problems
on the board, two firms at a time (Team A vs. Team B),
competing against each other. On a scantron sheet,
students are required to mark one of four answers in ink
(so they can’t change their answer). They can mark A (Agree with only Team A), B (Agree with only
Team B), C (Agree with Both, should the teams at the board have the same answer), or D (Agree with
Neither, should their firm disagree with both answers on the board). If the team working their problem
on the board gets the answer correct, then they get a bonus point. This encourages teams to try their
best to get the correct answer, instead of gaming the scantron options. Firms not at the board get one
point for a correct answer. I tabulate the points throughout the contest and have a bonus question in my
pocket for any firms that might tie at the end of the exercise to determine the winner. I usually give one
to two million dollars as a consulting bonus (pre-tax) for winning this competition.
Secondly, about midway through the LINKS event, after firms have had a chance to study the KPI’s
on their own, I hold a KPI competition, to teach the students exactly how their performance grade is
calculated, and to encourage them to concentrate on better internal control of their firms. I bring in a
case from a previous LINKS industry with all of the needed information from research, the case-firm’s
Creative Uses of Consulting Fee Bonuses
In LINKS Events
Kyle Huggins
(Belmont University)
is a long-time
LINKS Simulations user.
Kyle joined the
LINKS Hall of Fame
in 2011.

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Page 3
P&L statements, and additional firm reports that are needed to calculate all of the KPI’s. Then, I provide
the case to students with an answer sheet that has all of the KPI’s on it. Students then work in their
firms, using the LINKS manual, to attempt to calculate each KPI in the case. This is a race, as the first
firm that correctly calculates each KPI, wins the competition. Obviously, multiple tries on each answer
are allowed, until they get it correct. This usually takes about an hour for them to correctly calculate
each KPI, usually having trouble on Inventory Turnover and Return on Assets. At the end of the class,
we quickly go through the calculations of each, so that every firm has a complete understanding of their
calculations. I then ask CEO’s (team leaders) of each group to calculate their own firm’s previous
quarter KPI’s for homework, as I put this primary responsibility of KPI performance on the CEO’s.
Again, the winner receives a one to two million dollar consulting fee bonus for that quarter’s run. The
amount here usually depends on my subjective assessment of how the current industry is performing.
Sometimes I want the post-tax amount to be above one million dollars to entice the students to work
hard during the assignment.
The final competition is the corporate board competition. Right before the last four quarters of the
LINKS event, I pause the simulation for two weeks. During these two weeks, students are required to
create a marketing plan presentation for the last four quarters of the LINKS event. This marketing plan
includes a brief history of past performance, a good-better-best typology of all of their current markets
with a SWOT Analysis, and then future plans for each of the four volume drivers, in order of importance,
as demonstrated by LINKS research, like conjoint analysis and the importance-performance analysis.
During one selected evening from 6pm to 10pm, each firm comes into a classroom one group at a time
for a 30-minute presentation and a 10-min Q&A session from the board. During these 40-minutes, each
group presents their strategic plan for the next four quarters and then makes an investment pitch at the
end of the presentation. The corporate board, made up of local business people and former MBA
students, volunteer their time to come in and help evaluate the presentations. Then, they are given a
fictitious $1 million dollars to invest in any of the firms they deem worthy. They can invest however they
want, all in one firm or spread out across firms. The goal for the board is to return the highest ROI
across the last four quarters of the LINKS event. Based on increased stock prices and returned dividends,
the investor that accumulates the highest ROI in the board member competition is rewarded with some
university memorabilia, like a mug and a T-shirt from our university. It is a fun event for the corporate
board volunteers, and it is a good way to keep them engaged in our college and our students. I frequently
have repeat board members on a yearly basis, coming back for that special night both Fall and Spring.
It has become quite an event for our students, who have learned about that specific night via word of
mouth before they ever enter the class. On the first day of class, they are already asking questions
about the marketing plan presentation evening. Finally, the day after the event, I total all of the investments
across all board members and reward those totals to each firm before the start of the next simulation
run. Ideally, I like to keep the total industry investment around $10M, with the top team usually receiving
around $4M. It is a very real reward to those firms that prepare the most, who instill confidence in the
board that they understand LINKS and plan to be successful over the last four quarters.
Hopefully, I may have given you some ideas of your own on how you could use consulting bonuses
(negative Special Consulting Fees Adjustments) as tangible ways to motivate learning in your class.

