Misplaced Pages

#730269

112-471: Railroad Tycoon II is a business simulation video game in the Railroad Tycoon series developed by PopTop Software and published by Gathering of Developers . It was released for Microsoft Windows , Mac OS , PlayStation and Dreamcast . It was later ported and released for Linux. Gameplay is displayed in dimetric view , unlike the top-down view of Railroad Tycoon . Railroad Tycoon II

224-428: A dividend imputation system, wherein companies can attach franking credits or imputation credits to dividends. These franking credits represent the tax paid by the company upon its pre-tax profits. One dollar of company tax paid generates one franking credit. Companies can attach any proportion of franking up to a maximum amount that is calculated from the prevailing company tax rate: for each dollar of dividend paid,

336-412: A 5% stock dividend will yield 5 extra shares). Nothing tangible will be gained if the stock is split because the total number of shares increases, lowering the price of each share, without changing the total value of the shares held. (See also Stock dilution .) Stock dividend distributions do not affect the market capitalization of a company. Stock dividends are not includable in the gross income of

448-1101: A business corporation is to pay dividends to its owners. A successful company is one that can pay dividends regularly and presumably increase the rate as time goes on." Other studies indicate that dividend-paying stocks tend to offer superior long-term performance relative to the overall market at least in developed economies, relative to a stock index such as the S&;P 500 or Dow Jones Industrial Average or relative to stocks that do not pay dividends. Several explanations have been proposed for this outperformance such as dividends being associated with value stocks which are themselves associated with long-term outperformance; being more durable in crashes or bear markets ; being associated with profitable companies exhibiting high levels of free cashflow ; and being associated with mature, unfashionable companies that are overlooked by many investors and thus an effective contrarian strategy . Assett managers at Tweedy, Browne and Capital Group have suggested dividends are an effective measure of

560-450: A business game (or business simulation) as a sequential decision-making exercise structure around a model of a business operation, in which participants assume the role of managing the simulated operation . The descriptions given for a management game, for example, by Forrester and Naylor do not differ from the previous. However, Elgood determines that in a management game profit is not the dominant measure of success. Keys and Wolfe define

672-435: A business simulation game. The level of preliminary instruction given may also vary depending on the complexity of the simulation. Business simulations may be played by individuals or by teams. Increasing team size allows for practical lessons in leadership and collaboration and students delegate responsibilities, interpret data, and make decisions. Research indicates that team performance rises with each additional member until

784-550: A commercial success. Its sales surpassed 500,000 copies globally by February 1999, and its computer version alone sold more than 1.5 million copies by August 2001. In the United States, the game and its Gold edition together sold 351,000 copies by October 2001. According to Franz J. Felsl of PopTop, much of Railroad Tycoon II ' s success came from European markets; he explained that it "did better in Europe than it did in

896-479: A company declaring or distributing dividends is required to pay a Corporate Dividend Tax in addition to the tax levied on their income. The dividend received by the shareholders is then exempt in their hands. Dividend-paying firms in India fell from 24 percent in 2001 to almost 19 percent in 2009 before rising to 19 percent in 2010. However, dividend income over and above ₹ 1,000,000 attracts 10 percent dividend tax in

1008-403: A company's income. A company must pay dividends on its preferred shares before distributing income to common share shareholders. Stock or scrip dividends are those paid out in the form of additional shares of the issuing corporation, or another corporation (such as its subsidiary corporation). They are usually issued in proportion to shares owned (for example, for every 100 shares of stock owned,

1120-438: A company's share of the market. Typically, the player feeds information into a computer program and receives back a series of optional or additional data that are conditional upon the player's initial choices. The game proceeds through several series of these interactive, iterative steps. As can be noted, this definition does not consider continuous (real-time) processing an alternative. In business simulation games players receive

1232-503: A consultation exercise on insolvency and corporate governance. The aim was to address concerns which had emerged where companies in financial distress were still able to distribute "significant dividends" to their shareholders. A requirement has been proposed under which the largest companies would be required to publish a distribution policy statement covering dividend distribution. The law in England and Wales regarding dividend payment

SECTION 10

#1732790189731

1344-477: A corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings ). The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash (usually by bank transfer) or, if

1456-491: A declared amount of money is distributed. Thus, if a person owns 100 shares and the cash dividend is 50 cents per share, the holder of the stock will be paid $ 50. Dividends paid are not classified as an expense , but rather a deduction of retained earnings . Dividends paid does not appear on an income statement , but does appear on the balance sheet . Different classes of stocks have different priorities when it comes to dividend payments. Preferred stocks have priority claims on

1568-456: A description of an imaginary business and an imaginary environment and make decisions – on price, advertising, production targets, etc. – about how their company should be run. A business game may have an industrial, commercial or financial background (Elgood, 1996). Ju and Wagner mention that the nature of business games can include decision-making tasks, which pit the player against a hostile environment or hostile opponents. These simulations have

