Business Strategy Game - Assignment Example

Individual Reflective Report Table of Contents 0Introduction 3 2.0The BSG-Online Game 3 2 Strengths of the Game 3 2.2 Weaknesses of the Game 4 3.0 Teamwork Evaluation 4 3.1 Contribution of Team Members 5 3.2 My Contribution to the Team 5 3.2.1 My Key Strengths and Weaknesses 6 3.3. Overall Team Efficiency 6 4.0 Course Integration 7 5.0 Change Strategy 12 5.1 Learning from the Game 12 5.2 Probable Strategy for the Future 13 6. 0 Conclusion 13 Reference List 14 7.0 Appendices 16 7.1 Appendix I – Game Scorecard 16 7.2 Appendix II – Impact of Exchange Rate on the Revenues 17 1.0 Introduction The Business Strategy Game is a computer based exercise, which is modelled to reflect the real world characters. All the elements of the game closely reflect the cut-throat competitive functioning of the real life scenario. The game usually puts the player in a state of affair where an individual can make the application of what has been learned in the management school. This piece of work is meant for analysing the highlighting my personal experience with the game. In doing so, I will be concentrating on various aspects of the game and will consider the theories of management. 2.0 The BSG-Online Game 2.1 Strengths of the Game One of the best attributes of the game is that it allows application of the learned theories in the business world. The online game is also helpful for an individual aspiring to become a manager in the future. From the point of view of the game, it provides comprehensive results and that helps the player to evaluate the results instantly. In addition, the game can be played by considering any major industry or sector. Another advantage is that it takes into account all the domains of a business i.e. the marketing aspect, the financial aspect, human resource and obviously the information technology. A player can play the game for a period of 15 years and thus it provides opportunity to analyse the long term aspect of the business. Most importantly, the elements of the game makes an user high engaged with the game and owing to the fact it considers all the dimension of a business, the level of knowledge increases to a great extent. From the point of view of the game-play, the interface is also interactive and consumes less resources and as a result of that it can be run on any desktops or laptops with minimal system configuration. The game is based on an online platform and hence there is no requirement of installing the game in the local hard disk (Thompson, Stappenbeck and Reidenbach, 2010). The online support is another key beneficial factor for the game. A beginner can easily play the game by seeking assistance from the online support or by viewing the online video tutorial. 2.2 Weaknesses of the Game On the other hand, some of the disadvantages of the game is that is totally based on character interface. The disadvantage of this game is that it only allowed us to focus on strategy of the company and the S/Q was given only on the basis of the performance of the company. The game consists of artificial intelligence so as to predict certain behaviours of the market, but it is impossible to predict the exact events that will be taking place in the market place. As a result of that at times it fails to present the actual scenario. Apart from that from the point of view of the game, it is difficult to play it with less team members as the results are greatly dependent upon the number of players. Hence, one needs to have enough coordinators so as to play the game. 3.0 Teamwork Evaluation Anthony and Govindarajan (2007) believes that the complexity of business is increasing day by day and as a consequence to that it is becoming a challenge for the companies to solve those complexities and operate efficiently in the market place. In such scenarios business houses are increasingly depending upon the group working activities with conviction that working in group will ease the level of complexity and the business process will be smoother (Harris and Fleisher, 2005). Armstrong (2002) in this context believes that teamwork culture in an organization offers a company with numerous benefits and allows a company to solve some of the most critical tasks without any major hassle (Teamworkeurooppa, 2014). Hence, from the above points I can deduce that team work is becoming one of the crucial requirements of business and considering the current scenario, it can even be adjudged as a key to success. Bull and Compton (2006) enumerates that team work provides opportunity for a company to make their staff members familiar with the situation offer great learning opportunities. In addition, a culture of knowledge sharing takes place in the organization. Echoing the same, authors such as Andon, Baxter and Chua (2007) emphasizes that team work promotes delegation, efficiency, bring new ideas within the group and offer mutual support. A strong team often act as a support mechanism for the whole organization. 3.1 Contribution of Team Members Team work is one of the crucial requirements of success for a business. Owing to this fact, we have also provided enough importance to the team working mechanism. The game was played by a team and I was one of the members of that team. The strategy chosen by us was ‘value for the money strategy’ (Hobbs, 2009). The total team size was 5 and I played the role of team manager. According to Belbin’s topology analysis, there are nine different team roles that lead a company towards the success and those are separated into people-oriented roles, action-oriented roles and thought-oriented roles. The action-oriented roles comprises of shaper, implementer and complete finisher; the people oriented roles comprises of coordinator, resource investigator and team worker and thought oriented roles include plant, specialists and monitor evaluator (Zeithaml, 2010). Although we did not plan such roles before the initiation of the group but astonishingly after the competition, it is being observed that the team roles as mentioned by Belbin have huge resemblance with our team. For example, one of our team members played the role of a shaper. He always tried to critique the team’s performance and challenged the team to improve. His aim was to improve the perforce of the team and ensure better results. In the same way, another team member specifically played