Bevco Business Simulation®
Bevco Business Simulation® is an innovative experiential learning tool that allows student to assess market opportunities, launch new business ventures, and craft and execute business strategy. The simulation facilitates learner-to-learner and learner-to-faculty engagement and is keyed to competency goals for courses in Introduction to Business, Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Strategic Management.
Marketed by McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Assign
Assign as an individual project or to 2–4 member teams.
Launch & Compete
Students launch and manage a nutritional beverage company.
Two Markets
The company's beverages are sold to wholesale customers (supermarkets and c-stores) and to consumers via online retailing.
Value & Cost Drivers
Students meet or exceed demand and performance targets using 5 value and cost drivers.
- Quality rating
- Health & wellness rating
- Brand image
- Sustainability rating
- Pricing
Inputs and Competitive Outcomes
Student decision entries include 10 purchasing decision options, 3 production-related decision options, and 8 marketing decision options.
Sales volume + score reflect competitive advantage and performance versus targets. Dashboard KPIs and financial reports allow students to assess performance.
Bevco Business Simulation® at a Glance
- The simulation can be assigned to individual students or to student teams.
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Students launch and manage a nutritional beverage company. The company’s beverages are sold to:
- Wholesale customers such as supermarkets and convenience stores
- Consumers purchasing directly via the company’s online retailing site
- A practice decision round and up to 12 decision rounds may be assigned.
- A demand forecast and investor performance targets are provided prior to each decision round.
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Students develop a business model and strategy utilizing five value drivers:
- Quality Rating
- Health and Wellness Rating
- Brand Image
- Sustainability Rating
- Wholesale and Online Pricing
- The company’s competitive advantage relative to competing beverage brands determines sales volume.
- Each value driver is accompanied by a cost driver. Students must develop a viable profit formula that yields financial metrics meeting investor performance targets.
- The company’s score after each decision round is based on its financial and triple bottom line performance relative to predetermined investor performance targets.
- The competition-based sales volume allocation and target-based scoring allow all companies with viable business models and strategies to achieve acceptable scores.
Key Instructor and Student Support Features
- Affordable Subscription Pricing: Bevco Business Simulation subscription pricing is aligned with affordability goals of faculty. The $24.95 subscription price requires each student enrolled in the course to purchase a subscription.
- Connect Integration: The Bevco Business Simulation test bank may be assigned in your Connect course and integrated into the Connect gradebook for your course. Test banks allow instructors to assign a pre-simulation registration quiz, a second quiz covering the content of the Student Manual, and quizzes linked to each Help Video.
- Instructor Manual: The instructor manual is available under Instructor Resources in the instructor site.
- Student Manual: The Student Manual is available in the Instructor Resources section of the instructor account and under Student Resources in the student site.
- Student Help Videos with Connect quizzes: Student help videos may be accessed via bevcosim.com, the Student Manual, Student Resources in the student site, and the Instructor’s Manual.
- Instructor Alerts: The Instructor site includes alerts for missed decision rounds and teams with no registered members.
- Student and Instructor Support: support@bevcosim.com
- Instructor onboarding support via individual Zoom meetings: Zoom meetings may be requested by email at support@bevcosim.com.
Student Testimonials
Bevco Business Simulation gave me a much better understanding of what goes into launching and managing a business. It helped me apply what I have learned in class in a realistic setting and gave me more confidence in my ability to make business decisions. I now feel better equipped to approach entrepreneurial opportunities with a strategic mindset and an awareness of the key drivers behind small business success. Conner K.
The simulation required constant analysis of competitors, adapting to market changes, and making strategic decisions in real time. I developed key skills such as anticipating rival moves, effective market segmentation, and product differentiation. Ana G.
I gained greater confidence in interpreting financial and performance reports. Each round included detailed financial statements, KPIs, and industry benchmarks. I learned to analyze revenue trends, cost structure, and profit margins to assess the effectiveness of our decisions. Javier M.
This simulation helped me connect classroom concepts to real-world business decisions. It gave me a better sense of what it takes to start and run a small business and I now feel more confident in my ability to evaluate pricing strategies, manage costs, and think through the long-term impact of business decisions. I have a stronger understanding of what it takes to make a business both sustainable and profitable. Megan H.
I was expecting it to be just another class assignment where we plug in some numbers and move on. But once we started, it was real. I was truly surprised how competitive it got. Our competitors would switch things around making us come back, re-strategize, take chances, and be alert. William B.