1680-479: A dividend of £1 has led to a larger drop in the share price of £1.31, because the tax rate on capital losses is higher than the dividend tax rate. However in many countries the stock market is dominated by institutions which pay no additional tax on dividends received (as opposed to tax on overall profits). If that is the case, then the share price should fall by the full amount of the dividend. Finally, security analysis that does not take dividends into account may mute

1792-482: A flexible suggestion and not as rigid requirements: Van Ments notes that the aim of debriefing is to: deal with factual errors and to tie up loose ends (including scoring); draw out general conclusions about the session; and deduce general lessons which can be extrapolated to the real world. Furthermore, the participants should not be allowed to conclude what was learned without receiving feedback (Gentry, 1990). The participants need to articulate their perception of what

1904-457: A game but there are real doubts about its ability to generate sufficient sales in this blockbuster market where a few of the games make most of the money." The soundtrack of Railroad Tycoon II consist mostly of classical "railroad" blues and bluegrass from the era the game revolves around. These pieces were not, unlike most contemporary games, midi files, but rather high-quality studio recordings; some even with vocals. This fact has contributed to

2016-471: A gaming classic", and the staff of PC Gamer US wrote that the game "did a terrific job of immersing the player in a richly detailed world of empire-building, commerce and micro-management." In 2000, the PlayStation port of Railroad Tycoon II received a nomination for GameSpot ' s "Best Simulation Game" prize among console games , which went to Theme Park World . Railroad Tycoon II became

2128-428: A given company's overall financial status. Shareholders in companies that pay little or no cash dividends can potentially reap the benefit of the company's profits when they sell their shareholding, or when a company is wound down and all assets liquidated and distributed amongst shareholders. However, data from professor Jeremy Siegel found stocks that do not pay dividends tend to have worse long-term performance, as

2240-445: A group, than the general stock market and also perform worse than dividend-paying stocks. Taxation of dividends is often used as justification for retaining earnings, or for performing a stock buyback , in which the company buys back stock, thereby increasing the value of the stock left outstanding. When dividends are paid, individual shareholders in many countries suffer from double taxation of those dividends: In many countries,

2352-417: A management game as a simplified simulated experiential environment that contains enough verisimilitude, or illusion of reality, to include real world-like responses by those participating in the exercise. Gredler divides experiential simulations into the following four categories: Business simulation games are most often of the first kind. A participant in a data management simulation typically functions as

SECTION 20

#1732790189731

2464-493: A measure of how much incoming cash is "free" to pay out to stockholders and/or to grow the business. A free cash flow payout ratio greater than 100% means the company paid out more cash in dividends for the year than the "free" cash it took in. A dividend that is declared must be approved by a company's board of directors before it is paid. For public companies in the US, four dates are relevant regarding dividends: The position in

2576-405: A member of a team of managers or planners. Each team is managing a company allocating economic resources to any of several variables in order to achieve a particular goal. Business strategy games are intended to enhance students' decision-making skills, especially under conditions defined by limited time and information. They vary in focus from how to undertake a corporate takeover to how to expand

2688-435: A nature of strategy or war games, but usually are very terse in their user interface. Other types of managerial simulations are resource allocation games, in which the player or players have to allocate resources to areas such as plant, production, operations, marketing, and human resources, in order to produce and sell goods. According to Senge and Lannon in managerial microworlds – like business simulation games – unlike in

2800-541: A range of resources to help educators embed simulations into their classes. A study in the Journal of Business Research used a Marketplace Simulations game to explore the role of cognitive processes in team decision-making within the context of marketing. The paper addressed a gap in existing literature by considering not only behavioral and cultural aspects but also the cognitive aspects of information processing in teams. The team gathered data from eight MBA programs across

2912-470: A sandbox learning environments. When arguing for this, they most often refer to David A. Kolb's influential work in the field of experiential learning . During the last decades ideas from constructivism and authentic e-learning have also provided new perspectives for considering the role of business simulations in learning. The activities carried out during a simulation game training session are: Instructors may vary in how much introduction they give to

3024-451: A set amount (the number of shares you own multiplied by the dividend per share). By doing this, you buy more shares when the price is low and fewer when the price is high. Additionally, the fractional shares that are purchased then begin paying dividends, compounding your investment and increasing the number of shares and total dividend earned each time a dividend distribution is made. Governments may adopt policies on dividend distribution for

3136-400: A shareholder's contractual right to a dividend. Cash dividends are the most common form of payment and are paid out in currency, usually via electronic funds transfer or a printed paper check . Such dividends are a form of investment income of the shareholder, usually treated as earned in the year they are paid (and not necessarily in the year a dividend was declared). For each share owned,

3248-443: A slight discount. In some cases, the shareholder might not need to pay taxes on these re-invested dividends, but in most cases they do. Utilizing a DRIP is a powerful investment tool because it takes advantage of both dollar cost averaging and compounding. Dollar cost averaging is the principle of investing a set amount of capital at recurring intervals. In this case, if the dividend is paid quarterly, then every quarter you are investing

