How to win cesim simulation game

MSc International Business

MODULE TITLE: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SIMULATION (BMG706)

TEAM REPORT & INDIVIDUAL REPORT

MODULE LECTURER: DR. ANWAR HAQUE

Sohail mia (B00699495)-The Team Leader

Sushil sitaula (B00696966) Md sadequl haque saju (B00699212)

Judith ovadje (B00699810) Abdul bayes shipu (B00700142)

Submitted by -Sohail Mia B00699495 | LONDON CAMPUS 15 DECEMBER, 2015. LONDON CAMPUS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Team Report Contents

Page No

Part –A (Introduction of team) 1-5

Part-B (Review and analyse the practice round) 6-7

Part-C (Analysis, review and reflection of the rounds) 8-9

Part-D (Evaluation of the Strategies) 9-11

Part-E (Team performance and a critical evaluation of global simulation challenge) 11-14

Part-F (Signed Letter of Marks allocation) 14-15

Individual Report Contents

Part –G (individual reflection of the rounds) 16-19

Part –H (Reflection of the overall simulation) 19-20

Part-I (My view about the Global Challenge Simulation) 20-21

Conclusion 22

References 23

Appendices 24-28

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Orange’s Team Report

Vision – Inspire people to connect with passion and affordability.

Mission – To maximise shareholder value through innovation, affordable prices by

benefiting customers’ needs.

Our Corporate Values-Our values based on three principles –Excellence,

Commitment and Credibility.

 Excellence –Everything we do

 Commitment –To our stakeholder

 Credibility – To staff , clients and suppliers

Part –A (Introduction of team)

Orange is the leading and the most innovative and most profit making

Telecommunication Company based in the United States. We made the largest profit

in the business simulation among all team, it demonstrated and reflected our in-depth

understanding, knowledge and skills throughout the journey of simulation game.

Orange proud of its Excellency, commitment and credibility to stakeholder over the

years. Orange is the most reliable and trustworthy brand in the mobile phone

manufacturing industry which is bringing new and innovative handsets with exclusive

features and technologies to markets first than all competitors.

ORANGE

EXCELLENCE

CREDIBILITY COMMITMENT

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Orange has quickly expanded its business operation all around the world through

strong leadership, effective management, leading R & D (Research & Development)

affordable pricing strategies and largest distributions and selling networks. Orange

believe in “destructive innovation” that means our continuous endeavours, focus and

goal is to invent new technologies to satisfy consumers’ demand and to hold the

leading position in the global markets.

Team members’ skills and expertise

Orange team formed with five diverse members. The core values of team based on

five principles which is bonding glue that tie up everyone and everything together that

reflects our team culture. The core values of orange team is demonstrated in the graph

-1. Orange has demonstrated its effective team work, team sprits and collaboration

throughout the rounds leaded by strong and effective leadership of Mr. Sohail Mia

(B00699495). Every team member encouraged and promoted him to be our team

leader. We are delighted that we chose a right individual who showed his leadership

skills, management efficiency, and responsibilities beyond our expectation. Mr. Mia

treated, valued and respected every team member equally and his influence motivated

us strongly to accomplish our team work effectively on time. He has done MBA (Master

in Business Administration) in previously, that helps us to get more insights about

multinational business operations, importance of strategic values, operational and

tactical values of an international organisation and many more things.

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Graph-1: The core team values of Orange.

Sushil Sitaula (B00696966) is one of the most dedicated team player, he has shown

his analytical skills throughout the rounds. He is observant and reliable, he utilised his

creativity and efficiency in this simulation. Although, he is quite in nature but his

sincerity impressed the team. He has completed professional leadership and creativity

diploma that helped him to put his learning in the simulation game. Md. Sadequl

Haque (B00699212) and Abdul Bayes Shipu (B00700142) demonstrated their

sincerity and flexibility to the team. They both showed their team sprits and

hardworking attitudes all rounds the business simulation. Sadequal Haque carried out

very good efforts to finish team task on time. Mr. Shipu is a good example of an active

listener, he is introvert, and however he contributed team effectually.

Another, amazing team player is Judith Ovadje (B00699810), she is only female

member of our team. She bought her experiences of working multinational companies.

Her rational and constructive argument added new dimension to our group work. She

is outspoken and inspirational, she shared her knowledge, experiences and expertise

and she added her openness and operational attitudes all over the rounds. Finally,

every team member worked together, shared their views and experiences and

contributed to be the most profitable telecommunication company among all the

competitors.

