The Root Beer Game Simulation

Instructions for running The Root Beer Game simulation:

Forio Group. (2011). Root beer game demo. HBR. Retrieved from http://forio.com/simulation/harvard-business-school-root-beer-game-demo/#page=summary.

Running the simulation involves the following steps:

Review the Simulation Summary, Your Role, and How to Play sections under the Prepare tab.

Go to the Analyze tab to run the simulation.

Submit your weekly order in the Enter Order field; at least 20 rounds are necessary to get a good feel for the problems involved.

When finished, review your performance under the Dashboard Overview, Inventory and Shipments, Orders and Backlog, and Cost Detail tabs.

It sounds easy, right? Try it and see how good you are at getting root beer to your customers while keeping your inventory and costs low. See if you can control the bullwhip oscillations of stock-outs followed by over-supply.

To run the simulation several times, you will need log out and start again. The log out command is on the bottom left side of the page.

Spend a maximum of 30 minutes working with the game. Then think about it in conjunction with this module’s readings for perhaps another 15-20 minutes.

Then, in 2-3 pages, address the following questions:

What did you do in the simulation? What activities did you engage in? What did you learn about what’s going on?
What have you learned about supply chain management from your participation in this simulation?