Market Share Essay

When our group first started planning our strategy to win the second Littlefield simulation game, it was evident that the goal of the game was to maximize profits. We were competing against 18 other teams, but we knew with correct system capacity management and correct inventory management we could be the number one team. Even though we made correct decisions overall, we ended up in second place again with a cash balance of $2,660,393 and remaining inventory of 52 kits. Although we were a little disappointed again, we were very satisfied with what we have learned and the important operations management concepts we used such as capacity management and lead-time and inventory management throughout both of the Littlefield simulation games.

Establish guidelines for researching and gathering information and work with the staff to gather and evaluate the data.

I started simulation by testing all the possible outcomes from challenge 1 to 5 and used the best scenario from one simulation to the other step by step and drew the conclusion at the very end.

Given that a machine cost us the same price on day 50 of the simulation as it did on day 217, and the fact that buying each machine represents a tradeoff of gaining higher potential for profits in the future (through the fact that more machines afford us greater utilization at each station) for a lower cash balance in the present, we felt it was best to try to determine how many machines we would need and purchase them at the beginning of day 51.

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.

“How much to increase capacity depends on (1) the volume and certainty of anticipated demand; (2) strategic objectives in terms of growth, customer service, and competition; and (3) the costs of expansion and operation” (Russell & Taylor, 2011, p. 259).

In the beginning we were all confused as to how the game worked and where to begin. We looked at the various tutorials and the booklet to try and make some sense of it. Once we had some understanding, we tried to develop our strategy. In the first few rounds we understood it was important to have our company funded through stocks and long term debt. We issued stock the first

Monday, September 10, 2012, I started Stock-Trak, an online portfolio game. Stock- Trak allowed me to gain hands on experience testing different investment strategies in a risk-free, yet realistic environment. From September 10 to November 16, 2012, I took part in one such simulation by managing an online Stock-Trak portfolio. I was given an initial amount of $100,000 pretend cash with which to invest. All monetary decisions were at my discretion. This paper discusses my trading experience , my portfolio’s performance, the strategies used during the simulation, what I learned in the process, and how I will implement the knowledge gained from the simulation in future investments.

Capacity costs are incurred as soon as the capacity expansion begins. It takes 90 days to complete a capacity expansion. Capacity cannot be retired.

* Production capacity is 10,000 units a year however they hope to construct a $45 million facility with a capacity of

Capacity is a factories ability to produce items explained as follows, consider a factory that has a capacity of 10,000 " machine hours" in each 40 hour week. This factory should be capable of producing 10,000 "standard hours of work" during a 40-hour week. The actual volume of product that the factory can produce will depend on:

The important part of the simulation assignment is what you have learned from it. As such you will be required to reflect on the decisions you made and the outcomes.

Setup for the machine is done for one batch of items. If we look at the the batch size of valves, it will be 375 units(=7500 units/ 20 production runs)

The Market-Based Management philosophy was developed by Charles Koch and is employed by Koch Industries, the largest privately-held company in the world, according to Forbes magazine. MBM is based on rules of just conduct, economic thinking, and sound mental models which harnesses the dispersed knowledge of employees, just as markets harness knowledge in society. Market-Based Management enables an organization to succeed long term by applying the principles that cause a free society to prosper. Market-Based Management applies concepts and tools posed in the application problems, it allows you to learn experientially by changing input values to see how different situations impact performance, and also teaches to perform

During the business simulation course, we organised a team to become an automotive start-up company and introduced four new products, vehicle models, to satisfy the investors who invested us £500M. Each 4 rounds, we had entered board room to report our initial result and upcoming plans.