Orange Team

Values

Trust & Respect

Team sprits

Motivation Engagement

Transparency

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Communication and Decision Making Techniques

From the beginning of the business simulation, we have developed our team values

that was demonstrated in the previous graph -1. We developed our team spirit and

added our learning outcomes and experiences subsequently at every round to

improve our performance. We have created “What UP” group messenger to

communicated each other’s, besides telephone conversion and email services. Every

round we have set our group agenda, group meeting and minutes as suggested by

our respected tutor Dr. Anwar Haque, which helped us to improve our performance

and group activities round to round.

Arindam & Nag (2011) recognised four ways of group decision making process such

as Brainstorming, Nominal group technique, Delphi technique and Didactic interaction.

Orange group used brainstorming technique for all group decision, as it is the more

effective, allows every individual to generate ideas rather than evaluation of ideas. In

addition, brainstorming technique based on simple structure which is quick, efficient

and lets instantly discussion to make decision among group members.

We set mandatory group meeting participation and engagement. We are very focused

and motivated through effective and friendly leadership of Mr. Sohail Mia. During our

group meeting, brainstorming and identified tactical and operational strategies

individually, and then discussed our ideas, arguments, rational among group .Finally

we have decided together the best strategic options to achieve our company mission

all around the rounds.

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Part-B (Review and analyse the practice round)

To understand the business simulation working process, at first team were given the

opportunity to involve within the simulation (cesim, 2015), as refer as Practice rounds

by the simulation itself. There was two practice round. At the beginning team orange

felt nervous and complex regarding the simulation interface and rules because it was

the first time that orange Team is playing the game. Team were sensitive regarding to

familiarize within the simulation, Team was confused and tensed. At the same time,

Team thought that effective leadership is needed to guide the Team. As (Locke, 1991)

states that Leadership is the process that induce others to take action towards a

common goal. Soon team leader was formed then Group discussion was conducted,

realized that every team member needed to understand about strategy and its

importance at the same time Simulation decision guide was considered for

familiarizing the simulation. Various simulation videos was considered to understand

the basic workflow of simulation. Though it wasn’t sufficient to act at first.

With a limited knowledge, Team played practice round 1, decision was made after

group discussion that every member will play the simulation, as per according to

decision guide. Team somehow managed to input some ‘raw value’ raw value because

Team didn’t knew what value need to put what is the minimum and maximum value

and what that value means. For example in demand section, Team forecast that in

USA market share would be 19.3 %, in Asia 19.3 % same goes to Europe. Team did

not knew exact relationship between demand forecast and market share in the

simulation, so Team put same value in every country. Same goes to every part of

business function like production, marketing. Minimum money was invested in

Research and development. As a result came out we found that our team made

highest profit with high market share. After reviewing the result and comparing with

others, knowing that our team actually did well and was more motivated and willing to

learn more about the simulation. Also team realised that leadership is the key factor

that makes the Team strong and success.

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As Team moved to practice round 2, group discussion was conducted for making

effective decision, this time every team members had gone thoroughly decision guide

once more to make sure that team understand every aspect of simulation areas. Team

familiarize with market outlook, understand that one round is equal to one fiscal year,

and when investing in production plant it takes two round which means two fiscal year,

and payment is done on that year. Team also familiarize with research and

development areas that in simulation there are two options to get technology in house

development when invest takes one extra round to be available whereas, buying

technology and design licenses when invest technology is available immediately.

Team also analysed the competitors, their marketing budget, and their cost and

production capacity. This round Team was looking for new technology so team decide

to invest in house development with minimum price also effective marketing.

The result of round 2 showed that our team was still market leader with highest profit

and high shareholder return. This was achieved from effective group discussion. From

the practice round Team learn many aspects of business simulation, layout of

simulation, Team realised that there is relationship in every aspects of business

function in simulation, Team also learnt that with effective marketing mix, Team can

maximize market share and profit. Team also learnt other main areas of decision

making such as logistics in order to meet the demand, finance and budget that proper

strategy is needed to pay the dividend. Beside that one the main aspects is that group,

meeting where team felt that it is necessary after playing practice round.

Part-C (Analysis, review and reflection of the rounds)

During Group meeting, Team had discussed various different approach to market the

product in the beginning of the round 1. The strategy was based on company’s vision

and mission. From round 1 to round 3 Team followed the strategy of cost based Pricing

strategy with low promotion. Team Orange also invest in Research and development.

Further Team also considered to not to pay dividend to the shareholders or issue

shares.