3360-526: A tax deduction for the dividends it pays. A dividend is allocated as a fixed amount per share, with shareholders receiving a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. Dividends can provide at least temporarily stable income and raise morale among shareholders, but are not guaranteed to continue. For the joint-stock company , paying dividends is not an expense ; rather, it is the division of after-tax profits among shareholders. Retained earnings (profits that have not been distributed as dividends) are shown in

3472-429: Is a railroad simulation that covers the entire history of railroads from inception to the present day and beyond. The player chooses a map and assumes the role of chairman of a railroad company . The player tries to make profits for investors and completes various other objectives while being hindered by rivals, random events such as train breakdowns, train robbers , economic swings, and scripted events particular to

Railroad Tycoon II - Misplaced Pages Continue

3584-462: Is a large and growing number of business schools instructors and business firm users of simulation games. Still, Faria estimated that only 12.5% of all US business firms with training and development managers used computerized business games. The penetration of business gaming in academia is fuelled by the following factors: the increase in student numbers, the increase in new courses, increased adoption of methods supporting diverse learning styles, and

3696-406: Is informed about the averted Korean civil war . Additional single scenarios may be created using the map editor included. Maps may be imported, drawn from scratch, or edited from existing maps and saved under new names. Many fan creations have been shared on various fan sites . In late 1997, Bruce Shelley said of his chance of developing Railroad Tycoon II , "I would be happy to work on such

3808-424: Is only able to make a distribution out of its accumulated, realised profits, "so far as not previously utilised by distribution or capitalisation, less its accumulated, realised losses, so far as not previously written off in a reduction or reorganisation of capital duly made". The United Kingdom government announced in 2018 that it was considering a review of the existing rules on dividend distribution following

3920-419: Is read into a computer that has been programmed on the basis of a set of mathematical models that provide a link between the operating results and operating decisions of the individual firms, as well as the external environment (the market). On the basis of (a) a set of behavioral equations, such as demand and cost functions, and a set of accounting formulas that have been programmed into the computer , and (b)

4032-581: Is sometimes associated with something that is frivolous, just for the fun of it. This hampers its scientific endeavor and the more serious connotations of gaming in the scientific arena. The term game is used to describe activities in which some or all of these characteristics are prominent: Games are played when one or more players compete or cooperate for payoffs, according to an agreed set of rules. Players behave as themselves though they may well display exceptional behavior. Games are social systems and they include actors (players), rules and resources, which are

4144-423: Is that of the shareholder, although a tax obligation may also be imposed on the corporation in the form of a withholding tax . In some cases, the withholding tax may be the extent of the tax liability in relation to the dividend. A dividend tax is in addition to any tax imposed directly on the corporation on its profits. A dividend paid by a company is not an expense of the company. Australia and New Zealand have

4256-610: Is the number of dividend payments within a single business year. The most usual dividend frequencies are yearly, semi-annually, quarterly and monthly. Some common dividend frequencies are quarterly in the US, semi-annually in Japan, UK and Australia and annually in Germany. Some companies have dividend reinvestment plans , or DRIPs, not to be confused with scrips. DRIPs allow shareholders to use dividends to systematically buy small amounts of stock, usually with no commission and sometimes at

4368-476: Is unfortunate because the basis of any science is its ability to discriminate and classify phenomena within its purview, based on underlying theory and precepts. Without this, the field has been stuck, despite its age, at a relatively low level of development. In most cases, the terms business (simulation) game and management (simulation) game can be used interchangeably and there is no well-established difference between these two terms. Greenlaw et al. determine

4480-425: The record date . This is an important date for any company that has many shareholders, including those that trade on exchanges, to enable reconciliation of who is entitled to be paid the dividend. Existing shareholders will receive the dividend even if they sell the shares on or after that date, whereas anyone who bought the shares will not receive the dividend. It is relatively common for a share's price to decrease on

4592-694: The British and the Americans to test battle strategies. Military officers trained with war games in the 1930s and 1940s started to use their military training to manage civilian businesses. Some of the business game evolution can be traced to a 1955 Rand Corporation game, which simulated the U.S. Air Force inventory management within its supply system. Greenlaw et al. state that business simulation exercises may be considered an outgrowth of earlier developments in three fields: military war gaming, operations research, and educational role-playing. According to Naylor,

Railroad Tycoon II - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-581: The UK is very similar, except that the expression "in-dividend date" is not used. Declaration date – the day the board of directors announces its intention to pay a dividend. On that day, a liability is created and the company records that liability on its books; it now owes the money to the shareholders. In-dividend date – the last day, which is one trading day before the ex-dividend date , where shares are said to be cum dividend ('with [ in cluding] dividend'). That is, existing shareholders and anyone who buys

4816-515: The US, which is not the way things usually end up." By August 2000, Railroad Tycoon II had been released in 39 unique SKUs worldwide, including eight Windows versions in English alone. PopTop's Phil Steinmeyer wrote that roughly 33% of the game's sales were derived from the Gold edition and Second Century expansion, and that the port for Macintosh "sold respectably", while the PlayStation version

