CompXM 2025–2026 ROUND 1 GUIDE

 

CompXM 2025–2026 ROUND 1 GUIDE

Hello everyone, and welcome to this comprehensive CompXM

In this video, I’ll walk you through the Round 1 strategy for the CompXM exam — a fast-paced, focused version of the Capstone and Foundation simulations. The goal is to help you score high — potentially over 950 or even 999 out of 1000 — using a structured and effective plan from the very first round.

Let’s begin!

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🧭 Understanding the CompXM Structure

The CompXM exam consists of four rounds, and unlike the regular Capstone game, it’s quicker and more constrained. You only have four rounds, four initial products, and limited time — usually 4 hours total to complete the full simulation.

Each decision matters more, and there's very little room for error. You must plan with long-term strategy in mind from Round 1.

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🧩 Initial Setup: Product Segments and Strategy

When you start the exam, you’ll see four existing products, already placed in the four major segments. The product names and segments vary, but let’s say we have:

• ELLN → Traditional Segment
• UPPR → Core Segment
• GAPP → Nano Segment
• IPRO → Elite Segment

The first tip here is:
⚠️ Know exactly which product belongs to which segment.
If you confuse them, you’ll make the wrong decisions in R&D, marketing, or pricing.

So take a minute to open the Industry Conditions Report and map each product to its corresponding segment.

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💡 Strategic Move: Add 4 New Products in Round 1

Here comes a key strategy:
Add 4 new products immediately in Round 1.

Why?

• CompXM only has 4 rounds.
• Developing a product takes 1.5 years, so if you don’t start now, your new products won’t be ready in time to sell and generate profit.
• If you develop them in Round 1, you’ll start selling them in Round 3 and Round 4 — when your market share and margins really matter.

You will end up managing 8 products:
4 existing ones + 4 new ones (one for each segment again: Thrift, Core, Nano, Elite).

This doubles your product offering, improves market share, and positions you to dominate the simulation by Round 4.

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🧪 R&D Decisions: Positioning for Ideal Spots

Let’s now work on Research & Development.

When creating the 4 new products, place them directly into the ideal positions for their respective segments — based on Table 3 in the Industry Conditions Report (ICR), which shows drift rates and segment preferences.

Yes, developing these products at ideal positions will take longer and cost more, but it’s worth it. You meet customer demands perfectly, improve perceived value, and maximize sales.

Also, update your existing products if they have drifted from the ideal specs. Especially in segments like Nano and Elite, the performance and size expectations shift significantly every year.

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📊 Marketing: Pricing, Promotion & Sales Forecasting

Let’s move to the Marketing module.

Pricing Strategy:
Keep your prices at the high end of the acceptable range. For example:

• Traditional: ~$24
• Core: ~$30
• Nano: ~$38
• Elite: ~$42

Why high-end pricing?
Because your products will be well-positioned and supported with strong promotion and sales budgets, so you can command better margins.

Promotion & Sales Budget:
Invest $2,000 each in Promotion and Sales per product. Yes, even for new products you’re about to launch (plan ahead).

This boosts awareness and accessibility — which directly increases your demand and market share.

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📈 Sales Forecasting: Predict with Precision

Next, we calculate the Sales Forecast — one of the most critical and tricky steps.

Step-by-step:

1. Go to page 4 of the ICR and find the potential market share in units.
2. Multiply that number by the expected growth rate for each segment:
• Thrift: 11%
• Core: 14%
• Nano: 16%
• Elite: 11%
3. Input those values into an Excel forecast file (you can build your own or use a template).
4. Adjust slightly downward if you’re unsure about demand.

Remember: In Round 1, you only have 4 sellable products, so match your forecast to those. But in Rounds 3–4, when 4 more products are live, your forecasts will double.

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🏭 Production Planning: Capacity + Automation

Now move to Production.

First, check if any of your current products need extra capacity. For example, if your forecast says you need 1,000 units and you only have 700 units of capacity, invest to increase that.

Second, when you add 4 new products, you’ll need new capacity too.

Tip:

• Add around 500 units of capacity for each new product
• Assign moderate automation levels:
• ~5.0 for all products is a good baseline
• Avoid going too high (over 8.0), as it reduces flexibility in future rounds

Make sure your total spending does not exceed the capital investment limit, usually ~$57 million in Round 1.