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From the financial statements and other market reports showed that Team strategy

was not effective because team didn’t able to capture market share nor the Team

orange had surplus the Profit see appendix 3. Team orange market capitalization of

the company was lower than the other team. Team orange market capitalization was

$ 9297005 (K USD), whereas other team like Team Green who called themselves as

Mobile Tech inc had $ 21277713 (K USD), shareholder return was also lower see

Appendix 1 for all ratios of Teams. Also other teams were selling handset more

affordable compare to our team. Team orange also realised that investment on

Research and development was very low which had direct effect on sales because of

unavailable features. Lastly from the analysis from the report, Team understood that

Promotion strategy was not working effectively. Finally from the report, Team

understand that Orange needed to invest in new plants in Asia, because competitors

already invested in plants which was another reason that demand in Asia was not

fulfilled and cost of transportation to Asia was high from USA.

After analysing all the data and strategy that Team had pursued, in future team

considered to follow differentiation strategy in order to maximize Profit because it will

also allow Team to adjust the price according to market competition and availability of

technology. Another strategy that Team would considered to do huge invest in

Research and development and will only consider buying technology if needed.

Whereas in promotion Team orange would invest more for effective promotion. Also

Team will consider investing in few plants in Asia but not too high.

After focusing on different strategy from round 4 to 7, result was very effective all the

strategy that was considered had positive impact on the company’s growth. Team

orange surplus more profit by round 6 see appendix 4, Team had $ 1002977 ( K

USD), Team orange market capitalization of the company had increased to $

21946209 ( k USD) which was the highest among all the teams by round 7. Share

price had increased (see Appendix 2) which was good sign that company is very

strong, shareholder return was high. Team orange was the first Team to gain market

share in new Technology 3 and 4 which shows that the strategy of investing on

Research and development was effective.

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Part-D (Evaluation of the Strategies)

A strategy is the way or the direction a firm use to achieve its’ goals and objective in a

changing environment by using its’ limited resources and competence so that they can

satisfy their stakeholders (Johnson et al 2005). In this global simulation competition,

there different strategies all the various competitors from the different team applied in

the challenges to arrive at an end result. Looking at the overall challenges one can

evaluate the different strategies used by the different group. As a team (orange) being

the winner of the competition the strategy we used and how we applied it gave us the

competitive advantages over rivals. As explained by (Hunger and Wheelen 2005), it is

very important to make the best the right and the best possible strategy that will of

benefit to firm. Right from the start we were very careful when choosing a strategy to

be applied although we made some few errors and mistake in some of our decision

making which affected our profit a bit.

At any point in time before we apply any strategy we always look at the market

condition. The market condition as explained by (Butt et al, 2010) is the position of

the firm or the economy of the environment the firm operate in and this condition

influences the firm in taking a strategic decision that will either affect the firm positively

or negatively. The condition can be the demand for the product, cost of production,

price or even the external environment (PEST). The market condition gives us an

insight on what strategy to use at every round.

In employing the strategy we looked at the external factors of the market outlook that

can be an issue on each round using PEST analysis.

 Political:- There are political intervention in all the three market environment ,

USA, Asia and Europe. For example in round 2 the USA and the China

government are hitting each other on a head to head in imposing higher tax on

imported goods of each other country while the whole of Europe is imposing a

very high tax of 31% on corporate firm. The strategy we in this round was to

invest building more plant in Asia and USA to minimize exportation

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 Economic:- The ups and down of the global economy plays a role the instability

in price exchange rate and interest rate. For example in round 3, the high cost

of oil in China has made transportation to go up with about 15% which will

eventually affect production and cost of outsourcing.

 Social:- The social behavior of this three region is different each region has

have what they crave for the hand set the Asian customers care of about the

price to purchase the handset while the USA and European customers care for

the features of the handset. Our strategy was to in each concentrate on each

region products that is most requested.

 Technology: - The way things are getting done are being influence at the

speed rate in changes in technology. For example a sudden outbreak in

technology which has helped USA and Europe to support Tech 4. We had to

invest for new plant in USA for tech 4.

Production:- We aim at meeting the market demand, so we make sure we fully utilize

the needed capacity on each round to as much as possible avoid waste or under

produced. Although in some occasions we contract manufacturing. For example in

round 5 we involve contract manufacturing in tech 4 in the USA because we want to

make sure we meet up with market demand.

Investment:- we invested wisely especially in-house research and development

(R&D) being that the mobile phone have a short life span that is, new technology on

handset comes so quickly and if one is not at alert, competitors will take over the

market by offering new and enhanced mobile handset , therefore we make sure we

invested on innovation. With the market growth is what we decide invest in building

more plants to meet up the demand capacity.

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Marketing:- In carrying out our marketing, the strategy we use was to invest in

promotions using different type diverse channels to ensure our product rich the right

audience we set our price to suit the different market ensuring we make gain, offer the

product and the feature in accordance to the different market preference for example

tech 2 is most crave for in the Asian market. We also make sure the product is in the

right place. For example we enter into contract with some network provider.