4928-425: The United States in over 1,700 business schools. Overall, taking advantage of computer games in education increased enormously through the 1960s to the 1980s, see for example Ju and Wagner. At the end of the 1980s Faria (1990) estimated that there were approximately 228 games available in the United States, and that there were around 8,500 instructors using business games. At that point, Faria also believes that there

5040-588: The United States that used Marketplace Simulations in their class. The final study included 823 participants, representing 179 MBA teams. After the fourth decision round in the simulation, students were told to create a detailed business plan for the remaining four decision rounds. They were then given an assessment to measure their perceptions of the market, the symmetry of the team's awareness, team tactical agreement, and team performance. Researchers controlled for how many years of real-world work experience each team member had, as well as how much time each one had spent in

5152-563: The United States, shareholders of corporations face double taxation - taxes on both corporate profits and taxes on distribution of dividends. The rules in Part 23 of the Companies Act 2006 (sections 829-853) govern the payment of dividends to shareholders. The Act refers in this section to "distribution", covering any kind of distribution of a company's assets to its members (with some exceptions), "whether in cash or otherwise". A company

5264-621: The Year" awards; the former magazine's editors wrote that it "capture[d] almost all of the things gamers had come to love about the original." It also received IGN 's "Best Soundtrack" award. The game was a finalist for Computer Gaming World ' s 1998 "Best Strategy", GameSpot 's "Strategy Game of the Year", IGN's "Best Strategy Game of the Year" and PC Gamer US ' s "The Best Real-Time Strategy Game" awards, all of which ultimately went to StarCraft . Computer Gaming World ' s editors lauded Railroad Tycoon II as "a brilliant update of

5376-468: The actual world, managers are free to experiment with policies and strategies without fear of jeopardizing the company. This process includes the kind of reflection and inquiry for which there is no time in the hectic everyday world. Thus, Senge and Lannon argue, managers learn about the long-term, systemic consequences of their actions. Such "virtual worlds" are particularly important in team learning. Managers can learn to think systemically if they can uncover

5488-463: The after-tax dividend. For example, if the tax of capital gains T cg is 35%, and the tax on dividends T d is 15%, then a £1 dividend is equivalent to £0.85 of after-tax money. To get the same financial benefit from a, the after-tax capital loss value should equal £0.85. The pre-tax capital loss would be ⁠ £0.85 / 1 − T cg ⁠ = ⁠ £0.85 / 1 − 0.35 ⁠ = ⁠ £0.85 / 0.65 ⁠ = £1.31. In this case,

5600-399: The basic building blocks of social systems. In each game, the players (actors) interact with one another, while applying different rules, and utilizing different resources. Tsuchiya and Tsuchiya note that the simulation gaming community is still struggling to establish itself as a discipline, although 35 years have passed since the I nternational Simulation and Gaming Association ( ISAGA )

5712-413: The beginning of the 1960s (see e.g. Greenlaw et al., 1962). Here we introduce the taxonomy from Biggs, which is practically identical with the taxonomy from Greenlaw et al. Designed to give participants experience in making decisions at a top executive level and in which decisions from one functional area interact with those made in other areas of a firm. Business simulation games are designed to provide

SECTION 50

#1732790189731

5824-458: The campaign, each scenario is based on a geographical location, which may be fictional. Most scenarios also have a medal system similar to that of the campaign, although any scenario may be played in sandbox mode as well. Many scenarios constrain the player to some specific point on the timeline and feature scripted events: for example, the Korean map presents an alternative history as the player

5936-482: The cargo weight and the distance each engine runs. Engine maintenance depends on engine age and the engine's type (some locomotives cost more to maintain than others). Track maintenance is solely calculated from track mileage . The player determines what kind of cargo(es) to load and unload at each station that they add to a train's schedule. Way-points may also be inserted to override default track selection where multiple paths are possible. There are many industries in

6048-403: The cash flow and financial performance of a company, to the inflation and unemployment rates of an economy. They state further, that during the last 15 years a new way of thinking about simulation emerged. Instead of focusing on predicting, simulation progressively became a tool to help management teams understand their company and industry's problems and opportunities. Simulations could prepare for

6160-405: The company paid out more in dividends for the year than it earned. Since earnings are an accountancy measure, they do not necessarily closely correspond to the actual cash flow of the company. Hence another way to determine the safety of a dividend is to replace earnings in the payout ratio by free cash flow . Free cash flow is the business's operating cash flow minus its capital expenditures. It's

6272-437: The company's record as of the record date will be paid the dividend, while shareholders who are not registered as of this date will not receive the dividend. Registration in most countries is essentially automatic for shares purchased before the ex-dividend date. Payment date – the day on which dividend cheques will actually be mailed to shareholders or the dividend amount credited to their bank account. The dividend frequency

6384-415: The corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan , the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase . In some cases, the distribution may be of assets. The dividend received by a shareholder is income of the shareholder and may be subject to income tax (see dividend tax ). The tax treatment of this income varies considerably between jurisdictions. The corporation does not receive

