FAQ Version 1.0

Getting  Started  and Retailing 
     
How can I buy goods from the seaport? 
     Set up a purchasing unit and a sale unit in your department store
and  double-click  the line between them to link them together. Select
the purchasing unit and click the "Link Supplier" button. Double-click
the  small  "pink"  dot on the regional map to select the seaport. Now
the  products  available  in  the seaport are shown. To buy a product,
double-click on its picture.

Where should I set up  new  purchasing  and sale units? 
     Select  your department store and click on the "Layout" button to
show  the  interior  layout of your firm which consists of nine slots.
Set  up  a  purchasing unit in one of the slots and set up a sale unit
next  to  it. You can set them up in any two of the nine slots as long
as they are next to each other.

Why are the goods that I have purchased are not showing  up  in my 
department store? 
     It  takes a short while for the purchasing unit to move the goods
to the sale unit. Also, check your firm's layout to make sure that the
purchasing  unit  is  connected  to  the  sale  unit.  If they are not
connected,  the goods will not be moved to the sale unit. To link them
together, double-click the line between them.

Any tips for designing good firm layouts?  
     Learn  from  computer  players. Look at their firm layouts, which
are usually well designed.

Market Analysis 

How can I increase the overall rating?
     The  overall  rating  of  a product is calculated based on price,
quality,  and  brand  rating.  If  you decrease your products' prices,
their  overall  rating  will  increase  and  more people will buy your
products.  Quality and brand are also very important, we will tell you
how to improve them in the following instructional games.

What does the price concern mean? 
     If a product has high price concern, consumers are more sensitive
to  the  price  and care less about the quality and brand. Its overall
rating is more closely related to theprice.

When should I decrease my products' prices? 
     Compare  the  overall  ratings  of your products to those of your
competitors. If yours are lower than those of your competitors, people
prefer  the  competition and you are losing your market share to them.
In this case, you should consider lowering the price.

What are local competitors? 
     There  are  local  competitors in each city. Although their firms
are not shown in the game map, they do compete directly with you. Keep
an eye on their ratings in the product reports and react accordingly.

Farming

What  agricultural  products  should  my  farm  produce? 
     Only  some  agricultural  products can be sold directly. They are
frozen beef, frozen pork, frozen lambs, frozen chickens, and eggs. The
others  are  raw materials for other products. (For example, barley is
the  raw  material  for beer.) We will tell you more about that in the
next instructional game.

How can I be a good farmer?  
     Consult  the  Manager's  Guide  for details about the farm's unit
info-boxes. You can call up the Manager's Guide on the "Help" menu.

Manufacturing  

What  should  I do before starting a factory? 
     Before  entering  a  new  industry,  analyze  the  status  of the
industry. Try to find a market with the least competition. The product
summary  report  displays  concise  information  about the competitive
status of each product in each city.

What's the use of the  supply and demand? 
     Examine  your  product's  supply  and demand lines. If the supply
line  (blue)  is  longer than the demand line (red), the supply of the
product  is  greater  than the demand. This implies that the product's
profitability might not be fully exploited yet. It has the capacity to
meet  more demand and generate more revenue. Conversely, if the demand
line  (red) is longer than the supply line (blue), this indicates that
the  firm  cannot  supply  enough  goods  to  meet the demand. In this
situation,  try to lift the supply, because any additional supply turn
into sales.

How can I be a good factory manager?  
To run a successful factory, you must understand the meaning of unit
info-box  indicators  on the firm layout plan. Consult the Manager's Guide for
the  details  about the unit info-box. 

You can call up the Manager's Guid e on
the "Help" menu. 

Brand and Advertising 

What is brand concern? If you spend the
     same amount advertising two products, one with high brand concern
and  another  with low brand concern, the overall rating of the former
one increases faster.

So  much  data  about  advertising,  I'm  confused. 
     Pay  attenti on only to the "Rating Points" and "Daily Frequency"
and  ignore  the  rest.  They  are  the two most important advertising
numbers.  They  are  shown  on  the  info-box of the advertising unit,
denoted by the letters "R" and "F", respectively.

What are the  rating  points?  
     The rating points tell the size of a medium's audience.Always try
to  select  a  TV  station  or  a newspaper publisher with high rating
points.

What is the daily frequency? 
     The  daily  frequency  tells  now many times a target audience is
exposed to an advertisement in a day. If you increase your advertising
spending, you get a higher daily frequency.

How is brand rating  determined?  
     The  brand  rating  of  a  product  is  determined  by  its brand
awareness  and  brand  loyalty.  Advertising a product increases brand
awareness but not brand loyalty.

How  is  brand loyalty determined? 
     Brand  loyalty  is  affected by brand awareness, product quality,
and  brand  scope.  Brand  awareness  and  brand  loyalty Higher brand
awareness means more people will try the product and the rate at which
brand  loyalty  can  increase  is  faster.  Product  quality and brand
loyalty  Customers  are  loyal to a brand only if the brand's products
have consistent high quality. Brand scope and brand loyalty If you are
exercising a range brand or corporate brand strategy, a brand covers a
variety  of products. Consumers will doubt your corporation's devotion
to that product and will not easily become loyal to the brand.

How can I change my brand  strategy? 
To change the brand strategy, call up the "Corporation Detail
Report"  and  go  to the "Brand" section. 

Research and Development  

What is an R&D team? 
     When  you  connect  R&D  units,  they  become  an  R&D  team. The
advancement  in  technology  the  team  can achieve is higher than the
individual  units. But you must do that before starting R&D. You won't
get  any  advantage from linking additiona l units to an R&D team that
has already started R&D.

How can I tell an  R&D team to start R&D? 
     When  you  start  a  new  R&D project, remember to click the "R&D
Technology"  button  of the "leader" unit of the team. The "leader" is
the  one  that  has  connections  to  all other R&D units in the team.
Selecting a non-le ader unit results in low technology advancement.

How do I know when my R&D  projects  are  done? 
     When  an  R&D  project  is  complete,  the "Event Tracker" button
appears  (on  the  bottom part of the screen, below the product report
button).  Press  the button to go to the corresponding R&D unit, where
you can appl y the R&D result right away.

Any good R&D strategy? 
     You  can  research  a  product  before  setting  up  a factory to
manufacture  it.  With this strategy, you can launch new products with
superior quality and seize market share from your competitors.

Raw  Materials  Production  

Why  are  mines always losing money?
     Mines,  logging camps, and oil wells are long-term investment. In
the  beginning, they barely break even. However, as more factories buy
raw materials from them, their revenues and profits will increase.

Any good strategy  for  operating  a  mine?  
     If  you  set  a  reasonable  price  for your raw materials, other
corporations  will  buy  them  from  you. Since competition in the raw
material  market  is  much  less than in the consumer market, once you
have  a  sizable  custom  er  base,  it  will  give your corporation a
constant income source.

Stock  Market 

Why should my corporation buy back its own shares? 
     When  your corporation buys back its own shares, those shares are
taken  out  of  circulation. The total number of shares is reduced and
the  ownership percentage of the existing shareholders increases. This
action  can  strengthen  the ownership of existing shareholders in the
corporation  and  reduce  the  risk of a hostile takeover. Buying back
your  corporation's  own  shares  also  has  a  positive effect on the
earnings  per  share, which in turn has a positive effect on the stock
price. If a company buys back half its shares and its overall earnings
stay the same, the earnings per share double.