Transportation: - We make sure we have an effective logistic using modern means

of technology to reduce and minimize cost, and time saving. We make sure we satisfy

the region of production more in as much as we try to satisfy other region. Satisfying

the region first save cost for us because we don’t have to pay for tariff since it is

produce within. For example tech 2 is which is mostly in demand especially in Asia,

we make sure that region is most satisfied for tech 2 before the other region.

Finance: - when it comes to financing we make sure we try to limits taking founding

from outside .we use in house funding and when the need to raise fund we take long

term loan and sometimes sell share. We make sure no matter how little the dividend,

as we make profit we pay dividend to our shareholders in accordance with our

dividend policy and also pay back debts that needed to be paid at the right time.

Part-E (Team performance and a critical evaluation of global simulation

challenge)

Team was formed with 5 talented innovative people to face the challenge from

business simulation game. It needed collaboration and contribution from each member

to compete with other groups. It is not easy to achieve the objectives initially. So we

identified the importance of effective leadership and select a leader who has higher

acceptance among the group. As claimed by Yukl (2006), a leader must have the

ability to lead people to achieve the goal.

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In this business strategy game, team leader assign task to every member and together

we come out of the solutions in terms of areas such as market conditions, demand,

production, R&D, marketing, logistics, tax, and finance. Team leader has used the

Tuckman model for the process development through four steps which are forming,

storming, norming, and performance. During the process of the business strategy

development, the group members came out with different ideas. There were

arguments and conflicts within the group members but the group was able to come up

with final decision because of strong leadership. The group also faced some problems

during the process development. Looking at the market condition, the US seems to be

the mature market and the European is near to saturation. So we used higher

technology there compared with the Asian market. Also The difficulty we faced is the

right decision making to fulfil the demand in the different market. After effective

consultation, the group members agreed to set new plants in Asia in order to reduce

the costs.

The group members also understood that there is shortage of supplying handset in

the market. Outsourcing strategy (Kenion, 2005) was one of the solution to increase

the cost efficiency and to fulfil the market demand. During the discussion, there were

some agreement and disagreement among the members. However, team saw the

benefits of the process development especially referring to the production

development. This area is very complex when comes to the analysis of unit cost,

production and capacity utilisation. The initial few round, we did not manage to fully

utilise the capacity. There was a waste in the production capacity. However, the time

gone by, the group manages to utilise the capacity maximisation. There are two

production lines at the round 7. Group members decide only producing tech 3 and tech

4 to reach the profit maximisation. However, there was still a shortage of quantity to

fulfil the market demand.

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The group members decided to continue the outsourcing strategy in order to maintain

customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the global markets. The decision of the

production was still based on the Asia plants and US plants which was safer option.

Coming to the R&D area, it always had different opinions for the product development.

Group members thought tech 2 was a big unique selling product in the market. So

Tech 2 consume the largest provision fund for the R&D development following by tech

4, tech 1, and tech 3. But we belive there were some lacking in The R&D investment

decision which could have been done better way if we played the game again.

Group members were more knowledgable and confident in term of marketing

development. Marketing is important to gain sales in order to achieve the corporate

goals and objectives (Lynch, 2000). So far, it was the most interesting part of the whole

process of the business strategy development. The team orange manage to compute

the cost and selling price. The calculation also comes out the margin of the sales. The

team also decided the provision amount of products for each region. Obviously, every

round maintains profit margin. The team have made quick decisions on marketing

areas. Obviously this area had better acceptance among the group members.

Team identified the problem of the logistics. Although some members suggested to

develop a new plant in the Eastern Eunopean and to distrubute the products into the

European market. However, team members understood that there was shortage of the

capital investment. So, we did not invest on new plant in europe and the European

market relied on the concept of supplier chain and logistics development through the

US plant and the Asian plant. so it was a tough decision and we could have done

better if we had invested for a new plant in europe.

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One of the bad side from the group process and decision was the production strategy.

Tech 2 seems to be the best products in Asian market. However, it may not be right

because there are some developed countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and

Singapore have advantage technology. So The decision to make tech 2 in Asia may

be not reality. We may made a bad decision on European market where the team

could consider building a new plant in the Eastern Europe. This is because some of

the Eastern Europe countries are developing countries which may be a new markets

for the team Orange business development. The outsourcing development also needs

to consider for the quality due to the complaints.

To conclude the global simulation challenge development, it is an interesting project

because of knowledge and skills tranfers among the decision making from the team

members. It can be improved through the collaboration and absopt the professional

knowledge to make decision making.

