For kim woods

Individual Reflection Report

My first day with the lecturer (Rex), told us about an online business simulation game that we will be doing for the whole term in which this software will assess our operating decisions of our own bicycle company. At first, I don’t have any idea how the game actually works, but this game I’m sure that it will help us students to actually manage or experience on how to actually run a business in a real world which can be useful in the future.

Week 1

10th Nov 2016

First day of class, first time to play the system. Basically, I didn’t have any idea of what I was doing and what was going on, I just put numbers in the system and look what the results are. I didn’t took time to digest the Market Summary and apply the concept. So the results were actually poor and lower SHV than the competitor. Below is the example of my during the first day results.

• In the example below, I just change the price to $750 and Sales Forecast to 15,000. Not much change done on this day as I was still confused on what to do in the simulator.

Price/ Sales Advertising

11th - 16th of Nov 2016

Year 1 Exploration:

I started reading the Market Summary and applying the concepts to the simulator, this time I got different results compared to my first day. First time to surpass the SHV of the competitor, I tried different approach, some actually works and some didn’t. I played around the retail price and I put between $600 to $800, then I realised that too high is better than too low retail price because there is not get much profit if the price is too low even if the sales are high. However, it may not be the best, being conservative or close to the recommended price is even better because people will not buy the product if it is so expensive.

Marketing or advertising is also another factor, allocation of budget based on the percentage suggested in the market summary is essential especially on year 1 where the company is launching the product/s, people should be made aware what the products coz otherwise they will not buy it. No one will buy a product who doesn’t even know that it exists.

When it comes to PR or public relations, it does not have much impact even if you zero out the system, it will still result to positive SHV over the competitor. The key to first year is really the price and advertising.

Below are the summary of attempts that I have done for Year 1 and the their results.

Attempt 1:

Retain $700 retail price, with sales forecast of 19,000 units. Advertising is total of $1.3M.

Price/ Sales Advertising

Attempt 2:

Change the retail price to as low as $600 but increase the advertising to $2M .

Price/ Sales Advertising

Attempt 3:

I put high retail price of $800 and retain the $2M advertising. I still won over the competitor, better than a having a very low retail price.

Price/ Sales Advertising

Attempt 4:

I put zero on PR with a price of $770 and approximately $2M advertising. The results were still alright and higher than the competitors SHV, so basically PR does not really have a big impact for the first year.

Price/ Sales Advertising Public Relations

Attempt 5

I put zero on advertising with the price of $770 and sales forecast of 19,000 units.

Year 2 Exploration

17th – 23rd of Nov16:

In Year 2, the concentration is more on Branding and in the Distribution of the products to reach the potential customers. Allocation of budget to the distributors is needed in order to encourage them to sell and promote the products. Spending more money for the branding is essential, however it is not advisable to spend closer to the maximum budget because it will only result to lower SHV. Spending less or closer to the minimum is also the same. Better to be in the middle when it comes to spending on branding.

For the distribution, following the percentage in the distribution summary is a must to attain the optimum benefits.

Attempt 1:

Spent $1.5M on Branding and support in bike shops, sports store, and discount store is $20000, $75000, and $20000 respectively.

Distribution: Branding:

Attempt 2:

Spent only $1M on Branding, support in bike shops, sports store, and discount store is $20000, $75000, and $20000 respectively.

Distribution: Branding:

Year 3 Exploration

24th – 25th of Nov16:

In year 3, the company should try to increase a bit more in price but should still retain the Advertising, PR, and Branding almost on the same percentage level. But at this time, other factors should be consider, such as capacity, efficiency, and quality.

The company should be ready to expand in the future years that’s why the additional capacity and increasing the quality and efficiency is important.

Summary:

In summary, reading and following the Market Summary and all other report is important. The only way to get higher results is to follow what is being asked for a particular year. Careful examination of results is also needed. For Year 1, the focus is on advertising and price, for year 2, it is the distribution and branding, and on year 3 is the capacity, efficiency, and quality.

Action Items for my Team:

• Form a Group Name and Register. - Done!

• Schedule a weekly meeting.

• 1Continuous practice of single player simulator to attain the optimum result.

• Continue to explore the single player.

• Prepare the report for week 4 presentation. ( Products, features, and benefits)