Assignment 2: Marketing Simulation

“When the simulation began, we felt confident in our team’s vision, goals, and strategic plan. After the first rollover, we quickly became aware that the success of a company relies heavily on the dynamics of the market. The strategic decisions of competitors weigh heavily on the overall direction of a company. Our original plan quickly became obsolete in the tumultuous bike industry, and we were forced to re-evaluate our competitive positioning. To this end, we learned

A challenge that we faced with our coffee shop was making the staffing decisions. We struggled with trying to figure out a sufficient number of managers and servers to hire and an appropriate pay for them. Around the beginning of the simulation, we had a nice amount of servers which resulted in us receiving an award for best staff. After we extended hours, things seemed to go downhill with our staff. As a result, this had an effect on the overall service of the workers. They were not as happy or productive as we had hoped. Our managers were becoming stressed out and our servers were being overworked and even a couple of our servers quit.

Marketplace Business Simulator is an on-line marketing simulation that incorporates all the marketing principles I have learned over the course of this semester and apply them into real world marketing practice. Simulation was used for the sake of instigating effective results and in that regard, this paper analyses the manner in which each quarter was carried through. The circumstances surrounding each of the decisions made are analyzed intricately and hence a manifestation of the impact of each for each of the quarters is laid bare.

This paper will introduce a product and service which operates in the U.S. with the intent to expand within foreign markets eventually. The service that I chose is a current service in the food service industry that does exist but would benefit from enhancing it; there are market trends for the new service that would definitely satisfy potential customers’ needs and wants once the idea is brought to their attention. The goal is to bring the feel of the city’s fine dining and lounging experience to areas outside the city without having to travel far or spend more. The service is an

H Company finished the simulation in the second to last position. I believe that is a strong indicator that my competitive intelligence level was low for this simulation. H Company’s Earnings Per Share report increases for year 12 and 13 followed by decreases for years 14-18. My ability to predict the competition was below par. In fact, because I spent more money on the private label brand, I may have ended up putting myself in a worse position. My ability to predict my competitions next move was not good. Every year D Company was able to achieve more market share, while H Company gained less, and less.

After having run through the simulation, what elements of that strategy would you have changed and/or what strategy do you intend to pursue in the group simulation?

Which of the following is not one of the variables used by customers to evaluate

Our initial strategy to split the strategic decisions per region created company instability in the first couple of BSG simulation years. We found that a single regional misalignment could cause a significant impact on the overall performance of the company. After the first couple years of decisions, the team decided to work together to analyze the previous year’s results and reach a consensus on the next year’s strategic goals and the decisions necessary to reach our competitive goals.

Since quarter one was the first quarter of this simulation, I was unaware of how difficult it was going to be to make all the different decisions. Firstly, I had to choose a Company name. Because I was selling computers, I thought that the name “Dev-Tech” was a perfect fit being that this simulation was about development and technology. Next, I had to choose a target segment. I knew going into this simulation that it would be better to invest in the more expensive goods as it would benefit me in the end. The segment that didn’t care about price was Mercedes, so that is the segment that I made my first priority.

The strategy I chose for the simulation is “Niche Cost Leader." First, with the key focus being value, this strategy will challenge me to keep costs at a minimum and force me to streamline overall costs to produce a valuable commodity that, in turn, will generate financial success that can be shared with internal and external stakeholders. Second, as the success of this strategy primarily relies on the existing product line being prosperous, I will be able to practice and hone my forecasting skills based on one product. Though I eventually will produce more than one product, most of the simulation will be conducting under making the primary product as successful as it can be, and reliable forecasts are

If given the opportunity to re-do the simulation, our top priorities would be to manage the allotted time more efficiently in order to improve decision quality, provide resolution certitude and ensure that each team member is adequately informed and prepared prior to meeting. During the simulation, we were given a finite timeline in which to analyze and input decisions; however, we failed to create a sense of urgency within our group, which encumbered the decision-making process and consequently, led to rushed decisions as time ran out. A team member should have been appointed as a designated timekeeper for time monitoring purposes.

Initially, our firm’s business position was at a healthy position. In the beginning of the simulation, our overall market share for the automobile industry was 28.2%; the highest in the market. We realized that our primary strength from product contribution came from our economy car Alec with 63.5% market share for economy cars, and from our utility car, awesome with a 48.5% market share for its vehicle class. Thus, it was evident what we needed to do; maintain high market share of our leading cars while conforming our least profitable vehicle class sustainably to coordinate to customer demand.

When dealing with several segments, a product can target one segment to specifically to exactly what

During the simulation I had the role of the CEO and as such relied heavily on my own personal understanding of what we have learned thus far, but also did some research to be able to better assess what would best work. Over the 96-weeks I have a COR rate of 0.17 percent change rate. Although I did not effectively manage change, I was able to learn what worked well and what didn’t. Additionally, learning from our failures is crucial for long term success. In no way will anyone be 100 percent effective in all of their endeavors. The key is to learn from it and

The advertising strategy was also to be an immediate market follower. J.D.B.T.’s advertisements were modified by comparing them to the top rated brands’ advertisements. This worked well until R&D came into effect. Other companies were able to advertise titles such as Highest Performance Processor, and Technical Leader Most R&D. We had a decline in our advertising because we did not strategize in the beginning to invest in the R&D as fully as other companies.