Business Simulation Game - Case Study Example

Team Name: Group Members: ID Numbers Word Count: 2003 Table of contents Table of contents 2 Introduction 3 Situation Analysis 3 Political factors 4 Economic factors 4 Social factors 5 Technological factor 5 Legal factor 5 Environmental Factors 6 SWOT Analysis 6 Strengths: 6 Weaknesses 7 Opportunities 7 Threats 8 Mission Statement 8 Corporate and Functional objectives 9 Strategic choices and decision 9 Tactical Implementation 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The purpose of this report is to present a strategic plan of the company in the mobile phone industry in the USA, Europe and Asia. The purpose is to present a business stimulation game that will help the company earn increased profits by leading in the technology. The areas to be covered include situation analysis that explains about the business environment in the areas of operation. The report will also present another area the SWOT analysis that will explain the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that might face the business during its operation. The report also presents the mission statement of the business and explains how it can be achieved. Another part is the functional and corporate objectives focusing on how the company will realize them. There is also the choice and decision part that explains the choices available to the business and the best decisions that will suit the business. Tactical implementation part explains about the business operations, productions, source of finances and how the business will market its products. The report aims at providing a business stimulation game, which, is any action taken by a firm that its aim is to increase its sales. The business strategy of the company will be aimed at earning high profits by leading in the technology in the mobile phone industry (Slack & Lewis, 2011). Situation Analysis This part of the report explains about the evaluation of how current and past political, economic, social, and technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE analysis) factors help companies identify external and internal factors that affect operation of the business both in the short run and long run (Scott, 2010). Political factors Political factors are the changes that arise as a result of government influence. These include policies passed by the governments and other regional policies in the area of company’s operations. There has been introduction of fiscal policies so as to reduce the inflation in the country and this has happened in so many countries. There has been increase in the taxes levied on services and products. There has been change of leadership in various countries in the regions of operations. There are countries that limit direct foreign investments in these regions. Economic factors These are the factors that directly affect the profits of a company. These are the factors that have long term effects on the survivor of the company. These may include inflation in a certain region of operation that will affect the total profits of the company with same margin. If there is inflation the prices will increase and the consumers will buy less because their demand for certain products will go down. The interest rates have been so high thus making borrowing and paying debts very expensive. There are countries that limit foreign direct investment and, therefore, this should be a factor to consider and the company should have other strategies of market entry. There has economic meltdown globally that has affected expenditure of the customers downwards and this will reduce the company sales. Social factors The company should also consider and research about the social factors such as the composition of the population so as to decide the target population. The company should also consider the cultural trends in a region because they help in creation of the market. For example, the middle aged generation is in need of high technology. The social factor may appear as not important to a business but they highly influence a company’s investments. Technological factor There is growth of technology in every industry in the world; therefore, being mobile phone industry there is need to consider technological factors in the regions of investment. In the mobile phone industry there is a lot of technology use and the companies keep on innovating new technologies so as to have a large market share because of increased competition. Therefore, the company should highly invest in research and development so as to keep pace with the main players industry. This technological awareness in the countries will ensure that the company does not lag behind in acquiring the market share. This should go into introducing new technology in phones. Legal factor The company should take into consideration the legal requirement in the regions and countries of investment. The company should ensure it adheres to regulation such as the international competition law. The company should also consider factors such as consumer laws in a certain country so as to ensure that they provide what is needed in the market. There is also need to consider labor laws because there are laws that require payment of very high salaries and they will affect the company’s financial stability. Environmental Factors The company should work to conserve the environment. This will allow company operation in a smooth way maintaining the environmental set laws. There also increased cost on energy in most countries and, therefore, the company should put this into consideration so as not to affect its financial stability (Scott, 2010). SWOT Analysis The section explains the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the company will face in its operations. The reason behind this section is help the firm realize the area it can utilize to achieve its goals and objectives (Pahl & Richter, 2009). Strengths: The large research and development investment have gone a long way in making the mobile handset manufacturer successful. This research and development has led to the companies’ handsets being more competitive globally, and this has equally made the business favourable. The mobile handset manufactures operate on a global scale, despite being small. Research and development had led to invention of customer- driven and appealing designs and models, and these designs have also contributed immensely in the success of the business (Pahl & Richter, 2009). The strength and great success can be attributed to the use of research and development, combined with extensive use of technology by the mobile handset manufacturers. Weaknesses