6496-682: The declaration or payment of dividends. The principle of non-interference was established in the Canadian case of Burland v Earle (1902), the British case of Bond v Barrow Haematite Steel Co (1902), and the Australian case of Miles v Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd (1912). However in Sumiseki Materials Co Ltd v Wambo Coal Pty Ltd (2013) the Supreme Court of New South Wales broke with this precedent and recognised

6608-603: The decline in share price, for example in the case of a price–earnings ratio target that does not back out cash; or amplify the decline when comparing different periods. The effect of a dividend payment on share price is an important reason why it can sometimes be desirable to exercise an American option early. Some believe company profits are best re-invested in the company with actions such as research and development, capital investment or expansion. Proponents of this view (and thus critics of dividends per se) suggest that an eagerness to return profits to shareholders may indicate

6720-408: The dividend tax rate. If there is an increase of value of stock, and a shareholder chooses to sell the stock, the shareholder will pay a tax on capital gains (often taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income ). If a holder of the stock chooses to not participate in the buyback, the price of the holder's shares could rise (as well as it could fall), but the tax on these gains is delayed until the sale of

6832-458: The economy is good, the revenue of hauled goods and stock prices will be higher. Bond interest rates will also be adjusted with the economy level, including the interest received from cash and the interest paid for the bonds. The original game features eighteen missions, divided between North America, Europe and the rest of the world. The missions can be played on three difficulty levels, and each also includes three listed objectives. Completing only

SECTION 60

#1732790189731

6944-426: The ex-dividend date by an amount roughly equal to the dividend being paid, which reflects the decrease in the company's assets resulting from the payment of the dividend. Book closure date – when a company announces a dividend, it will also announce the date on which the company will temporarily close its books for share transfers, which is also usually the record date. Record date – shareholders registered in

7056-496: The financial history of the world, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was the first recorded (public) company ever to pay regular dividends. The VOC paid annual dividends worth around 18 percent of the value of the shares for almost 200 years of existence (1602–1800). In common-law jurisdictions, courts have typically refused to intervene in companies' dividend policies, giving directors wide discretion as to

7168-425: The first game published by Gathering of Developers to sell 1 million copies, and Geoff Keighley of Computer Gaming World declared it one of the publisher's few "certified hits." In the United States, the publisher's combined lifetime sales reached 1.3 million copies by October 2001, including the sales of Railroad Tycoon II . Gathering of Developers president Mike Wilson believed that the game put his company on

7280-472: The first objective awards the player a bronze medal, the first two a silver medal, and all three a gold medal. The player may play any mission in each set as many times as they wish; they may also continue even though a mission has been failed. The final score for the whole 18-mission campaign is calculated by the difficulty level and the number of each type of medal achieved. In addition to the campaign, Railroad Tycoon II features many single scenarios. As with

7392-507: The form of shares in a subsidiary company. A common technique for "spinning off" a company from its parent is to distribute shares in the new company to the old company's shareholders. The new shares can then be traded independently. A dividend payout ratio characterizes how much of a company's earnings (or its cash flow) is paid out in the form of dividends. Most often, the payout ratio is calculated based on dividends per share and earnings per share : A payout ratio greater than 100% means

7504-762: The future and reduce the sensitivity of possible strategies to changes in alternative frames of reference – or mental models. Larsen and Lomi further note, that the emphasis of computer-based simulation models has shifted: In the late 1990s, training and consulting companies began designing and customizing business simulations for individual companies to augment their corporate leadership development programs. The business simulations often focused on strategy and business acumen. The business simulations allowed participants to test their decision-making skills, make mistakes, and safely learn from their experience. Some refer to this type of employee education as " experiential learning ". By 2000, business simulations were available that blended

7616-399: The game, and each can produce and/or convert specific cargoes. For example, coal mines produce coal, iron mines produce iron, and steel mills convert 1 load of iron plus 1 load of coal into 2 loads of steel . The players are encouraged to find a chain of production to make new cargo by hauling the right type of cargo to each step of the industries. By discovering the correct combinations,

7728-502: The game. In each case, the firms find it necessary to react according to the magnitude and the nature of the change imposed by the external environment. Naylor mentions that some of the more complicated and more realistic games even permit multiple products, plants, and marketing areas, stochastic production periods, stochastic demand, labor negotiations, and the sale of common stock. For more information about this topic see Lainema (2003). The first use of games for education and development

7840-506: The hands of the shareholder with effect from April 2016. Since the Budget 2020–2021, DDT has been abolished. Now, the Indian government taxes dividend income in the hands of investor according to income tax slab rates. The United States and Canada impose a lower tax rate on dividend income than ordinary income, on the assertion that company profits had already been taxed as corporate tax . In

7952-411: The impact of team market awareness on performance is even greater. Dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders , after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex-dividend date, though more often than not it may open higher. When