Request Demo or Instructor Account
Instructor account requests are verified by McGraw-Hill. Your McGraw-Hill representative may contact you to confirm your request.
You may also request a software demonstration using the button below.
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Additional Questions Contact us at support@bevcosim.com
Instructor FAQs
How are decisions scheduled and outcomes determined?
Up to 12 decision rounds may be scheduled by the instructor depending on course objectives. Deadlines may be set as often as every day or scheduled less frequently to match the term for the course.
When the deadline for a decision round arrives, the decision entries of rival companies are automatically processed. Bevco Business Simulation® algorithms allocate unit sales in the wholesale and online markets for nutritional beverages based upon the relative strength of the company’s value proposition and competitive strategy. The factors determining sales volume include Wholesale and Online Pricing, Quality Rating, Health & Wellness Rating, Brand Image and Sustainability Rating.
What information is provided to students after a decision round is processed?
Once unit sales and market shares are awarded, the company and industry reports are then generated and become available to students by accessing the company Dashboard. The Dashboard provides the Current Month Score and the Game-to-Date Score along with key financial metrics and competitive KPI data for the company. Students can assess the strength of the company’s business model and strategy by comparing the company’s results to the high, low, and average data for the entire industry. The Current Month Score is determined by how actual results compare to performance targets for four criteria: Sales Revenue, Gross Margin, Operating Margin, and a Triple Bottom Line rating. The Game-to-Date Score is also provided in the company Dashboard and is the average score for all completed decision rounds.
Students may also assess performance by reviewing projected, current and historical Income Statement data. The company’s projected performance relative to current month targets prior to finalizing decision entries. Projected unit sales and revenue is calculated based upon the number of cases ordered from contract manufacturers. Actual sales revenue may vary from projected if sales volume is lower than the number of cases ordered. Any ending inventory is automatically liquidated at $24/case, eliminating severe positive or negative impacts of an inaccurate sales forecast.
Projected, current, and historical Cost Report data showing all costs on a per case basis is also available. Students also have a record of decision entries for projected and completed decision rounds by accessing the Decision History report. The industry and company statistics are available to company co-managers after each decision round to use in making strategy adjustments and decision entries for the next competitive round.
How does the simulation support experiential learning, student engagement, and learner success?
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Students participating in Bevco Business Simulation® will gain hands-on experience in assessing market opportunities, launching a startup venture, crafting and executing strategy, and analyzing financial metrics and results of operations. The iterative decision-making process allows students to gain experience in sustaining company performance and better understand the dynamic nature of competitive rivalry. In addition, of Bevco Business Simulation® allows students to make decisions individually or in teams.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Bevco Business Simulation® facilitates student-to-faculty and student-to-student engagement during participation in the simulation. Students engage with faculty during consultations arranged by the student or when required to make end-of-simulation investor presentations. Engagement with faculty creates a high impact learning experience as the student must demonstrate learning through action following each interaction with the instructor. Student-to-student engagement occurs through team assignments and also serve as high impact learning experiences where students must debate their assessments of market opportunities, the internal situation, and paths to improve the company’s competitive standing and financial performance.
COMPETENCY GOALS AND LEARNER SUCCESS
DATA ANALYSIS Students can assess market demand, competitive data, trend data, and financial performance.
BUSINESS MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVE STRATEGY Students develop a customer value proposition, profit formula and competitive strategy based upon such factors as price, quality, brand image, health & wellness rating, and sustainability practices.
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Students must forecast demand, purchase ingredients and packaging materials, and schedule production with contract manufacturers.
MARKETING Students compete in wholesale markets through sales to established brick-and-mortar grocers and convenience stores and sell beverage products direct-to-consumer via an online marketing strategy.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Students can review financial trends and the overall success of its business model and strategy with monthly KPI data, income statements, and cost reports.
Are students able to use AI to make decision entries?
Students in your course may utilize generative AI to analyze past performance and seek recommendations for future decision entries. However, AI does not understand the underlying logic of the simulation and is not able to predict the future competitive moves of rival firms.
A company’s sales volume is purely the result of its competitiveness relative to rivals on the five value drivers used in the simulation. AI cannot anticipate the decision entry choices of competing beverages producers regarding quality rating, health and wellness rating, brand image, sustainability rating, or wholesale and online retail pricing.
What are the technical requirements for students using the simulation?
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No Installation
A web-based app requiring no installation -
Device Compatibility
PCs, Mac, and tablet compatibility -
Browsers Supported
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, DuckDuckGo, and most other browsers