Quantum is a copyrighted computer program for teaching and learning marketing management and marketing strategy. Quantum permits interactive play among students to simulate the effects of marketing decisions taken in an international market containing up to five countries, where a maximum of 28 companies can compete in a single simulation. This international character is a prominent feature of the simulation. The software Quantum has two components, the “Quantum Student” program used by the participants in the game, and the “Quantum Instructor” program used by licensed instructors to develop the market simulation. Both programs are autonomous yet mutually compatible.

The player directs the department of marketing of a specific business, making a sequence of decisions in a competitive marketing environment based on available information in alternative settings. They apply knowledge from both theory and professional practice and should learn to distribute the budget of the department of marketing among the possible investments in alternatives marketing politics. Each decision represents a year of Quantum competition.

The original Quantum was written by professors Mercedes Esteban-Bravo, Nora Lado-Cousté and Jose M. Vidal-Sanz, based on the latest computational algorithms and marketing theories. The final release was rewritten by Juan José Bello-Tomás in Java. Since them, many other people have joined the Quantum development making substantial contributions.

Here we provide a short introduction to the software “Quantum Students”.

Startup

Quantum is designed to run in any personal computer or laptop with Windows or Mac OS that has installed JAVA. It can be downloaded from authorized distributors.

Before installing Quantum you must ensure that Windows or Mac OS itself is properly running. The installation takes few minutes while files are decompressed. If you install the Quantum Instructor software, the Student software will be simultaneously installed. When you have finished installing the setup program will create a new program group in the program manager. Next we explain what you need to know to start using Quantum.

Quantum Students: After installation, the Quantum Student software can be opened clicking on the Quantum Student icon in the program manager. This software can open players’ files with the decisions of any Quantum business, but each business file requires a specific password that will be provided by the instructor to the players.

Reference Guide

Quantum functions can be easily accessed via pull-down menus associated with the items in the main menu bar along the top of the Quantum window.

Quantum displays its features in separate windows. You can open simultaneously any number of windows (within the limits of you own system resources) to display tables and graphics in them. In the upper right-hand corner of each window, you will see a set of buttons which control the window display. As you work, you may change the size of a window, move it, minimize, restore or close it. Warning: if a decision window is closed without saving, the decisions will be ignored.

Quantum Student: The main menu bar contains: the menus “File”, “Analysis” and “Decisions”, and in the right top corner the “Help” card.

• The “Analysis” pull-down menu where the student accesses: “primary information” (market research entrusted specifically), “secondary information”: divided into “internal information” (of internal sources) and “external information”. The primary information is received after it has been decided in the previous round of decisions, and the studies can be obtained with high, medium, or low accuracy (with different costs).
• The “Decisions” menu, where the student makes decisions on marketing strategy and operations. The pull-down menu includes: “Brand management and innovation” (where research and development projects for new products and brand management operations are decided), “product”, “price”, “place”, “promotion”, “market research planning”, and “budget check and save” used by the player to check that the decisions are within budgetary bounds, to request credits and subsidies, and also to save the decisions file.
• The “Help” card: These notes have been provided to help users. In addition you can consult the user’s manual for a more comprehensive discussion.