the role of a specialist. He tried to apply all his skills and expertise while playing the game. He is basically a student of strategic management and has enough knowledge to deduce the scenarios and make relevant decisions. However, from the group of people oriented roles, the role of a team worker has been played by almost all the individuals. This greatly encouraged the cooperation and coordination among the team members. In the similar way, each member played the role of a plant in which every group member presented new ideas and approaches to the strategy game. However, if I want to evaluate my contribution to the team while playing this online strategy game, I would first like to enlighten about the role played by me. 3.2 My Contribution to the Team I have always tried to promote coordination in team as I always believed that if a team works with greater harmony, desirable results can be obtained. Moreover, coordination among the team members also eases the level of complexity. However, the most important responsibility for me was to put the ideas of thee team into action. I was responsible for all the implementation activities. In addition, screening the ideas put forward by the team members by making use of various strategic tools was also a key activity for me. At the end, I was also responsible to ensure completion of the assignment on timely manner. In doing so, I used Gantt chart to monitor my progress as well as progress of the team. 3.2.1 My Key Strengths and Weaknesses Some of my key strengths are that I always tried to view thing from a broader perspective and considered the pros and cons before its application. This allowed me to identify and mitigate the risks of the future. I also have the ability to manage a group of people and influencing power and this acted as strength for me. Organized working is another key strength of me as it helps me to complete the required activities in a timely manner. However, I also have a set of weaknesses that often impacts the team negatively. For example, at times I used to get nervous thinking that the assignment will not be completed on time and I used to pressurize the team members, which I later realized that it was not necessary. In addition, another weakness of me is limited technical knowledge. Being a student of management, I have sound knowledge of the subject but in this competitive, a significant portion of success depends upon one’s technical knowledge and ability to interpret things in the real world. The lack of technical knowledge acts as a weakness for me. However, I have already started to take care of these problems and I believe that I will be able to overcome these problems. I have also taken admission in computer courses to develop my technical knowledge. 3.3. Overall Team Efficiency From the analysis of the roles and responsibilities of the team members, from the Belbin’s team role model, I can say that I played a diversified role in the team. From the points made by Belbin, I can adjudge my role as Monitor-evaluator, implementer and obviously a complete finisher (Nagarajan, 2004). Regarding the effectiveness of the team, I can conclude that they tried their level best and exhibited highest level of efficiency. 4.0 Course Integration In this management program, I have learned a lot about theories of management and most importantly, I found that there is great level of fit between the discussed theory and their practical implications. In strategically managing the company over the period of year 11-15, I had to make use of a number of theories of management. On the basis of the environmental management theory we made strategic decisions. For example, from year 11 to year 16, we have continuously made use of recycled boxing and packaging for the purpose of complying with the environmental regulations. In addition, to function as a responsible citizen, we have continuously increased our investment from $304,000 in year 11 to $749,000 in year 15. Moreover, from year 13 we started workforce diversity programs. The strategies we pursued for achieving the performance targets were application of global cost leadership strategy. In addition, global differentiation strategy was also applied. This strategy helped us to differentiate our offering from the competitors and also offered competitive advantage. I have learned the significance of these theories while playing the game. I have also become aware of the fact that it is possible to move away from the generic strategies and try out a combination of various strategies. In this segment of the study, I will be highlighting about 5 key theories from various domains of management that interested me and I feel will help me in my professional career. Team Building Theory: - The first one is Tuckman’s theory of team formation. In this theory, the author emphasizes on the fact that the development of a group passes through 4 different stages and the author names the stages as forming, storming, norming and performing (Aacecasablanca, 2012). (Source: Aacecasablanca, 2012) Motivation theory: - The theory of motivation by Frederick Herzbergs is one of the greatest learning from this entire course. The theory states that there are two factors namely motivators and hygiene factors. Motivators such as recognition, challenging work motivates people and hygiene factors such as job security, salary which does not motivate people but its absence causes dissatisfaction (Managementstudyguide, 2014). (Source: Managementstudyguide, 2014) Leadership Theory: - The functional theory of leadership is one of the most vital theories to assess the specific behaviour of a leader. The theory argues that it is principal function of leaders to take care of the requirements of the group and a leader can be adjudged as ‘good’ only if the leader contributes to the effectiveness of the team (Deckop, 2006). Theory of Consumer Behaviour: - The most important theory of marketing according to me is given by Maslow in the field of consumer behaviour. The author states that consumer have five stages of needs and are named as physiological needs, safety, belongingness and love, esteem and status and lastly self actualization. The physiological needs are the basic needs and self actualization is the stage where the highest need has been fulfilled. (Source: Cherry, 2014) Competitive Advantage Theory: - The theory states that