Part-F (Signed Letter of Marks allocation)

Dear MR ANWAR HAQUE,

First of all a big thanks to you for giving us an opportunity to gain experience about

how to run a business in competitive global market through Cesim global challenge

game. Though it was a long journey but we finally completed our Cesim game

successfully. This was possible because of a strong team work and greater

contribution from each members of our team. As a result group performance was

highly appreciated and we become number one amongst all other competitors in this

business simulation game. Below we identified some main areas where our entire

group members contributed their ideas and knowledge’s to make our organisation

most profitable compare to other competitor groups. And some suggestion provided

regarding the mark distribution among the group members.

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Contributing areas Suggested marks among group members

Group meeting Every group members were present at all group

meeting and shared their own ideas equally.

Strategy making Every member analyses and researches the

market condition properly and we all were agreed

to implement the most suitable strategies for the

business success.

Time spent for playing cesim games We all group members spent 15 hours a week to

play this game. It was a long journey and we work

shoulder to shoulder to make it possible. So equal

contribution remarks.

Decision making It was very difficult to take right decision

considering the continuous changes of market

condition in each round. But all of our group

members worked hard and share their different

ideas and assist the future market very well. As a

result our group decisions for future business

strategy were spot on. So we appreciate very

group members equal contribution.

Signatures of group members:

Sohail mia (B00699495)-The Team Leader

Sushil sitaula (B00696966)

Judith ovadje (B00699810)

Md sadequl haque saju (B00699212)

Abdul bayes shipu (B00700142)

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Individual Report

Part –G (individual reflection of the rounds)

The purpose of the international business simulation is to maximise the total

cumulative shareholder investment and return, which comprises dividends, changes

in the values of shares as well as the interest that the dividends generate for the

shareholder (Cesim, 2015) .To gain outlined objectives and to fulfil company’s mission,

the Orange team was formed by five dynamic members who worked as a senior

management executive in the international business environment in a team setting.

According to simulation guideline, the all members agreeing together, has urged,

offered and encouraged me to lead the team. I took this challenge as a mean of

opportunity to gain new skills, qualities and experiences and to evaluate my

potentialities. All group members put their trust on me to carry out my responsibilities,

finally through the hardest efforts of team members and through my leadership, the

Orange team has been highlighted as the largest profit making team among all others

participated teams.

Leadership

As being promoted of group leader, I had to work on all the aspects of decision making

process and finalised the group decision at every round through group discussion as

a core responsibility. However, I have tried to allocate group works among group

member in different areas at every round based upon on their interest and personal

skills, so that the team can get more insights and different approach to compete with

other teams, it also develops divers skills of team members end of the rounds. I also

endeavours to work in the different areas besides my core responsibilities that are

demonstrated below.

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Market Outlook Analysis

In the first round and fourth round, I worked in the market outlook area to determine

the attractiveness of a market and to recognise its evolving opportunities and threats

as they associate to the strengths and weakness of the organisation. Market outlook

is very challenging and dynamic in nature which consist of macro-environment

analysis of multiple markets that includes market size , market growth rate ( current &

future ) , market trends , market profitability , industry cost structure , trends of

technologies , logistics and distribution channel and key success factors ( Kuen-Hung

et al., 2013) . In order to accomplish this task , I have used some market analysis

tools incudes PEST , SWOT , Porter Five Forces and Porter Diamond Model to

examine and evaluate the markets stability to execute strategic decisions . I also

utilised government data , trade associations data , customer survey and financial

data from majors financial institutions such as IMF (International Monetary Funds ),

WTO (World Trade Organisation) etc. , besides our internal market analytical team .

Production & Investment

I worked in this section second and third round respectively, and tried to ensure raw

materials, resources, equipment and skilled adequate manpower are all available to

meet production targets at every individual market. I also proposed to increase plant

capacity for future production in all markets, and allotment of sufficient investment in

R& D and for carrying out production operations around the world

Our production strategy based on mixed approach, which consist of in-house

production and outsourcing. However, our main focus was improved and strengthen

our own house development capacity and reduces dependency on contract

manufacturing and outsourcing, as it is costly and impede overall profitability of the

company. As a result, I proposed in the second round to team to reduce outsourcing

and contract manufacturing to establish our control over production and reduce

operational costs.

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Team accepted my proposal and rationale, as a result, Orange team built adequate

plant in Asia and USA markets subsequently and from fifth round onwards we stop

contract manufacturing and transferring products in Asia market from USA market, as

Asia and USA market became self –sufficient producer to meet local market demand.

I also proposed to increase our Research & Development budget gradually to be the

most innovative phone manufacturer company than all other competitors in the market.

