The Scenario
The board's pick to step into the empty chair.
Apex Manufacturing is an automotive parts supplier headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. 2,400 employees. $125M in annual revenue. Stagnant 3% growth against an 8% industry average. Automation level: 12 out of 100. The board has issued an ultimatum — modernize or face acquisition.
Three weeks before the simulation begins, your predecessor David Okonkwo resigned. He refused to accelerate the AI overhaul at the board's pace. You are the board's pick to step into the empty chair and execute the overhaul Okonkwo would not commit to.
You inherit a $2M AI budget, a workforce at 68/100 morale, and shareholder pressure for a 25% cost reduction within two years.
The Journey
Eight weeks. One company.
A Typical Week
One hour. Five steps. Real consequences.
17 named stakeholders
A cast with rich backstories, professional histories, and quantifiable traits — Influence, Hostility, Flexibility, and Risk Tolerance — that change how the simulation plays out.
Meet the cast9 Phone-a-Friend advisors
Strategy consultants, industry experts, and thought leaders — limited credits force students to choose their counsel deliberately.
Dual scoreboard
Financial performance and cultural health are tracked separately. You can't optimize one at the cost of the other.
Who it's for
Built for three audiences.
Higher education
MBA, undergraduate business, and executive-education programs in strategy, leadership, operations, and change management. Drop into a 7-, 8-, or 14-week course.
Corporate L&D
Manager development, high-potential cohorts, and front-line leadership academies that need decision practice — not another lecture series — before promotion.
Workforce & community college
Supervisors and emerging leaders preparing for Industry 4.0 roles. Pair with Prairie for an Iowa-anchored, 260F-eligible variant.
Radical Transparency
Every rubric. Every criterion. Nothing hidden.
Students see the same rubric the AI grader uses, on every weekly page. Instructors retain full override authority on every score.
Pricing snapshot
Priced by the semester. Quoted by the academic year.
Higher-ed adopts Apex on the per-student / per-semester rail. An annual department or site license is available as a parallel option. Workforce-development cohorts have their own per-seat rail.
Higher-ed lead model
Volume bands by enrollment — typical fit, not hard caps. Quoted in academic-year terms.
$25 / $20 / $15 per student / semester
Unlimited cohorts
Course License from $6,000 / yr; Department License $15,000 / yr; Institution / Site License custom-quoted.
Annual flat rate
Per-seat cohort pricing
260F-eligible community-college and corporate L&D cohorts, 15+ seats. Different buyer; not a tier of higher-ed.
$45 – $100 / seat by cohort size