Group Report on Business Decisions: Analysis and Evaluation

Objectives and Performance

Each team will submit a group report on the Round 1 decisions with the following sections:

1. Peer assessment form with the names and signatures of all team members (see final page of this brief).
2. The team’s business plan for Round 1 as follows:
3. Mission statement – what is the purpose of your company?
4. Business Objectives –
5. Chosen market segments with brief descriptions of target customers and your marketing strategy
6. Your competitive strategy – why will people buy your cars rather than those from other companies?
7. The rationale underlying the choices of designs, options and R&D
8. The rationale for the prices charged for each car
9. The rationale for production/HRM decisions such as investment in automation

A brief statement of the business objectives and a brief summary of the company performance during the game and how far you succeeded in meeting the business objectives; a table showing total sales, total unsold stock, shareholder funds, closing bank balance and outstanding loan at the end of each of the four rounds.

A clear analysis and explanation of what happened during the game supported by graphs/tables of key financial and non-financial data for the company.

How the team used the financial, marketing, operations and human resources management material taught during the semester to make responsible business decisions affecting at least one stakeholder group internal to the organisation and at least one stakeholder group external to the organisation.

Explain how you made the decisions during the game.

Looking back, discuss how you could have made better decisions by making better use of the material taught during the semester, particularly how the functions integrate and how the decisions act in the best interest of the individuals, groups or organisations affected.

An evaluation of the extent to which your organisation met the key strategic objectives set out in part 3 above, with an indication for the reasons these objectives were fully met, partially met or not met at all.

Discuss, for example, the organisation of the team, the effectiveness of the decision-making process, and the roles played by individuals including leadership. How effective was your contribution to the team? What did you learn from the game about effective teamwork and decision making? Reflect on your experience in working in a culturally diverse team. What would you do differently if you played the game again? It is important to go beyond simply “telling a story” and to make use of relevant material the Leadership and Management Development module. Make use of the meeting logs that you kept during the game. Do not talk about the specific areas of contribution, e.g. how you made financial or marketing decisions, but how you developed as a team member and how you would approach a similar exercise differently should such an opportunity arise.

To develop the skills necessary for employment and career progression

1. Demonstrate awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses and the ability to engage in continuing self-development.
2. Demonstrate the development of inter-personal and intra-personal skills.
3. Demonstrate competence in contemporary analytical and ICT applications.

Be culturally and ethically aware

1. Demonstrate their ability to work in culturally diverse groups and teams and make appropriate and personal contribution to team effectiveness.
2. Reflect on their own ethical values.
3. Understand the wider impact of individual or organisational decision making on social and environmental contexts.

Have developed leadership and management capability

1. Analyse and communicate complex issues effectively.
2. Demonstrate decision making, problem solving and project management skills. Goal Four: Have developed and applied knowledge of international business and management theory

Acquire, interpret and apply knowledge of international business, management and organisational functions.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of innovative and contemporary research on the business and management community.
2. Acquire, interpret and apply specialist functional knowledge in relation to their programme of study (specialist programmes only).

Have developed a range of research skills and project capabilities

1. Plan and complete a major piece of research or project on a contemporary business, financial, management or leadership topic.
2. Demonstrate skills of analysis and synthesis in the application of research methods to the exploration of contemporary business and management issues.