R&D (Research & Development) and Future Direction

In the fifth round, I worked in this section. R& D is a significant element of innovation

and a prime factor of developing new competitive advantages (Robert, 2015) .Orange

strategic vision was to be the most innovative company in the market by introducing

new technologies and adding up new features at every round. Orange Team aware

that , higher spending on R &D , does not guarantee of higher profit , more creativity

and better products . Therefore, I emphasised on “disruptive Innovation” which would

engage and motivate our R & D individuals to focus on personal development through

training, development and research. As being technological company, the future

direction of company should focused on innovation. I personally believe, there is no

alternative of innovation for development and growth. Therefore, I suggested Orange

team “Be innovative and lead the market”.

Marketing & Logistics

In the sixth and in the final round, I worked in this above section. Our marketing

strategy based on increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive

advantages to be positioned as the most innovative mobile manufacturer company in

the global market. From the team performance report of the round three and the round

four, it reveals that due to less promotion and advertising spending our global overall

sales decreased. So, in the fifth round, I proposed “structured holistic marketing and

promotion approach”, which outlined and allotment marketing budget based on market

size, market demand and attractiveness of technology.

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For example my proposed strategy was prioritised to spend more on new technologies

rather than old technologies, as new technology requires more awareness and

advertising. To improve our logistics system, I offered to establish good networks and

relation with suppliers and third parties and add new “Tracking Technology” to logistics

management system to ensure efficiency and safety of this entire system.

Part –H (Reflection of the overall simulation)

The international business simulation is an online platform, based on for strategy and

international business studies which designed to develop learners’ understanding of

the complexity of global business processes in a dynamic and competitive setting. It

is cost effective and simple structure which also develop students business decision-

making process as a whole to maximise the total cumulative shareholder return and

profitability in a sense .In simulation, one round is considered as a one fiscal year. The

decision making area is divided into several theme based sub-categories like as

production, demand, marketing, investment, research & development, logistics and

finance etc.

The Cesim business simulation provides the learners an innovative decision making

area, where team players have a high level of control over the business decision

making process and competes among groups. The decision making checklists is

divided into two sections: the individual decision making area and the group decision

making area. Every team member in groups had unlimited opportunity to put their

decision into simulation before deadline and team decision can be finalised agreeing

upon with group members prior settled deadline . After finishing deadline, teams can

checked and evaluated their performance and get ready for the next round. This

structure of simulation provides in-depth understanding and gaining knowledge and

skills, where the decisions carried by team was contributed to maximise companies

profit or they made wrong decisions which incurred losses for their companies. It

allows students to learn from their actions, inactions, mistakes and prepared them to

take decisive diverse strategy for better performance in next round.

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The journey of the international business simulation conducted by Dr. Anwar Haque

was very effective and amazing. From, the very beginning, it seems challenging and

complex from the view point of the most students. However, Mr. Anwar’s dedication,

sincerer approach, guidance and unparalleled support to every individual and teams

made this journey successfully ended. Mr. Hague’s ongoing feedback, constructive

criticism and motivation highly contributed to get more insights of international

business strategy and decision making process.

Throughout the learning journey, I have gained crucial analytical skills to analysis

complexity of business, competitiveness of business environment and diverse areas

of business decision making process. This module , bought together all other

modules’ knowledge , skills and understanding as business decision making process

associated with all other core declines like international business environment ,

marketing , management and finance , so through this simulation my learning and

knowledge has been revised , strengthen and enriched with border scale . It boosts

my confident level to work in a multinational organisation as a professional executive.

Part-I (My view about the Global Challenge Simulation)

Strategy is considered a long term plan which help to acquire a company’s objectives

and mission (David & Brian, 2015). In real life, learning is very expensive and time

consuming as well. However, the business simulation, provides this amazing

opportunities to grab, in order to gain real and professional life experiences and skills

to act as a senior executive in the international business context. International

business operations require diverse skills , knowledge and experiences , this

simulation bought all these necessary tools together under one platform to boost

individual’s comprehensive understanding of international businesses’ different

operations . The global challenges simulation focus on that , in order to understand ,

the border concept of international business someone need to be completely

knowledgeable of macro-environment of business , industry trends , innovation and

technological trends , competitors performance and movement in the markets and

future direction of the respective sectors .

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It also help me to realise the importance of innovation, creativity, persistence,

hardworking and risk taking attitudes in the field of international business expansion

and development.