combination of some organizational resources, competencies and human resources skills are responsible for providing competitive advantage to a firm. The resource based view theory also states that capabilities and resources of a company that are difficult to copy offer company with sustainable competitive advantage. (Source: Strategicmanagementinsight, 2013) Apart from learning and application of the management theories, this game also provided me with the opportunity to understand various technical matters. For example, credit rating which is responsible for reflecting the creditworthiness of a company. In this matter, the company has managed a B+ from year 11 to 15. Although, it cannot be said that the company high creditworthiness, yet it is acceptable and favourable. The expectation of the investors from our company was around $2.5 in year 11 but it increased to $ 3 in year 15. In this regards also the company managed in satisfying the expectation of the investors. Managing investor relations was therefore a key learning for me from this module. In the similar way, the stock price also exceeded the expectation of the investors. One of the best things is that the company succeeded in managing a good image in the market. Another vital aspect of a business is the global sales figures and the market share. The company Y11 to Y16 continued to increase the sales and as a result of that the global market share kept increasing. The company had a market share 15% at the end of year 15 and it can be adjudged as a very good achievement. This greatly supports the theory of competitive where a firm wins more share of market on the application intelligent strategies coupled with unique resources and capabilities. 5.0 Change Strategy 5.1 Learning from the Game I have observed that strategies are one of the pillars of a business and a business is guided by the strategies of management. I have also observed that accompany which succeeded in the successful application of business strategies have enjoyed high percentage of customer retention rate. In addition, their employees are also more satisfied. Proper strategies are also allowing the company to make optimum utilization of the company’s resources. There are several real life examples that reflect a company succeeding in the market place for a longer period of time due to their appropriate business strategies. For example, Samsung, which used to be at the 5th or 6th position in the mobile phone industry has endeavoured to move along with the market treads and never tried to pursue a strategy that does not have enough potential. Their continuous struggle paid off and Samsung is now the world’s large mobile phone company in terms of the global market share. The tie up with Android is one of the strategies that offered the company with competitive advantage. 5.2 Probable Strategy for the Future From the point of view of the game play, if I get the opportunity to play the game next time, I would be exploring the strategic options from a different industry. I would choose an industry which is new and the markets are emerging. This will allow me to explore and experiment various strategies and evaluate which one of the strategies is fitting with the requirement. In addition, I will be initiating the business with premium pricing strategy and see whether premium pricing strategy fits with the business or not. Mass targeting through premium will be another new and innovative approach that I will be pursing in the next occasion. 6. 0 Conclusion It is obvious that business strategy is the most crucial element of a business. The online strategic game allowed me to learn various business strategies. For example, in our company, barefoot, we pursued value for money strategy and differentiation strategy. This allowed us to target mass segment of customer and differentiate us from the consumers. In addition to value for money strategy, I have also learned about business diversification strategy, cost leadership strategy and niche segment strategy. The characteristics of each strategy became absolutely clear to me and I believe that if I can assess a situation properly, I will be able to identify the most appropriate and relevant strategy the business should take in order to fulfil its goals. Nevertheless, from an overall point of view, I would like to conclude that the online strategy game has helped to learn and apply management concept and evaluate the results. I believe this experience will help me in the near future. Reference List Aacecasablanca, 2012. W9_IQB_Tuckman Analysis part2. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2014]. Andon, P., Baxter, J. and Chua, W.F., 2007. Accounting change as relational drifting: a field study of experiments with performance measurement. Management Accounting Research, 18, pp. 273-308. Anthony, R. and Govindarajan, V., 2007. Management Control Systems. Chicago: Mc-Graw-Hill IRWIN. Armstrong, P., 2002. Management, image and management accounting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 13, pp. 281-95. Bull, M. and Compton, H., 2006. Business practices in social enterprises. Social Enterprise Journal, 1 (2), pp. 42-60. Cherry, K., 2014. Hierarchy of Needs. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2014]. Deckop, J. R., 2006. Human Resource Management Ethics. California: IAP. Harris, P. and Fleisher, C. S., 2005. Handbook of Public Affairs. London: SAGE Publications. Hobbs, P., 2009. Project Management. Berlin: Dorling Kindersley Limited. Managementstudyguide, 2014. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation. [online] Available at: < http://managementstudyguide.com/herzbergs-theory-motivation.htm> [Accessed 27 March 2014]. Nagarajan, K., 2004. Project Management. New Delhi: New Age International. Strategicmanagementinsight, 2013. Resource based view. [online] Available at: > [Accessed 27 March 2014]. Teamworkeurooppa, 2014. Team Work. [online] Available at: [Accessed 28 March 2014]. Thompson, A. A., Stappenbeck, G. J. and Reidenbach, M. A., 2010. The Business Strategy Game. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.csun.edu/~jds29757/BUS497A/BSG_PlayersGuide.pdf> [Accessed 27 March 2014]. Zeithaml, V. A., 2010. Delivering Quality Service. New York: Simon and Schuster. 7.0 Appendices 7.1 Appendix I – Game Scorecard 7.2 Appendix II – Impact of Exchange Rate on the Revenues Read More