This year at the AMA conference, teams of students are invited to participate in the SABRE business simulation, which is used at leading business schools, including Wharton, University of North Carolina and University of Michigan. Prizes will be awarded to the top teams.
SABRE™, (which stands for Strategic Allocation of Business REsources), is a market simulation developed by IIBD and used in IIBD's executive courses, and in MBA programs worldwide.
About the Competition
SABRE provides the competitive environment which immerses the participants in a dynamic competitive situation. Teams may add and withdraw products from the marketplace as well as advertise, price, distribute and design those products to best fit varying market segments.
Each decision period represents a year of business activity. At the start of each period team members receive a company report and various market studies. The company report is a detailed snapshot of the company's results while the market studies detail product awareness, customer purchase habits, customers' perceptions, etc.
Each team makes a series of strategic decisions - product planning, sales force deployment, R&D expenditures and market research purchases. Once the decisions are made, the team decisions are collected and loaded into the administrator's computer.
The simulation is run (simulating one year in the marketplace) determining market share, product contribution and overall profit for each company. Each team has an equally fair chance of succeeding depending on the strategies and tactics they employ.
Participants must make their decisions in the face of uncertain market conditions, including competitor's moves. As is often the case in real life, there is no one specific solution to a problem but there are alternatives that are clearly superior or inferior.
How to Compete at the Conference
Plan to pit your marketing skills against your peers for a fun and educational experience at this year’s conference!
- Competition takes place Thursday, April 8 from 9:00am to 5:00pm ET. Do not arrive late as orientation will begin at 9:00am and will not be repeated
- Competition is limited to only 15 teams - first come basis; sign up early!
- Teams consist of 3-6 team members
- Team members must be registered for the International Collegiate Conference to participate
- Teams will need to supply at least two PCs with Windows 2000 or later and sufficient rights to install software
- To register your team send an email to sabre@ama.org with school name, team member names and contact information. All registrations must be received by March 15, 2010
- You will receive confirmation of your participation and more details on the competition in early March
- Questions or need further information? Contact us at sabre@ama.org