Competition stages

During the eighth from final and quarter final stages the participants will use the MMT82 Simulator, a simulator with a high level of sophistication – complete, powerful and very advanced - which emulates the automobile sector with a maximum level of realism. The MMT82 has been developed so that a real competition exists between participating companies.

This simulator allows the six participating companies per simulation to operate in two regions, where they can commercialise products of up to three segments (platforms) and can install manufacturing plants (up to six terminal plants, three per region).

LThe participants will take decisions in all company areas, from the manufacturer’s point of view, contemplating the following type of decisions:

Strategies:

Positioning, commercial set-up, production set-up, product development policies, Corporate Social Responsibility policies.

Product development:

Aesthetic design of the product, engines, fuels, finishes and equipment depending on buyer segments.

Finances:

Cash-flow management, leverage policies, financial investments, supplier payment policies, financial balance analysis and business ratios.

Production:

Production capacity, units manufactured per version, stocks, employed operators, productivity policies, product warranties.

Human Resources:

Contracts, redundancies/dismissals, salaries and incentives, motivation.

Marketing:

Product, pricing, communication and distribution policies including prices and promotions, publicity, (brand campaigns per market, including publicity slogans and resource plan for up to ten supports), “below the line” communication, market investigations.

Distribution:

Choice of market for product sale, product segmentation per market.

In the semi-final the best 36 teams will compete using the MMT84 Simulator, even more powerful than the MMT82, in line with the abilities of the teams that reach this round.

With this simulator the management possibilities are increased, the number of markets growing to three, the number of platforms that can be commercialised to four and the maximum number of terminal plants to nine (three per region).

Moreover, service management is incorporated, introducing decisions related to the end distributor, the dealer, and the decisions already contemplated in previous stages are also amplified.

Therefore, the following types of decisions are contemplated in the semi-final:

Strategies:

Positioning, commercial set-up, production set-up, product development policies, Corporate Social Responsibility policies.

Product development:

Advanced aesthetic design of the product, engines, fuels, finishes and equipment.

Finances:

Cash-flow management, leverage policies, financial investments, supplier payment policies, financial balance analysis and business ratios.

Production:

Production capacity, units manufactured per version, stocks, employed operators, productivity policies, warranty periods.

Human Resources:

Contracts, redundancies/dismissals, salaries and incentives, training, motivation.

Marketing:

Product, pricing, communication and distribution policies including prices and promotions, publicity, (brand campaigns and models per market, number and means of introduction), “below the line” communication, market investigations, number of distributors and distribution margins.

Distribution:

Choice of market for product sale, product segmentation per market, number of dealers per region, dealership structure and salary policy, training, publicity investment, Customer Relationship Management.

The best six teams will reach the live final in Madrid. As their main aim, the six finalists will have to prepare a defence of the business plan that they carried out during the Semi-final. Through a series of workdays held in the installations of ESIC Business & Marketing School in Pozuelo de Alarcón, the members of each team should get themselves prepared for the last challenge that awaits them after two months of hard competition; the presentation in front of the academic and professional International Tribunal.

This International Tribunal will attend the business plan defences. Apart from its active listening, the tribunal will ask the finalists a series of questions in order to get to know the maximum potential of each team. The Tribunal will determine the final positions of the teams present in Madrid.