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👥 HR and TQM: Set the Foundation

Go to Human Resources next:

• Set Recruiting Spend to: $5,000
• Set Training Hours to: 80

This maximizes productivity early on and reduces labor cost per unit over the next few rounds.

Then move to TQM (Total Quality Management):

• Allocate $1 million total in TQM for Round 1
• Choose 2–3 initiatives like:
• Channel Support Systems
• Concurrent Engineering
• Vendor Just-in-Time

These reduce material and admin costs, and improve product quality over time.

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💰 Finance: Fund Wisely

To afford all these actions, you’ll need capital.

Use a balanced approach:

• Issue Stock: ~$30–40 million
• Long-Term Debt: ~$15–20 million
• Short-Term Debt: ~$10–15 million

Avoid Emergency Loans at all costs. They damage your credit rating and lower your Balanced Scorecard — which determines your final CompXM score.

Keep a cash buffer of $10–15 million in your bank to avoid liquidity issues.

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📉 Performance Review: Metrics That Matter

Once you input all decisions, review the Pro Forma Reports:

• Look at Net Profit: aim for at least $10–12 million in Round 1
• Sales Revenue: $180–200 million is a strong target
• Contribution Margin: Aim for >30% in Round 1
  (And improve to 35–40%+ by Round 4)
• Check your Stock Price and Earnings Per Share (EPS)

If your numbers look good — you're on track for a top-tier final score.

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📌 Summary: Round 1 Strategy Checklist

Here’s a quick recap of what we did in Round 1:

✅ Mapped each product to its segment
✅ Added 4 new products to double product lines
✅ Positioned all products at segment ideal spots
✅ Priced near the top of segment ranges
✅ Used strong marketing budgets
✅ Forecasted sales using market share + growth
✅ Increased capacity + added automation wisely
✅ Invested in HR and TQM early
✅ Funded actions using stock and debt — avoided emergency loans
✅ Reviewed estimated results and adjusted

This sets you up for massive growth in Round 2–4. You’ll dominate the market, improve your score, and potentially achieve 999/1000 in CompXM.

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📬 Need Help?

If you want FREE support for Round 1 and Round 2 of your CompXM, feel free to email:
📧 mbahelp2002@gmail.com

Also, check out our blog for step-by-step tools, forecast templates, and pricing models:
🔗 https://compxmguide2022.blogspot.com

Stay tuned for the next video, where we’ll walk through Round 2 decisions, including how to scale production and optimize profit margins further.

Thanks for watching, and I wish you great success in CompXM. Good luck and see you in the next round!

 

CompXM Round 4 Strategy Guide | 2025–2026 |

 

CompXM Round 4 Strategy Guide | 2025–2026 |

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Introduction

Hello and welcome back to the CompXM Capstone Exam Strategy Series, focusing on Round 4 – Final Round. In this video, we’ll walk through a sample winning strategy for the last round of the simulation. This is where your company consolidates its market position, maximizes profitability, and secures a top score — even up to 999/1000.

Let’s begin.

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Overall Company Position

As we enter Round 4, our company has launched four new products, one for each segment. That gives us a total of eight products: two per segment — slightly differentiated but well-aligned with customer expectations.

At this point, we are leading the market in both total market share and net profit. We’ve kept our production aligned with demand and continuously refined pricing and positioning based on the latest reports.

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 Step 1: R&D Strategy – Maintaining Ideal Positioning

The first step is always to review and adjust R&D decisions.

To do this, we refer to the Industry Conditions Report and last year's Courier Report. Our goal is to make sure every product is meeting or exceeding the buying criteria — especially in performance and size.

• For Nano and Elite, performance and size are critical — so we fine-tune the specs to stay close to the ideal spot.
• For Traditional and Core, these factors are less important, but we still maintain slightly above-average performance and size to ensure competitiveness.

In this round, our products are positioned extremely well — especially the Elite product, which is at 0.8 performance and 3.0 size — exactly what the market demands. All adjustments are entered into the R&D (IndD) screen before any other decisions are made.

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 Step 2: Marketing – Price, Promotion, and Forecast

Next, we move to the Marketing module.

For Round 4, we lowered prices slightly — by about $0.50 per product — to stay competitive while maintaining high profit margins.

• Even though our prices are higher than many competitors, we’ve chosen to prioritize margin over volume, since our products are well positioned.
• Being in the top 4 sellers in each segment confirms that our pricing strategy works.
• Higher price = higher per-unit profit. We maximize this advantage without pricing ourselves out of the market.

