Reflective Report on Business Case Simulation

The first assignment of this module is a Reflective report (to be written and submitted individually) on the Business Case Simulation played in group (3 min to 5 people max) from teaching week 2 to week 6. Groups have to be formed WITHIN the tutorial class. The Business Game Simulation in this module is used not only to illustrate what has been learned in class and additional reading, but also to develop valuable analytical skills and practical experience of (virtually) running a business. 

The suggested format for this report and a possible approach to the word count allocation could be found below:

The report should be clearly structured and follow a logical format. A contents page should be included which should adequately set out the structure of the report in a systematic way. 

State clearly what the report is about and the sequence of key tasks/events to follow. 

Please provide a brief background to the Company: the mission and vision of the company; the markets/regions it operates in; the company’s competitive positioning (per product type) for respective geographic regions. It is important to discuss a context of your business as well. Provide a brief overview of the industry, the number of rivals and discuss the level of competitiveness in the industry.  This section also requires the description of the (Generic) Competitive Strategy your company has pursued in its attempt to gain real competitive advantage. Please use academic literature to support your discussion. Portter / Bowman     

Year by Year what u have done- investments, key changes, inventory management, market share, profit and losses, Return on Investmen, Image rating, final results.  This section requires you to discuss a rationale behind making key decisions. Instead of describing what decisions you made, you should provide an explanation for the main principles guiding your decision making. Please use academic literature to support your discussion. 

To stimulate your reflection consider the following questions: What key decisions did your company make? Why did you make these decisions? What results were you hoping for? Where did the company place in the industry? Did you meet investors’ expectations? How did you perform in relation to competitors? Use table to show a clear understanding. 

Your reflections and self-appraisal of either business success or failure is the key aspect of this section. The actual success or failure in the game is not the key issue: the most important aspect of this section of your ability to reflect and learn from the results achieved. 
Please note: you need to provide evidence of the decisions taken and results achieved every year by including the screenshots from the game in Appendix. 

In this section you should provide some discussion and analysis on the need for strategic thinking, strategic visioning and strategic management of the company. Please use academic literature to support your discussion. Provide some discussion/analysis which might include the following: