Threshold Competitor (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A learning experience!
Review: Are you looking for a simulation? This book is nothing like I have encountered before. I would suggest this book as a learning tool for people interested in opening their own small business. It will give you insight to yourself and the way you manage a company depending on outside influences and internal problems. The book was really easy to follow and gave you a clear idea of what was to be expected. The book is merely a guide to a mock simulation of a small company challenged by similiar companies in the same industry. The program was not as user friendly as it could be and made it burdensome to look at necessary reports at one time. Several run time errors were encountered along the way. Overall the book opened my eyes to the experience of competition in a dog eat dog world of survival.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad simulation
Review: I found that this book only gave the basic information necessary to run the program. The information it provided was vague, and almost pointless. If there is a problem that is encounter in the program, you cannot go to the book to find out how to solve it. The simulation could use a more realistic approach. It provides no definite information as to what you are selling or who your target audience is.

Rating:
Summary: Threshold
Review: I thought that the simulation was pretty good. It was at some times hard to figure out, but over all it was good. At some points it was a little hard to read. I would recommend this to other business classes. I think maybe this would be a good way for all classes to understand and learn from.

Rating:
Summary: Nice try.
Review: I thought that this simulation was a good shot at getting as close to the real world without going out into it. I think that there were parts that could have been perfected but over all it was a good simulation and I would recomend it to other buisness majors. I enjoyed the competiton that it created and it was fun getting the results back to see who was on top each time.

Rating:
Summary: Threshold Competitor
Review: I thought that this textbook satisfied our needs of what our tasks were for the course. At first the book was somewhat difficult to understand, but after reading through various parts several times, I began to get a feel of what was to be expected to compete with the other companies.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much Guesswork?
Review: I used this book in as a simulation in my Business Strategy class at HLG. I think that the simulation was basically useless because there was entirely too much guesswork involved. There is no mention of what type of product is being manufactured, only that is made out of plastic. When making decisions such as how much to invest in product quality it would have helped quite a bit to know the specific type of product being produced. For example, quality is for more important when producing laptop computer cases than when producing toy army men. I think that the lack of specific information concerning the product and the market are the downfall of this book. The simulation would have been far more enjoyable and beneficial if informed decisions could be made.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much Guesswork?
Review: I used this book in as a simulation in my Business Strategy class at HLG. I think that the simulation was basically useless because there was entirely too much guesswork involved. There is no mention of what type of product is being manufactured, only that is made out of plastic. When making decisions such as how much to invest in product quality it would have helped quite a bit to know the specific type of product being produced. For example, quality is for more important when producing laptop computer cases than when producing toy army men. I think that the lack of specific information concerning the product and the market are the downfall of this book. The simulation would have been far more enjoyable and beneficial if informed decisions could be made.

Rating:
Summary: This book has problems
Review: I used this book in my strategies course at Hannibal-LaGrange College. I do not like this book, it gives very general instructions, it does not give complete thoughts of what the students are to do. For example, we are to sell two different products, but we do not know what the two products are, this is unrealstic in the business world. I hope that there are other learning tools out there for the students to use, that are more realistic.

Rating:
Summary: What About This?
Review: I was given the assignment of working through and operating a business in the Threshold world. When I got into it I realized that many things were not accounted for in this world. The simulation starts you off in an industry that no one has been in yet. This is very unrealistic in today's world. The simulation also does not give you any information on what the economy is doing or what your competitor, if any, are doing. In the real world you would be able to tell a little bit about what other are doing but not in the Threshold world. The last thing that I did not like is that there is no customer loyalty or repeat buyers. Every quarter you have to find new customers and the old customers never come back. My understanding of a simulation is a make believe world that is very close to the real world. If this is true then Threshold is the worst simulation I have every worked with.

Rating:
Summary: A Learning Experience
Review: The book provided in-depth information about the program. It included all of the various aspects of running a real business, which gives some valuable experience for the real world. The program needed to be more user-friendly and provide more detail about the products being manufactured. Overall, it was a valuable lesson in working in a business environment.