8064-415: The increasing availability of technology. Dickinson and Faria state that in US over 200 business games are being used by nearly 9,000 teachers at over 1,700 colleges offering business programmes. Larsen and Lomi describe the shift of the objectives of management gaming. They state that until the early 1980s simulation was used to forecast the behavior of a variety of sub-system level variables, ranging from

8176-412: The individual decisions of each firm, operating results are generated by the computer in the form of printed reports – for example, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, production reports, sales reports, and total industry reports – at the end of each operating period. Usually the environment can be changed by the administrator of the game by altering the parameters of the operating characteristics of

8288-527: The issuer, however, they can take other forms, such as products and services. Interim dividends are dividend payments made before a company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and final financial statements. This declared dividend usually accompanies the company's interim financial statements. Other dividends can be used in structured finance . Financial assets with known market value can be distributed as dividends; warrants are sometimes distributed in this way. For large companies with subsidiaries, dividends can take

8400-472: The latter require multiple goods delivered to produce one final product. Furthermore, idle industries which do not produce goods will generate a negative profit, thus increasing overall operating costs and overhead . Which locomotives are available depends on the time period and scenario. All locomotives begin their operational lives with a set chance of mechanical failure, with some types more prone to breakdowns than others. Breakdown percentage chance increases

8512-431: The left hand side of the balance sheet, the equity account on the right side should decrease an equivalent amount. This means that a £ x dividend should result in a £ x drop in the share price. A more accurate method of calculating the fall in price is to look at the share price and dividend from the after-tax perspective of a shareholder. The after-tax drop in the share price (or capital gain/loss) should be equivalent to

8624-913: The management having run out of good ideas for the future of the company. A counter-argument to this position came from Peter Lynch of Fidelity investments, who declared: "One strong argument in favor of companies that pay dividends is that companies that don’t pay dividends have a sorry history of blowing the money on a string of stupid diworseifications"; using his self-created term for diversification that results in worse effects, not better. Additionally, studies have demonstrated that companies that pay dividends have higher earnings growth, suggesting dividend payments may be evidence of confidence in earnings growth and sufficient profitability to fund future expansion. Benjamin Graham and David Dodd wrote in Securities Analysis (1934): "The prime purpose of

8736-841: The map, at a time when others in the computer game industry doubted that an independent publisher could succeed. It was featured in G4 Icons' episode 12 Sid Meier as part of Sid's history with games and computers. A sequel, Railroad Tycoon 3 , was released in October 2003. As of 2012, Railroad Tycoon II was used in staff training by a major Turkish railroad company. Business simulation Most business simulations are used for business acumen training and development. Learning objectives include: strategic thinking , decision making , problem solving , financial analysis , market analysis , operations , teamwork and leadership . The business gaming community seems lately to have adopted

8848-434: The maximum level of franking is the company tax rate divided by (1 − company tax rate). At the current 30% rate, this works out at 0.30 of a credit per 70 cents of dividend, or 42.857 cents per dollar of dividend. The shareholders who are able to use them, apply these credits against their income tax bills at a rate of a dollar per credit, thereby effectively eliminating the double taxation of company profits. In India,

8960-505: The need for business simulations to supported by carefully considered learning outcomes, pedagogy and assessment tasks. Student factors such as low motivation to engage and prior skill weaknesses can undermine the ability of authentic assessment regimes to achieve the purported learning benefits. The Online Business Simulations Project funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching has developed

9072-412: The number of simulation games grew rapidly in the 1960s. McRaith and Goeldner list 29 marketing games, of which 20 had been developed by business firms and nine by academians for university teaching. In 1969 Graham and Gray listed nearly 200 business games of different varieties. Horn and Cleaves provided a description of 228 business games. Faria (1989) mentions that over 200 simulations were in use in

9184-476: The older a locomotive becomes. A train may also suffer a wreck , which completely destroys the locomotive and all hauled cargo. Gameplay also includes financial manipulation of companies, issuing bonds , share repurchases , stock issues , manipulating dividends , merging with other companies and declaring bankruptcy . These features are required in some scenarios and may be used for either great financial gain or total fiscal disaster. In normal financial mode,

9296-604: The outcomes are calculated and shown in reports and graphs, e.g. price and volume as well as number of employees can be decisions and the outcome can be viewed in e.g. an income statement , a balance sheet and a cash flow statement . Feedback is given throughout the simulation or at certain intervals, such as when a year has passed. Many numeric business simulations include elements of competition against other participants or against computer generated competitors. Business simulation games can be classified according to several properties. The first taxonomies were introduced already in

9408-412: The participants of the game. Each firm or team is allocated a specific amount of resources in the form of cash, inventories, raw materials, plant and equipment, and so forth. Before each operating period the players make decisions. Naylor mentions that these decisions can concern, e.g., price, output, advertising, marketing, raw material acquisition, changes in plant capacity, and wage rate. This information