We also continue with strong promotional budgets, especially in larger segments like Traditional and Core, to maintain awareness and accessibility.

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 Market Performance Check

Let’s evaluate current performance before making decisions:

• Some products, like the Nano product, experienced stock-outs in the previous round. That tells us demand was higher than expected, so we’ll increase production for that item.
• Others — like new products launched in Rounds 2 or 3 — may still be building customer awareness and traction.

By reviewing sales, inventory, and contribution margin, we make informed adjustments for Round 4.

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 Step 3: Production Planning – Matching Demand Accurately

We now move into the Production module.

This is one of the most critical areas. Let’s walk through the process step by step:

1. Use Courier data + Excel tool to calculate expected demand for each product.
• Estimate next round’s demand by applying segment growth rates to last year’s total unit sales.
• Adjust for any existing inventory.
• Assign realistic market share targets to each of your eight products.
• Use Excel formulas to forecast required production accurately.
2. Enter production estimates in the system. After inputting, review the “After Adjustment” values to ensure you have:
• No underproduction (which causes lost sales)
• No major overproduction (which inflates inventory costs)
3. Capacity & Automation:
   Since Round 4 is the final round, there is no need to invest in additional capacity or automation. There’s no future payoff.

🔔 Tip: In some exams, professors may ask how you'd prepare for future growth. If that’s the case, mention capacity expansion plans, even if not executed in Round 4.

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 Step 4: Human Resources – Keep It Maxed Out

In Human Resources (HR), we maintain our standard settings:

• Recruiting Spend: $5,000
• Training Hours: 80 hours

This ensures maximum productivity and reduced labor costs. Even in the final round, this investment helps keep efficiency at its peak.

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 Step 5: Finance – Maximize Shareholder Value

With solid profits and strong performance, we now focus on financial strategy.

1. Retire Stock
• Retiring stock increases EPS (Earnings Per Share) and ROE (Return on Equity).
• We retire the maximum number of shares allowed.
2. Pay Dividends
• A dividend of $8.00 per share boosts investor satisfaction and stock price.
3. Retire Long-Term Debt
• With excess cash, we reduce interest expenses by paying off long-term liabilities.
• This also improves the company’s balance sheet.
4. Avoid Borrowing
• We don’t take on any new debt — short or long-term — to keep financial ratios optimal.

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 Final Results Overview

Let’s look at the results from this final round:

• Total Sales Revenue: $335 million
  (Up from $279 million in Round 3)
• Contribution Margin: 48%
• Net Profit: $62 million
  Combined with earlier profits, we reached nearly $100 million in cumulative net income.
• Stock Price: $163
  (Our nearest competitor sits at $127)

In comparison to earlier rounds, our company’s performance has accelerated significantly. Even if Round 1 or 2 was not ideal, the strong strategy from Round 3 onward has allowed us to dominate.

This highlights a key principle in CompXM:

💡 A poor start can still lead to a top finish if you learn, adapt, and execute strong strategy in the later rounds.

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 Strategic Takeaways

Let’s recap the key takeaways from our CompXM Final Round strategy:

1. Optimize Product Positioning — stay close to ideal specs, especially in Nano and Elite.
2. Price Strategically — balance margin vs. market share; don’t aim to be the cheapest.
3. Forecast with Data — use Courier + Excel for precision.
4. Avoid Overproduction — excess inventory eats up your profits.
5. Maximize Production Efficiency — use full capacity, no expansions needed in final round.
6. Invest in HR — keep recruiting and training maxed out.
7. Use Profits Wisely — pay dividends, retire stock and debt.
8. Focus on Shareholder Metrics — EPS, ROE, and stock price matter most.
9. Don’t Panic If Behind — late rounds are the best opportunity to catch up.
10. Finish Strong — CompXM rewards consistent execution and long-term planning.

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 Need Help or Support?

If you need QUICK support to complete your CompXM in just a few hours with top results (even 999/1000), email us at:
📧 mbahelp2002@gmail.com

Also check out our CompXM strategy blog with free tips, Excel tools, and success stories:
🔗 https://compxmguide2022.blogspot.com

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 Final Words

Thank you for watching this Round 4 walkthrough. We hope this strategy helps you maximize your score and finish strong in the CompXM exam.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our videos on Rounds 1, 2, and 3 for a complete winning strategy.

Best of luck — and I’ll see you at the top of the leaderboard!