Having a high operating cost is a weakness for the mobile phone manufacturing company. The mobile phones manufacturing companies requires many employees to manage and provide services in the different branches and sectors needed to help the company keep up with technology. Salary and wage bills are very high for this company as most of its revenue is channeled towards that, whereas, it could have been used conduct comprehensive research (Pahl & Richter, 2009). More assets and more are used to conduct research and development, in order to improve the customers’ services. Technological research is done in order to know what is latest in terms of technology, and what is most preferred by the customers. Companies that can meet all the customers’ preferences and demands as they arise, and urgently, tend to attract customers the more, and make them loyal, unlike the ones which cannot. Opportunities Increased use of technology is a good opportunity for the mobile phones manufactures. With the increased advancement in technology, there is an increased demand for mobile phones, which people prefer using for communication and accessing information and the internet, instead of computers (Pahl & Richter, 2009). The mobile phones manufactures should capitalize on this opportunity by moving and advancing with technology, so as to meet the customers’ demands and preferences. Keeping up with technology will always ensure that the good produced (mobile phones) always get market and buyers, and this will definitely bring in profits for the manufacturers. Another opportunity is that, being small, the taxes paid to the government are still low, and this can really help the mobile phone manufacturer to compete in the market, compared to the companies that have high operation costs, and that pay high taxes (Pahl & Richter, 2009). Threats Continuously changing technology is the major threat faced by the mobile phones manufacturing companies. The use of technological change and systems helps the companies to always be up to date with the latest technology, hence providing the customers with the services that they need (Pahl & Richter, 2009). The ever changing technology makes it difficult for mobile phones manufacturer to stabilize with its services because; there is always the need to keep on improving them. This is because mobile phones have moved from the stage of just being used for making and receiving call, or just for communication. They are used for entertainment as well as for gathering information, hence the competition in technological advancement to keep up with the customers’ demands. Being small mobile phones manufacturer, the company is likely to incur a lot of costs so as to compete with the other companies, in terms of technological advancement, in order not to be pushed out of the market (Fine, 2009). Mission Statement The purpose of a mission statement for a company is to help in guiding the company in a summarized way on how to achieve its objectives. The mission statement for the business will be: To earn increased profits as much as possible through leading in technology in the mobile phone industry. Corporate and Functional objectives The objectives of the company include be the leading company in technology of the mobile phone industry. Another objective is to earn increased profits as much as possible. The company will also aim at producing high quality product for it markets in the USA, Europe and Asia. The company also aims at proving the best brands in the industry (Waters & Waters, 2006). Strategic choices and decision There are three choices of strategies that are available to the company. These include focus, differentiation and low cost. Focus is a strategy that put emphasis on a specific part of the target group. The company may decide to take a small geographic area as its market and cover it extensively. Another strategy is differentiation where the company aims at presenting its products in a different way from those of other companies. This can be possible through giving the best prices in the industry for high quality products. The firm can also create customers loyalty in such a way that it will be hard for other companies to enter the market. The other strategy is low cost the firm here aim at producing high quality products at a lower cost. This may be as a result of economies of scale (Fine, 2009). The company’s strategy is differentiation because the firm aims at being the leading company in the mobile phone industry through the use of technology. This will help the company achieve its mission of earning high profits. Tactical Implementation The company will need to highly invest in research and development to ensure that it has the best technology in the industry so as to be the leading company. There should be refresher courses and on job training for the employees so that they can keep up with the growing technology. Differentiation will help the company in its marketing because it will be providing unique products. The company will ensure that it hires highly trained personnel who are endowed with experience to make sure that the company produces high quality products that can compete with other companies in the industry. Conclusion In conclusion, the report has presented the analysis of the external and competitive environment of the firm in the mobile phone industry. The company objectives have been achieved and this has been as a result of high quality products through modifying the current technology in the mobile phone industry. The company needs to continue investing in research and development so as to continue achieving its objective and goals because there is ever changing technology. The selection of middle aged generation as the target market has played a great part in ensuring that the company earns increased profits for its products. The strategic plan will help the company realize its set objectives if followed to the letter. There is also need to be flexible in the mobile phone industry so as to cater for the ever changing needs of the consumers. The reason behind this is that with the changing technology consumers will always go for the most convenient products. References Fine, L. (2009). The SWOT analysis: using your strength to overcome weaknesses, using opportunity to overcome threats. AuthorHouse: New York. Pahl, N. & Richter, A. (2009). SWOT analysis. Grin Verlag: New York. Scott, J. (2010). International business. Cengage Learning: Philadelphia. Slack, N. & Lewis, M. (2011). Operations strategy. Pearson: London. Waters, D. & Waters, C. (2006). Operations strategy. Cengage Learning EMEA: London. Read More