9520-472: The payments as payments for services rendered was held to be unlawful. After a stock goes ex-dividend (when a dividend has just been paid, so there is no anticipation of another imminent dividend payment), the stock price should drop. To calculate the amount of the drop, the traditional method is to view the financial effects of the dividend from the perspective of the company. Since the company has paid say £ x in dividends per share out of its cash account on

9632-924: The period 1955-1957 only one or two new games appeared each year (Faria, 1990). A rapid growth in the number of business games occurred over the years from 1958 to 1961. Greenlaw et al. had made a summary of some business games available by the beginning of the 1960s. The summary includes 89 different business games or different versions of a certain business game developed by industrial firms, business associations, educational institutes, or governmental units. Naylor mentions already in 1971 that hundreds of management games have been developed by various universities, business firms, and research organizations. These management games have been used both for research purposes and for training people in diverse disciplines such as management, business operation, economics, organization theory, psychology, production management, finance, accounting, and marketing. Also Faria (1990) and Dickinson note that

9744-422: The player can haul raw materials one way, "create" manufactured return cargo, and make even more money hauling finished products back the other way. One of the key elements of gameplay relates to the player purchasing and operating a variety of locomotives, each of which possesses different attributes relating to speed, fuel type, preferred cargo, and the ability to traverse hills and steep track grades. In general,

9856-512: The player may buy or sell any companies' stocks at various prices depending upon the economy. On advanced settings, the broker may allow the player to buy on margin or short sell stocks if he has enough value of stocks or cash to rely on. The computer players may also engage in these practices and will attempt to bankrupt the player when he is heavily in debt. The economy may fluctuate during gameplay, with five economic states possible: Booming, Prosperity, Normal, Recession and Depression . When

9968-509: The player should balance the cost of operating a train and the time required to transport cargo, with the balance being that the profit from cargo delivery outweighs train operating costs. The player also may purchase various industrial plants to earn extra money based on the amount of cargo received and delivered. Basic industry, such as bakeries , textile mills , and tool and die factories , earns less profit than advanced factories such as canneries , steel mills and automobile plants, although

10080-430: The protection of shareholders and the preservation of company viability, as well as treating dividends as a potential source of revenue. Most countries impose a corporate tax on the profits made by a company. Many jurisdictions also impose a tax on dividends paid by a company to its shareholders (stockholders), but the tax treatment of a dividend income varies considerably between jurisdictions. The primary tax liability

10192-547: The regular dividend, but for a one-off higher amount). Cooperatives , on the other hand, allocate dividends according to members' activity, so their dividends are often considered to be a pre-tax expense. The usually fixed payments to holders of preference shares (or preferred stock in American English) are classed as dividends. The word dividend comes from the Latin word dividendum ("thing to be divided"). In

10304-455: The right combination and balance between the two. Simulation gaming is also the term that the educational gaming community has adopted. Partly, the terminology of business simulation games is not well established. The most common term used is business game but several other terms are also in use. Here we will define the most common terms used in context of (computer-based) business learning environments. Klabbers (1999) notes that gaming

10416-506: The scenario is played out following a branching tree based on which decisions the learner makes. Throughout or at certain intervals feedback is provided. These are similar to role-play simulations. A numeric simulation can mimic a whole company on a high level or it can be more detailed and mimic specific organizational units or processes. In a numeric simulation the learner or user makes decisions by pulling levers and dialers as well as through inputting numbers. The decisions are processed and

10528-473: The scenario. Most of the gameplay consists of building tracks, stations and trains, which are used for hauling passengers and freight from one station to another. Delivery revenue varies by time, distance, demand, cargo type, economic state, station improvements and difficulty level. Companies can connect to and use each other's tracks and stations, with revenue being split. Expenses include fuel, track and engine maintenance and overhead . The fuel cost depends on

10640-526: The scenarios from the main game and the expansion pack and some new scenarios. Tremor Entertainment developed the Dreamcast port, which released on July 31, 2000. This replaced the original 2D graphics with new, full-3D ones. Before its release, Gathering of Developers' marketing director estimated that Railroad Tycoon would sell 250,000 units during the 1998 holiday shopping season. He speculated lifetime sales of 500,000 units. The game proceeded to become

10752-487: The shareholder for US income tax purposes. Because the shares are issued for proceeds equal to the pre-existing market price of the shares; there is no negative dilution in the amount recoverable. Property dividends or dividends in specie ( Latin for " in kind ") are those paid out in the form of assets from the issuing corporation or another corporation, such as a subsidiary corporation. They are relatively rare and most frequently are securities of other companies owned by

10864-401: The shareholders' equity section on the company's balance sheet – the same as its issued share capital. Public companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may cancel a scheduled dividend, or declare an unscheduled dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from the regular dividends. (more usually a special dividend is paid at the same time as

10976-420: The shares on this day will receive the dividend, and any shareholders who have sold the shares lose their right to the dividend. After this date the shares becomes ex dividend . Ex-dividend date – the day on which shares bought and sold no longer come attached with the right to be paid the most recently declared dividend. In the United States and many European countries, it is typically one trading day before

