Copyright © 2012 by Harvard Business School Publishing. HOW TO PLAY Copyright © 2012 by Harvard Business School Publishing. Copyright © 2011 by Harvard Business School Publishing.

Introduction You will play one of four roles in a root beer supply chain Product orders move from right to left, product shipments move from left to right Copyright © 2011 by Harvard Business School Publishing.

Game Play Each week you will: Place an order with the player upstream from you in the supply chain Receive an order from the player downstream from you in the supply chain Delays: When you place an order, it takes 1-2 weeks for the order to be received When you ship an order, it takes 1-2 weeks for the order to arrive If you are unable to fill an order, it will be added to your backlog Both inventory and backlogs have associated weekly costs Your objective is to achieve the lowest total cumulative cost for your entire chain

Prepare: Your Role 1 2 3 4 Start the game in the Prepare section Your Role gives a brief summary of your role in the supply chain A brief summary of ‘How to Play’ is available in the right panel. More details are available in the ‘How to Play’ video available in the lower left of the screen 4

Prepare: Simulation Summary 2 1 Simulation Summary contains important information about how your specific supply chain works When you have read through the Prepare materials, navigate to the Dashboard Overview.

Dashboard Overview 2 Click ‘Place New Order’ to enter your order for the week The simulation will advance to the next week when all users in the supply chain have submitted their orders (or when the timer runs out, starting in Week 6) When the simulation advances, the order and shipment flow will be animated. Control the animation using the controls on the right. If you no longer want to view the animation between rounds, slide the ‘Chain Animation’ bar to OFF. Your weekly orders and costs are tracked in the table below 3 1 4

Other Analyze Screens 1 Other screens are available for additional analysis during the game, including: 1. Orders and Backlog Tracks your incoming orders and resulting backlog over time. 2. Inventory and Shipments Tracks your incoming and outgoing shipments over time. 3. Cumulative Cost Detail Tracks your Inventory and Backlog costs over time 2 3

Remember: Your objective is to obtain the lowest total cumulative cost for your entire chain Both Inventory and Backlogs incur weekly costs Future demand is unknown, but you have 3 weeks of historical data to analyze Shipments and Orders take 1-2 weeks to reach the next player on the chain The timer will begin in Week 6 Good luck!