You need to write a letter giving advice to your successor – that is the person who will take over your LINKS firm. Go back in your mind to the time when you were “green behind the ears” and the LINKS simulation seemed to be a horrifying task looming at the horizon. You are now a LINKS “veteran” and, as such, you can give advice based on your personal reflections. You might think of this as your contribution to a chapter at the back of the LINKS Users’ Manual.

This is an individual assignment that counts for 75 point in your course grade. That’s the same number of points as your team’s final LINKS report, and it takes the place of a final exam. Be sure your work on this assignment is worthy of that weight in your course grade!

The letter should be about three pages long. Use 1” margins (on all sides) with single-spaced text typed in Word and at least 11 pt font. Submit through Canvas by the due date and time.

Be detailed and specific – not vague or too general – in this letter. In essence, you are trying to convince a LINKS beginner (a friend of yours) to believe you know what you are doing and to follow your advice. I’m assuming you are writing a letter to your friend Michael. He is taking this course in the Spring 2015.

The letter should not contain current firm, market and channel information, except possibly by way of illustration. For example, there is no point saying that market region #1 is quite volatile (even if so in your experience), because each LINKS simulation has different teams and industry variations. This is your individual reflection to help Michael take on your current role in the future. Therefore, the current firm, market and channel information may not be relevant – but your approach, tools, attitudes and feelings are.

Include these topics in the letter: (don’t forget the 3 page limit)

• What should Michael expect when he first starts working on LINKS? What is of the highest importance? What do you think Michael needs to take care of in the beginning of the game? How might team dynamics impact the results?
• Tell Michael about the parts of your LINKS experience that went well and led to successes – with regard to both managing the firm and in working with team members. Tell him what approach you recommend, the most important tasks and the things he should “do more of.”
• Despite all your hard work, there were bound to be some bumps in the road. Michael is your friend, so you will honest about failures and other things that just seem to go unexpectedly wrong. Tell him what to avoid, what do differently and “what to do less of.”
• Although the above reflection is not specific to your own firm’s results, you may have developed a unique approach or “spreadsheet tool” for data analysis and decision making. Explain one such approach or tool here. If you developed a spreadsheet tool, describe the what, why, and how of your spreadsheet tool and build a case for why it was useful. (Note: Little attention should be given to the mechanics of running the spreadsheet, but you may submit the spreadsheet along with this letter.)