International business simulation module has enabled me to develop understanding

and knowledge of operations in context of international endeavours. It helped me to

gain intellectual skills, practical knowledge to demonstrate my creativity throughout the

whole process of simulation game. It also developed my critical insight and research

undertaking skills by acquiring various areas of the business like production,

investment, marketing, logistics and finance .In addition, this business simulation also

support me to create portfolio and to gain demonstrable skills and expertise for

professional development and career prospects of senior management positions in

international operation. The business simulation influences me comprehensively to be

more dedicative, hardworking and be challenging in the diverse fields of decision

making. It also emphasise the importance of to be innovative and creativity in the

global business competitions, as it means opportunities, new hope of development

and growth of the business.

The simulation also polished the diverse skills of analysing the business as well as

decision making process which makes more profitable and effective in the various

regions of markets. More importantly, this model taught me, how to work as a team

effectively and maintain the team sprits over the period of projects. As being the leader

of the group, it strengths and enhance my leadership skills and qualities, how to lead

a team towards company goals, how to motivate and accomplish to group work on

time. To lead a team in practical is very challenging and it requires soft and hard

various skills that has been recognised and re-evaluate throughout the business

simulation. It boosted my confident that, in professional life i could be a good managers

and eventually a successful leader.

22

Conclusion

As an individual the international business simulation appears to me, is a great

learning tools to develop potentials skills and qualities which require in the real

professional life. The whole learning journey of this simulation , I enjoyed and found

interesting to learning new things at every round .I believe in practical and professional

life all of these learning outcome will contribute to perform my job more effectively and

efficient ways . The assistance, guidance and overall support of Dr. Anwar Haque was

really amazing, without his dedication, engaging personality and collaborative

teaching style, the outcomes of this module would be challenging and questioned.

23

References

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:http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/decision-making-techniques

[Accessed on : 12/12/2015].

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Business Management. 4 (5), 583.

David , T & Brian, C (2015) Building sustainability strategy in business, Journal

of Business Strategy, Vol. 36 Issue 6, p39-46.

Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy.

7th ed, Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Kenion, C. (2005). Optimal price design for variable capacity outsourcing contracts.

J. Revenue Pricing Manage, 4(5), 124–15.

Kuen-Hung , T ; Chi , H ; Tsai, M (2013) Reviews of market drivers of new product

performance, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p719-738.

Locke, A. (1991) the Essence of Leadership, New York, Lexington Books.

Lynch, R. (2000). Corporate strategy (2 ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Robert, S (2015) Coordinating R&D and Business Planning, Technology Analysis &

Strategic Management , Vol. 2 Issue 4, p391.

Strategy and international Business simulation (2015) Available from: http://classic-

archived-site-104692.web10.hubspot.com/about/cesim-team/ [Accessed

11/12/2015].

Wheelen, l. and Hunger, D. (2005) Strategic Management and Business Policy. 10th

edition, published by Prentice Hall.

Yukl, A. G. (2006). Leadership In Organizations (6th ed.). NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

javascript:__doLinkPostBack('','mdb~~buh||jdb~~buhjnh||ss~~JN%20%22International%20Journal%20of%20Market%20Research%22||sl~~jh','');
javascript:__doLinkPostBack('','mdb~~buh||jdb~~buhjnh||ss~~JN%20%22Technology%20Analysis%20%26%20Strategic%20Management%22||sl~~jh','');
javascript:__doLinkPostBack('','mdb~~buh||jdb~~buhjnh||ss~~JN%20%22Technology%20Analysis%20%26%20Strategic%20Management%22||sl~~jh','');
24

Appendices

Appendix 1: Team ratios from round 3

Ratios

Mobii

Tech Inc. Purple Blue Orange Grey Ochre Pink

Market

capitalization of

the company (k

USD)

21 277 71

3

5 132 26

3

8 513 87

2 9 297 005

3 872 2

64

8 253 37

5

5 761 41

6

Shares

outstanding at

the end of round

(k shares)

42 000 40 900 30 700 29 500 31 643 60 000 27 528

Share price at

the end of round

(USD)

506.6 125.5 277.3 315.2 122.4 137.6 209.3

Average

trading price

during the

round (USD)

[i] 274.7 97.0 295.3 321.8 259.5 68.7 262.5

Dividend yield 0.28 0.19 0.01 0.10 0.03 0.48 0.00

P/E ratio 15.3 N/A 43.2 16.5 N/A 19.6 5 250.9

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Appendix 2: Team Ratios from round 7.

