Modeling and simulation are increasingly penetrating clinical care, healthcare policy and biomedical research. As such, it is important to establish practices that are contextually robust.
Current models typically include large pieces of software instantiated in specialized software environments. These are often too complex to be described in methods sections of traditional publications.
Business Planning
Business planning is the process of developing a roadmap aimed at achieving a business goal. It involves key stakeholders brainstorming ideas and strategies, then collating them into a formal document known as a business plan. A well-crafted business plan can help startups attract investment or secure loans without a proven financial record. It can also help companies identify opportunities and threats.
A company’s business plan should include market research reports, product specifications and legal documents. It should also contain financial projections, including budgets, expected costs and payments. These projections should cover expenses related to paying staff, production processes, marketing and expanding. They should also include a break-even analysis and net capital requirements with proper accounting calculations.
In today’s fast-moving digital world, where stock prices can jump in a heartbeat or the slightest misstep can draw the ire of internet trolls, a business’s success relies on meticulously vetted strategic decisions. Using simulation models, or what-if scenarios, can help executives evaluate multiple options before they make a decision.
Managing Change
In a world where the slightest misstep can draw the ire of internet trolls and a stock market drop could decimate your company’s profits, it pays to carefully vet strategic decisions. With the help of tech-savvy financial professionals and sophisticated modeling software, it’s possible to play out a variety of scenarios and predict their outcomes.
Managing change is one of the most critical aspects of any business. The ability to explore different possibilities with a simulation model can give executives confidence in their decision-making and ensure they are taking all appropriate steps to protect the company’s bottom line.
Careful planning of the inputs and outputs can save a lot of time and effort when it comes to model analysis. This includes the use of sensitivity estimation techniques, optimization and goal-seeking by simulation and the like.
Raising Capital
Raising capital is a complex and crucial business decision that requires significant planning. It also imposes commitments on management that must be fulfilled. These decisions include how much to raise, from whom and on what terms. The type of financing (debt or equity) and the timing of a raise are critical to a company’s success.
Whether a business is seeking to infuse more capital with a loan or pursue a partnership, financial simulation models can be an effective tool to show growth potential to investors. FINRA is exploring ways to increase efficiency and reduce unnecessary burdens in the capital-raising process without compromising important investor protections.
Generally, companies raise capital by selling shares of common stock to new investors. This dilutes the value of existing shareholders and must be carefully managed to avoid a “down round.” An alternative is debt financing, where the company sells corporate “bonds” to investors. The bond holders receive interest payments until the bonds mature and are paid off in full.
Defining Purpose
In the digital age, when influencer tweets can affect stock prices and even the slightest misstep draws the ire of internet trolls, companies need to make sure that strategic decisions are not only vetted by finance departments, but that they also anticipate problems before they arise. This is where simulation can help.
A computer is an essential tool for simulation. A powerful worldview consisting of Entities and Processes provides a natural conceptual framework for relating real objects to model components. And a free-form English-like language with structured programming constructs enables model development to be 75% faster than FORTRAN or C.
Animation is a useful feature of many systems simulation programs. Most graphically based simulation software has built-in default animation. This can help in debugging, validating and verifying the model. And it can help in communicating the results of the model to others. This can be very important for a complex system where the models are not intuitive to understand.