Assignment
The Business Simulation Game is modeled to reflect the real-world nature of the globally competitive athletic footwear industry. Your team has taken over the company after 10 years of successful operation. You will be running in a head-to-head competition in an industry that consists of 12 total teams. The other teams assume the same company with the exact same performance.
As you read and study Chapters 2 & 3 you learned how to assess an industry and how to evaluate the internal resources of the firm. Chapter 5 discusses the generic business-level strategies that are used and how they can be combined for a business to establish a basic business-level strategy. The purpose of BSG Project #1 is for your team to assess industry dynamics in the athletic footwear industry, evaluate your company's internal resources, and then formulate and articulate your initial/intended strategic approach to running your company. Looking back at earlier chapters, you will recall that companies start with an initial or intended strategy and then make modifications as needed to compete and adapt.
For purposes of Project #1, assume that I am Chair of your Board of Directors. I serve on several different boards (36 actually), and my time is valuable. In your presentation, you need to start with enough information on yourselves and your company that I can quickly come up to speed, but do not assume that I know everything about you when I start reading. Your management team has just been hired to take over the company in Year 11 of operations. Performance is average but not outstanding. You have been hired to rebrand the company and take it in a direction of sustainable competitive advantage. I have asked you to provide me with a short presentation, and I want a handout to take with me that I can use to recall and make notes on the presentation.
Your management team will submit a fully annotated PowerPoint file to me. The slides would be those you used in a presentation and the NOTES: section of the slide must include the text/narration that you use when giving the presentation.
You can do the assignment as simply as possible or you could have some fun with it - your choice. You might put yourself in character and make the submission interesting. If your role on the team is to handle financial performance, you might self-describe as being hired as CFO and from the pet food industry. Similarly, if your focus is marketing, you might be the CMO coming from a successful rebranding of a skateboard company. [I will be reading 36 of these in about a week. Amusing me is a good thing.]
A. Brief information on each team member.
B. Assessment of the competitive environment in the Athletic Footwear Industry based on information from the Player's Guide.
C. Information on your Brand and brand image. This includes the company's new name, logo or slogan, and what the brand and logo are meant to invoke for the customer. (5 bonus points will be awarded if you provide both a logo and slogan.)
D. Your company vision, mission, and core values.
E. Description of the current resources and status of the company that puts you in a position to compete.
F. A discussion of how competition works in the Branded (Wholesale & Internet) Markets and how that differs from competition in the Private Label Market.
G. Describe the generic strategy (using information from Chapter 5) for your company's intended strategy for the Branded Market. If you plan to use a different strategy for wholesale vs internet from the beginning of the competition, please explain both. If you plan to use different strategies in different geographic regions, describe them.
H. You must participate in the Branded Market. Participation in the Private Label market is optional. State your intention for participating in the Private Label Market within the first three years and the actions you plan to take. If you do not choose to participate immediately, explain why.
I. Bring the presentation to closure.