Each period, you are allocated a budget to cover your expenses in R&D, advertising, commercial activities and market research purchase. This budget is linked to the success of the department, being equal to 40% of the net contribution generated in the previous period. However, there is a maximum level where resources are reallocated to other divisions of the company to maximize the return on investment at the corporate level. Similarly, there is a minimum budget level for each period, whereby headquarters may effectively subsidize your division if you are not generating the contribution sufficient for your division can continue operations.
In general, your budget for each period will be between 7 and 20 million dollars, adjusted for inflation. You will have to work within this given budget: if total spending exceeds the allocated budget for a period, expenses will be automatically cut by the Finance Control department, starting with advertising expenditures.
Your objective is to maximize your return on investment. As a consequence, you should not necessarily spend your entire budget in every situation. Indeed, you should not spend one additional dollar unless you expect this dollar to generate a return higher than one dollar. If you perform outstandingly, you may be granted a large budget; however, spending it completely might be a waste of money.
Please note that unused budget will not be carried forward to the next period.