business strategy game

business strategy game

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Individual Reflective Report on the Business Game Simulation.

3,500 words

 

The assignment requires using the principle of strategic

management in a virtual business environment and managing a company with a team by making weekly decisions. A reflective report has then to be written and submitted individually.

 

The first assignment used not only to illustrate what has been learned in class, but also to develop valuable analytical skills and practical experience of (virtually) running a business.

 

How to structure your First Assignment:

The purpose of the assignment is to draw out the key strategic issues and challenges encountered in running the company; apply the relevant models/frameworks to the simulated environment; rationalise and justify the key decisions taken; describe and discuss the underlying strategic principles; reflect on

your own experiences and key learning outcomes.

 

The suggested format for this report is set out below:

The report should be clearly structured and follow a logical format. A contents page should be included which should adequately set out the structure of the report in a systematic way.

 

1.Introduction: State clearly what the report is about and the sequence of key tasks/events to follow.

 

2. Competitive Strategy: This section requires the description of the (Generic) Competitive Strategy your company has pursued in its attempt to gain real competitive advantage

 

3. Industry Overview: This section requires the analysis of the Macro environment (through the PESTEL model); the analysis of the Industry (through the Five Forces of Competition framework); and the identification of the main opportunities and threats.

 

4. Company Overview: This section requires a brief Background to the Company to provide a context for the report. You are expected to describe: the mission and vision of the company; the markets/regions it operates in; the number of firms competing in the industry; the company’s competitive positioning (per product type) for respective geographic regions; and the main potential strengths and weaknesses of company.

 

5. Decisions Made: This section requires a detailed description of the KEY DECISIONS MADE each year (from Year 11 to Year 15 inclusive). For each year, you are expected to describe: What key decisions did your company make? Why did you make these decisions? What results were you hoping for? Where did the company place in the industry? Did demand increase; by how much; in which markets? Did market share increase; by how much; in which markets? Did retail coverage increase; by how much; in which markets? Did you meet investors’ expectations? How did you perform in relation to competitors? You need to provide evidence of the decisions taken and results achieved every year by including the

screenshots from the game in Appendix.

 

6. Final Results: This section requires to provide an assessment of how your company performed overall. You are expected to: discuss the retail coverage and market share for each of the markets you operated in; discuss your overall competitive positioning in your industry;

 

7. Reflection: Discuss how well or how poorly you performed. Your reflections and self-appraisal of either business success or failure is the key aspect of this section. The actual success or failure in the game is not the key issue: the most important aspect of this section of your ability to reflect and learn from the results achieved.

 

8. Underlying Strategic Principles: In this section you can provide some discussion and analysis on the need for strategic thinking, strategic visioning and strategic management of the company.

 

9. Key Learning Points about Strategy: Provide some discussion/analysis which might include the following:

Importance of assessing the macro environment.

Importance of assessing the industry and competitors.

Complexities of running a company.

Importance of having a clear and shared focus for the company.

Strategic analysis and planning required for maintaining competitive position.

Complexities of meeting different stakeholder expectations.

 

10. Conclusion: In this section you are expected to reflect on the main issues uncovered and lessons learned through the simulation exercise as they relate to: the actual strategic decision making process; the interaction among team members; and your own personal performance and experience.

 

Reference List

(Alphabetical order and Harvard style. It is not included in the word count)

 

Appendices

(not included in the word count)

 

Some references that should be used:

– Johnson G., Whittington R., and Scholes K., (2012) Fundamentals of Strategy, Second Edn., Pearson Education Limited.

– Simulation Game Participant’s Guide (Accessible once game registration process is completed by students)

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