Report 2: Outline your strategy

Name of individual responsible for the report:______

Team: ______Your team is supposed to help you but you are responsible for completion and quality (See syllabus)

At the beginning of the simulation, your team faces an unusual business situation – all companies and products are identical to each other. In the real world this situation rarely if ever occurs. The closest analog might be a highly regulated industry. Looking into the future, the simulated industry will rapidly differentiate. Nothing you can do will stop it. Given time, the industry will evolve into a state where competitors occupy defendable strategic positions. There are two important questions. “How long will the process take?” “Will two or more competitors attempt to occupy the same position?”

Let’s use an analogy. Picture a flat landscape. Now imagine several hills placed on the landscape. Each of the hills represents a strategy. Your success depends upon how quickly you can identify a hill, and how high you can climb it. Your hope is that you will choose a hill that nobody else picks, and that you can defend it against competitors. Complicating this is the fact that some hills are more attractive than others. Further, the more companies trying to climb a particular hill, the more difficult it is for each of them to successfully climb it.

Defining a strategy requires some analysis. Before writing your report you need to answer the following three questions.

  1. What are the segments your company should be serving during the competition rounds? Which segments matter to you? How much share of those segments must you achieve to be an “average competitor” in the overall industry? For example, if you choose to play only in Traditional and Low End, you would have to command a higher share of those segments to achieve “average industry sales.” Considering these segments which products are most important to you? Which are least important?
  2. What is the different profit potential of each segment. Are you planning to compete on a high or low margin segment? What are the advantages and disadvantages and what is your final choice. Note that you need to keep in mind the Customer Buying Criteria found in the Capstone Courier Market Segment Analyses.
  3. Consider the timing; at what speed (number of rounds) can you create a defendable position? For example, new products typically take two years to bring to market. Significant productivity improvements could take several years.

Your report should define a strategy that you would like your team to pursue during the competition rounds. You should also refer to chapter 5 in your textbook for inspiration on the structure and the topics to discuss in this report. It will help you to work with the teammate particularly the one producing the SWOT analysis but you can also work independently.

Remember that the paper should not read as an exam (question and answer, question and answer). The three questions specified MUST NOT BE the headings of your paper. You need to define a structure that works for the message you want the reader to learn and remember.

Strategy outline memo: Grading sheet

  1. Opening paragraph
  2. Presents issue(s) and choice point(s) motivating the analysis, for example (what follows is not a recipe): our strategy will be ….. (Must employ ideas from chapter 5)
  3. Lists briefly the primary reasons for this conclusion. It selects from the answers to the questions stated in the body of the memo.
  4. Provides a useful roadmap for reading the memo, not just a vague list
  1. Body of the Memo it answers to the questions stated in the assignment in a way that supports the conclusion stated in the introduction. It must, of course, follow the outline provided in the introduction. When discussing how your answers support your choice.

You should follow acknowledge that you are making a choice, there are the risks, and discuss the potential “fatal flows” of your thinking.

  1. Conclusion reiterates in a way that enhances the memo’s persuasiveness and reader’s confidence on the recommendation
  2. It re-states your first statement at the light of what you have discussed. It gives a glimpse of the strategic options this analysis implies. prioritizes the recommended actions
  3. It states recommended first steps.

4. Document Design (follows Munter;s guide)

  1. Use of stand-alone nutshell idea headings. Example of WRONG heading: External analysis. RIGHT heading Rivalry in the sensors market is likely to be high. What is the difference? The first is descriptive and gives no information. The second one provides information derived from the external analysis. Of course, this information needs to be discussed in the paragraphs under this heading.
  2. Use of white space, indentations, bullets, etc.