

	  	     CAPITALISM FAQ Version 1.0	



	(C) Copyright 1995 Trevor Chan and Enlight Software







Getting Started and Retailing 

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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 the price.



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 Guide 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 attention 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 additional 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-leader 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 apply 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 customer 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.