Mobii

Tech Inc. Purple Blue Orange Grey Ochre Pink

Market

capitalization of

the company (k

USD)

14 790 38

8

1 924 68

1

5 028 04

2 21 946 209

2 118 4

78

14 944 14

5

5 390 21

8

Shares

outstanding at

the end of

round (k

shares)

40 000 43 778 40 000 37 800 32 143 100 000 35 028

Share price at

the end of

round (USD)

369.8 44.0 125.7 580.6 65.9 149.4 153.9

Average

trading price

during the

round (USD)

[i] 439.6 46.6 68.3 502.7 103.9 105.0 134.1

Dividend yield 6.01 0.00 0.10 2.28 0.00 0.47 0.46

P/E ratio 24.6 N/A 24.6 27.2 36.4 20.0 55.0

Cumulative

total

shareholder

return (p.a.),

%

[i] 21.65 -12.65 1.77 26.60 -7.57 4.34 5.14

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Appendix 3: Income Statement from round 3

Profit and Loss statement (k USD)

Mobii

Tech Inc. Purple Blue Orange Grey Ochre Pink

Sales

revenue

3 752 16

7

1 120 17

3

1 872 73

1

1 844 24

5

462 78

9

2 040 40

9

1 666 59

3

Costs and expenses

Variable

production

costs

748 362 385 127 456 386 633 917 0 613 183 609 755

Feature costs 254 659 27 703 54 180 104 814 7 279 42 162 59 608

Contract

manufacturing

costs

302 089 0 267 051 0 264 97

0 291 023 97 293

Transportatio

n and tariffs 55 172 30 498 238 484 15 746 8 278 101 092 24 771

R&D 100 000 475 510 360 000 95 000 6 000 150 000 529 787

Promotion 240 000 39 100 5 500 55 000 0 19 000 20 500

Administration 98 802 98 802 98 802 113 252 98 802 113 252 109 249

Costs and

expenses

total

1 799 08

4

1 056 74

1

1 480 40

4

1 017 73

0

385 33

0

1 329 71

2

1 450 96

3

OPERATING

PROFIT

BEFORE

DEPR.

(EBITDA)

1 953 08

3 63 432 392 327 826 516 77 459 710 697 215 629

Depreciation

from fixed

assets

91 198 91 198 91 198 163 198 91 198 163 198 139 198

27

OPERATING

PROFIT

(EBIT)

1 861 88

5 -27 766 301 129 663 318 -13 738 547 499 76 431

Net financing

expenses -53 251 -7 352 -45 606 6 722 -23 610 -31 973 34 619

PROFIT

BEFORE

TAXES

1 915 13

7 -20 414 346 736 656 597 9 871 579 472 41 812

Income taxes

[i] 521 930 103 001 149 837 94 737 54 963 158 118 40 715

PROFIT FOR

THE ROUND

1 393 20

7 -123 415 196 898 561 860 -45 092 421 354 1 097

Appendix 4: Income statement from round 6

Profit and Loss statement (k USD)

Mobii

Tech Inc. Purple Blue Orange Grey Ochre Pink

Sales revenue 4 399 61

3

484 51

2

2 172 65

7 3 916 563

1 527

027

3 407 57

8

2 508 34

2

Costs and expenses

Variable

production costs

1 674 77

3

184 13

0 254 606 1 020 016

501 8

25

1 407 28

8 736 531

Feature costs 468 339 35 442 349 019 212 263 47 80

7 158 274 355 298

Contract

manufacturing

costs

275 905 14 166 519 497 527 808 385 6

70 411 944 380 984

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Transportation and

tariffs 47 109 22 795 51 129 35 378

112 4

73 161 829 168 755

R&D 740 000 209 20

0 62 778 220 000

10 60

0 165 000 0

Promotion 45 552 50 000 36 000 165 000 23 00

0 103 000 9 000

Administration 214 186 122 96

0 173 900 142 160

116 0

90 198 031 142 685

Costs and

expenses total

3 465 86

4

638 69

3

1 446 92

8 2 322 626

1 197

465

2 605 36

7

1 793 25

2

OPERATING

PROFIT BEFORE

DEPR. (EBITDA)

933 749

-

154 18

1

725 729 1 593 937 329 5

62 802 211 715 090

Depreciation from

fixed assets 663 072

111 08

7 433 707 203 424

109 5

57 578 904 209 857

OPERATING

PROFIT (EBIT) 270 678

-

265 26

8

292 022 1 390 514 220 0

05 223 308 505 233

Net financing

expenses -15 322

-

12 429 155 214 -30 880

14 59

8 -25 440 198 661

PROFIT BEFORE

TAXES 286 000

-

252 83

9

136 808 1 421 393 205 4

07 248 747 306 572

Income taxes [i] 330 995 34 895 129 607 418 416 98 04

6 130 642 79 976

PROFIT FOR THE

ROUND -44 995

-

287 73

4

7 202 1 002 977 107 3

61 118 105 226 596

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