4. Page 4
Where AreLINKS Users?
F
ine-tuning the content and organization of the LINKS Simulations website continues unabated.
Our latest enhancement is a short video (accessible via the Videos link on the LINKS Simulations
website and near the top of each LINKS industry’s firm-0 webpage)
This 5-minute video provides instructors with plentiful possibilities/options for ensuring that their
LINKS students become well-engaged with LINKS early in a LINKS event. And, summary notes (a 2-
page table) of the video’s content are accessible too via a clickable link to the right of the Encouraging
Early-LINKS Engagement link.
The content of this video is drawn from LINKS White Papers. And, viewing this video (between the
first- and second-day teleconferences) will be a “homework assignment” for future participants in LINKS
Train-The-Trainer Seminars.
Current and potential LINKS instructors are strongly encouraged to view this impactful video!
LINKS Simulations exhibits at 10-12 conferences annually to reach out to prospective LINKS
instructors and to interact with existing LINKS users.
We’ll be exhibiting at these conferences in the near future:
If you’re attending any of these conferences, please do stop by our exhibit to chat.
Encouraging Early-LINKS Engagement
Where In The World Is LINKS Simulations?
May 8-11
June 18-20
July 10-12
August 14-16
POMS Conference @ Washington
INFORMS Marketing Science Conference @ Baltimore
Frontiers in Service Conference @ San Jose
AMA Summer Educators’ Conference @ Chicago

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T
he Forecaster Simulation is an engaging, interactive 1-2 hour outside-of-class learning-by-doing
tutorial that complements LINKS simulation usage.
· The 5 forecasting problems in the Forecaster Simulation are relevant to a wide range of introductory
and elective business strategy, marketing, operations management, services, and supply chain
management courses.
· The Forecaster Simulation includes within-simulation debriefing notes for each forecasting problem,
accessible after completing each of the forecasting problems.
· Individuals or small teams can work on the Forecaster Simulation, with 2-person teams
recommended for teaming’s incremental learning.
Access the Forecaster Simulation via links on the main LINKS Simulations webpage and on each of
the specific sub-webpages for LINKS simulations. A link also exists in the variant-specific sub-webpages
in the Instructor Resources with a related link to the associated instructor notes for the Forecaster
Simulation. The Forecaster Simulation direct URL is:
http://www.LINKS-simulations.com/Forecaster/Introduction.php
The Forecaster Simulation is a no-cost value-added offering of LINKS Simulations,
but a passcode (e-mailed upon request) is required. A passcode may be requested
within the Forecaster Simulation webpage.
And, since its creation/introduction inAugust/2012, more than 1,625 passcodes have been requested
for the Forecaster Simulation!
Forecaster Simulation @ 1,625

6. Page 6
A
t the instructor’s option, Research Study #36 (“Market Database”) may be included in any LINKS
event with any LINKS Simulations variant to provide “big data” analysis
possibilities in the LINKS environment.
Big Data in LINKS
This “Market Database” research study
generates a market database (an Excel
spreadsheet) for report generation,
statistical analysis, and tracking/
charting of LINKS industry market
activities. No statistical analysis is conducted by
executing this research study; subsequent analysis
of this “big data” is for a LINKS team to undertake.
Research Study #36 is likely to be of most interest to instructors teaching advanced electives with
larger LINKS Simulations variants, such as:
xLINKS Enterprise Management Simulation [Extreme Edition]
LINKS Marketing Research Simulation
LINKS Marketing Strategy Simulation
xLINKS Marketing Strategy Simulation [Extreme Edition]
LINKS Services Management Simulation
xLINKS Services Management Simulation [Extreme Edition]
Contact LINKS Simulations (LINKS@LINKS-simulations.com) to request a complete description of
Research Study #36 (“Market Database”).
No new data are provided in this market
database that aren’t available via other LINKS
research studies. This research study
reduces labor-intensive activities
related to manually transferring data
from multiple LINKS research study reports into
spreadsheet or database management software for
subsequent analysis.

