Myphone Simulation Reflection - Assignment Example

MYPHONE Simulation Reflection Marketing Simulation Reflection Describe: What did you do? In this project, I developed and presented a marketing plan for MYPHONE Smartphone Company that has its lines of operations in Asia and Europe. The marketing plan was aimed at assessing the market growth for this company in these two regions to determine the level of its competitiveness against its competitors in the industry. This project was carried out by six members of my group with me included. In our endeavors to complete this project, the other five members of the group were tasked with the responsibility finding the idea, creating a business, looking at the financial plan and the business establishment strategies. My part included taking care of the marketing plan to be able to evaluate and understand the market in which the company operates as well as its competitiveness in the industry. Goal to Accomplish In this project, our main aim for my part of the project was to help us in assessing and understanding the competitiveness of MYPHONE Company. In addition, the simulation was also aimed at creating awareness about various resources such as finances, research and development, sales, as well as the costs for carrying out different marketing activities that were required by the company. The experience and the knowledge that were achieved from this simulation were intended to be used in sound decision making for the betterment of the growth of the company as far as its marketing sector is concerned. The simulation will also help to add more knowledge in the world of marketing in this company, which have not been realized. Achieving the Goals I was able to achieve the goals that this simulation intended to find out. This is because; the simulation looked both the internal and the external assessment of the company. Such analyses are very important in finding out which internal or external factors are responsible for the companys growth or barring the company from growing in the market. Such analyses were very helpful in unravelling what marketing strategies should be applied by the company to combat its unfavorable environmental factors and how the favorable factors can be turned into opportunities that can be exploited. MYPHONE was found to operate in a very competitive market. At least from the weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats of the company, it is easy to know the level of competitiveness of the company when compared to its competitors. It was easy to know the weaknesses of the company in order to make corresponding decisions and strategies that could be used to change the weaknesses into strengths. The strengths of the company could also be known and how the company exploits its prevailing opportunities as it averts its threats in a strategic manner. Which skills did you bring to the experience that helped you meet your goal? To help me in achieving the goal, I was able to bring with me several skills including the financial analysis skills, business evaluation skills, customer evaluation skills, as well as product evaluation skills. Such skills were helpful in various stages of evaluation to determine both the external and internal condition of the company. While working on this simulation game, did any academic concepts become apparent during this experience? I apparently applied several academic concepts while working on this simulation. Such concepts such as financial analysis of the companys financial statement became of importance in trying to assess the level of sales that the company makes. Again, the concept of the marketing mix is another academic concept that I applied when working on this simulation and it proved to be very helpful to me when trying to assess how the products are produced, priced, promoted and availed to the customer. New Learning: What did you learn that was new to you? During this simulation, I happened to have learnt that when a company operates in a very competitive market, it requires adequate research and development to re-engineer and reposition its products and to become more competitive in the market. Therefore, MYPHONE may work so hard on innovation and come up with more and better applications for its phones that will make the company stay on the competitive edge in the industry. What insights did this new knowledge give to you? From this new knowledge, I was well equipped with the fact that that business should not just be run as usual once youve realized that your company operates in a very competitive environment. One should always be on top of the competition in the industry at which they operate to ensure they stay relevant in the business as well as increase their sales and profits. Ive therefore been well informed that one needs to take it as an advantage to exploit to be the first in an industry to always be leading in innovation and taking upon new technological advancements to make our businesses cope with competition trends. Did it help you understand something that you didnt understand before? Before, I used to see several companies come up with new products and even before those products have stayed longer in the market, they again came up with new ones which were more improved than the previous ones. Some other companies also came up with products and within sometimes, they changed the face of these products through addition of some components are giving them new looks through various strategies. I never understood clearly why all these used to happen. Thanks to this new knowledge I acquired during this simulation, Im now able to understand that such product improvements are strategies in product life cycle that help in ensuring its survival in the market. Such strategies also help to ensure that the product stay relevant in the market and compete well with the other products in the industry. How do you think this simulation might be useful (in practice, in your studies, in your life)? In practice, my studies and my life, this simulation can be very helpful in several ways. To begin with, I can apply the simulation on my studies to carry out an assessment on the external and internal factors that affect my performance in school. After understanding such factors, both from the internal and external. I would be able to know how to deal with them and control those that I may have the power to control. More so, the internal factors, which are factors within myself as a student, are such factors that I could be having power over to control. However, I might not be able to change some of the external factors such as the teaching style of my tutors. But I can find out about the remedies to such problems. Also, I may use the simulation in life, especially in my career life to evaluate my career progress to help me achieve my career goals. Personal Reaction: How did I feel about what was done? (Did it affect me emotionally and if so how?) The project took the better part of me as I became part of it to enable me achieve the stipulated goals. Just as I felt part and parcel of this project, I was emotionally affected especially when I learned that the company had to go an extra mile to sustaining the competition in the industry since it was operating in within a very competitive market. I felt like I needed to do something to help the company stay on top of the competition within the industry. What did I like or enjoy and why? In this project, I liked the fact that I was able to carry out an analysis that revealed those factors that were responsible for the market growth of this company. Remember that when beginning, I only had the goals that I wanted to achieve. However, I went ahead to use several analysis such as SWOT and marketing mix to provide me with some adequate information about the company that was able to help me find out the critical factors affecting its growth in the market. What did I dislike and why? In this project, I did not like the fact that one needs to wait for the beginning a fiscal year to implement the suggested strategic changes in the company. This is because, such delays may delay the implementation of some important strategies. However, this is usually done to allow easy monitoring and evaluating the progress of the strategy. Also, it is important to have the funds availed for the proper implementation of the strategies. What did I find easy to do or understand and why? Some of those things that I found to be easy to do in this simulation included analyzing the marketing mix. This was easy because I only needed to identify the product that was being demanded by the customers, how it is priced, how it is promoted and availed to the customers at the right time, quantity and position. What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why? In the simulation, I also found it difficult and challenging to understand financial statements and its analysis. This is because; there are various ratio analysis that are involved that require working with figures, and Im not that good and fast with figures. It is very tedious working with figures. Is there any action that you will take as a result of what was done? As a result of what was done, I will ensure that the implementation process takes place to ensure that the developed plan and strategies do not go to waste. As we know, a lot of energies is normally pumped into formulating and generating strategies. However, if no effort if put to implement the strategies, it is as good as not formulated at all. Do you need to plug gaps in my knowledge? This simulation still left a gap of determining the extent to which the simulation can improve the market growth of the business. It is at least good to know what is missing in business and to what extent can that which is missing take the business if it is fixed. Do you need to investigate or research further? A further research would therefore be conducted to find out the extent to which the recommendations of the simulation could take the business if they were implemented. This will bring some light to the implementation of the recommendations by the management as it will clearly stipulate the expected returns from carrying out and implementing a simulation. Summary In a nutshell, this simulation game was about assessing the external and internal factors that affect the market growth of MYPHONE Smartphone Company. The simulation was carried out mainly to evaluate and understand the competitiveness of MYPHONE in the industry in which it operates. The simulation was also intended to help in creating awareness for the needed finances for sales, research and development, and other marketing activities in the company. I learnt many things, together with the fact that, businesses require continuous product re-engineering and repositioning for their survival in the industry. Read More