11088-410: The simulation. The study's results showed that when a management team can perceive, understand, and predict market factors (team market awareness), the company tends to perform better. This effect is even stronger when awareness among team members is uneven, with some having a better grasp of certain market elements. Additionally, when team members agree on how to approach different aspects of marketing,

11200-645: The solid ratings this game has received. The Second Century is an expansion pack released in 1999 for Windows and Macintosh. Railroad Tycoon 2: Gold is a collection of the main game, the expansion pack, and 12 new scenarios. Railroad Tycoon 2: Platinum is equivalent to the Gold Edition but with over 50 community-made maps, enhanced mouse-wheel support, and an electronic version of the strategy guide . Scenarios developed specifically for Platinum may not function in some earlier versions. The Dreamcast version released in 2000 has remade 3D graphics and all

11312-404: The subtle interactions that thwart their efforts. Naylor in 1971 gives quite a detailed view of the contents, structure, and operating of management games. Today, this description by Naylor is still valid for most of the business simulation games. Business simulation games are built around a hypothetical oligopolistic industry consisting of three to six firms, whose decision-makers or managers are

11424-402: The tax rate on dividend income is lower than for other forms of income to compensate for tax paid at the corporate level. A capital gain should not be confused with a dividend. Generally, a capital gain occurs where a capital asset is sold for an amount greater than the amount of its cost at the time the investment was purchased. A dividend is a parsing out a share of the profits, and is taxed at

11536-498: The team reaches five members. The group discussion phase is usually called debriefing. Debriefing is the most important part of the simulation/gaming experience. We all learn from experience, but without reflecting on this experience the learning potential may be lost. Simulation gaming needs to be seen as contrived experiences in the learning cycle, which require special attention at the stages of reflection and generalization. Thiagarajan lists six phases of debriefing, presented as

11648-518: The term business simulation game instead of just gaming or just simulation . The word simulation is sometimes considered too mechanistic for educational purposes. Simulation also refers to activities where an optimum for some problem is searched for, while this is not usually the aim of an educational game. On the other hand, the word game can imply time wasting, not taking things too seriously and engaging in an exercise designed purely for fun. The concept of simulation gaming seems to offer

11760-401: The traditional business acumen (financial) skills with the softer – interpersonal – skills required for effective leadership development. In a business game or business simulation game, a scenario is played out in a simulated environment and the learner or user is asked to make individual or team based decisions on how to act in the simulations. Often multiple choice alternatives are used and

11872-579: The use of games in business and economics goes back to 1956 when the American Management Association developed the first so-called management decision-making game, called the Top Management Decision Game. Faria and Dickinson and Greenlaw et al. also find this the first widely known business decision-making simulation, although Greenlaw et al. date the origin of the game to 1957 and further specify that it

11984-669: Was clarified in 2018 by the England and Wales Court of Appeal in the case of Global Corporate Ltd v Hale [2018] EWCA Civ 2618. Certain payments made to a director/shareholder had been treated by the High Court as quantum meruit payments to Hale in his capacity as a company director but the Appeal Court reversed this judgment and treated the payments as dividends. At the time of payment they had been treated as "dividends" payable from an anticipated profit. The company subsequently went into liquidation ; an attempt to recharacterise

12096-446: Was established. To be a discipline, simulation gaming needs a theory, methodology, and application and validation. Of these, forming a theory is the most difficult challenge. Similar comments come from Wolfe and Crookall. Referring to prior research they conclude that the educational simulation gaming field has been unable to create a generally accepted typology, let alone taxonomy, of the nature of simulation gaming. According to them this

12208-402: Was learned, and the instructor needs to put things into a broader perspective. Gentry also expresses that process feedback is much more valuable than outcome feedback. As games are less-than-perfect representations of the real world, it should be the decision process used that needs to be applauded or critiqued, not the gaming outcome. The importance of reflection, debriefing and feedback highlight

12320-568: Was the first non-military competitive business game. Greenlaw et al. note that the Top Management Decision Simulation stimulated the design and use of dozens of other games. In this simulation five teams of players operated firms competing in a hypothetical, one-product industry. Teams made quarterly decisions covering price, production volume, budgets, research and development, advertising, and sales force and could request selected marketing research information. During

12432-648: Was the war game simulations in China in about 3,000 B.C. These games bore a vague similarity to the early 17th century chess. In the Western world, war games date back to at least the German Kriegspiel of the mid-nineteenth century (Faria and Dickinson). Faria and Dickinson note that different war games have also been conducted in Japan before the Second World War and war games have been long used by

12544-514: Was unsuccessful. He accredited the game's number of versions with its commercial success, and wrote in August 2000, "Overall, had we only released the original game, in English, for Windows only, our sales would be less than a quarter of what they are now." In 2003, Steinmeyer remarked that Railroad Tycoon II continued to sell "pretty well". Railroad Tycoon II won Computer Games Strategy Plus ' s and CNET Gamecenter 's 1998 "Strategy Game of

#730269