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LINKS Train-The-Trainer Seminars
June 22-26 and August 3-7, 2015
LINKS Simulations Immersion Experience
Five Teleconferences and a Four-Round LINKS Simulation Event
R
egistration is available for the next five-
day, intensive-mode Train-The-Trainer
distance-learning seminars for the LINKS
simulations. Randy Chapman, the LINKS author,
leads these distance-learning events for academic
faculty interested in learning more about teaching
with LINKS. These intensive-mode seminar formats
includes 2-3 hours of work per day during each of
the five days of the distance-learning seminars.
LINKS Train-The-Trainer Seminars are offered
for the enterprise management, marketing,
services, and supply chain management LINKS
variants.
Current LINKS instructors are invited to pass
along this announcement to faculty colleagues and
advanced doctoral students who might be
interested in learning more about teaching with
LINKS.
Experienced LINKS instructors sometimes
participate in a LINKS Train-The-Trainer Seminar
to refresh their memories of LINKS details just prior
to teaching with LINKS or to explore another LINKS
simulation variant for a future teaching activity.
Such experienced LINKS instructors may elect just
to participate in the TTT’s four-round simulation
event, ignoring the public teleconferences included
in the LINKS TTT program. (PowerPoint decks are
available to all LINKS TTT participants before each
teleconference, so such experienced LINKS
instructors may freely choose to participate in all,
some, or none of the teleconferences as per their
availability and interest.)

8. Page 8
LINKS®
is a registered trademark of Randall G Chapman.
All rights reserved. Copyright ©
2015 by Randall G Chapman.
T
he LINKS Newsletter is a bi-monthly newsletter for current and prospective LINKS
instructors and for LINKS friends. Please e-mail comments, suggestions, and
other contributions (e.g., LINKS teaching tips) to CWinkler@LINKS-simulations.com
Editor: Cyndy Winkler
E-Mail Address Management: Using their LINKS firm’s passcode, LINKS students may change
their official LINKS e-mail address via the “E-Mail Address Management” button in the LINKS Simulation
Database. Confirmations of e-mail address changes are e-mailed to the old and new e-mail addresses.
LINKS Instructor Resources: Intructors access LINKS Instructor Resources via the LINKS
webpage. Contact Randy Chapman (Chapman@LINKS-simulations.com), the LINKS author, to obtain
the username and passcode.
Student Payment Timing: Student payment with a personal credit card is via the “Pay For LINKS”
link on the LINKS webpage.
The published LINKS price (the discounted price) is in effect until the first round of LINKS is
complete. Then, the price is increased 25%. This means that we can initialize a LINKS event (and
advance LINKS through to its normal starting point) and students can continue to pay at the discounted
price until the first scheduled round.
It is not necessary for your students to pay before LINKS begins to have access to the discounted
LINKS price. Students must only pay before the first official game run on your game-run schedule to
receive the discounted price. Thus, student payments can occur simultaneously with the beginning of
a LINKS simulation event. As a practical matter, a final warning/reminder is e-mailed to those students
who haven’t paid by the first game run, before implementing the non-discounted price.
LINKS passcode retrieval for a LINKS participant (student or
instructor) is possible via the “Retrieve LINKS Passcode” link on the main LINKS webpage (http://
www.LINKS-simulations.com). Executing the “Retrieve LINKS Passcode” operation e-mails the firm’s
passcode to the participant’s official e-mail address as recorded in the LINKS Simulation Database.
LINKS Passcode Retrieval: