Forio's Forum

Resources on Simulation, Business, and Technology

What is a Simulation The Three Attributes of Every Simulation - (Found June 29, 2008 )

There is a lot of confusion about what is and is not a simulation. To make matters worse, sometimes people call things simulations that aren't simulations at all. Author Michael Bean claims that every simulation has exactly three attributes. Find out what they are in this article.
http://www.forio.com/article_whatisasimulation.htm

U.S. Oil Policy Simulation: What would it take to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil - (Found June 29, 2008 )

In this simulation, you are elected President of the United States on a platform of reducing U.S. dependence on oil imports. How will you achieve your goals You decide on initiatives that include everything from opening oil fields in Alaska to mandating improved fuel efficiency of new vehicles. Then you write a speech to the American people outlining your policies. The simulation shows if you were able to achieve your goals by 2020.
http://broadcast.forio.com/pro/oil

Bullwhips and Beer: Why Supply Chain Management is so Difficult - (Found June 29, 2008 )

Learn about bullwhips, beer, and why The Economist believes that managing the supply chain is "becoming a bit like rocket science" by playing the Near Beer Simulation, based on the MIT Beer Game
http://www.forio.com/nearbeer.htm

The Price Strategy Simulator: Anatomy of a Price War Hewlett-Packard Compaq vs. Dell - (Found June 29, 2008 )

The HP and Compaq merger was largely a response to aggressive price competition from Dell. We've created a simulation that illustrates the difficulties in developing an effective pricing strategy against an aggressive competitor. The sim is tuned to roughly represent Dell, HP and Compaq, and you can tune the simulation to represent your own company. In the starting scenario, you play a company that is about the size of HP or Compaq (pre-merger) and your competitor is about the size of Dell. You.
http://www.forio.com/pricing20010912.htm

Determining the Validity of Simulation Models - (Found June 29, 2008 )

When you see something unexpected happen in a simulation, have you stumbled across an important insight, or is the model bad Will Glass-Husain explains that model validity is often questioned in a simulation when unexpected results are encountered. Will explains how the purpose of a model determines if, or if not, a model is valid. He also describes tests you can perform to make sure the simulation you're using is valid.
http://www.forio.com/article_validity.htm