Strategy were you implementing

1. What strategy were you implementing? What type of product (speed, accuracy, service life, and price) did you design in Round 1? Explain how your settings for speed, accuracy, service life, and price in Round 1 were driven by the chosen strategy.
2. How did you create a sales forecast in each round? Explain. For Round 1 only, how did you use the sales forecast for capacity planning?
3. What was the level of automation in your plant? Why? Discuss the role of contribution margins, if any, in your decisions regarding automation.
4. Are you running a second shift? Why or why not? Did you have inventory issues in any round? Explain.
5. Which country (or countries) and customer segment (or segments) were you targeting with your product and why? Describe any two marketing decisions that you implemented over the four rounds to enable your desired targeting. If you introduced a region kit, describe how that affected your sales.
6. Remembering what you have learned in MBA 620 and by referencing the financial accounting ratios (link to Learning topic from MBA 620), calculate the net profit

margin ratio at the end of Round 4. What does this ratio tell you about the profit being generated?

7. Examining the balance sheet at the end of each round calculate the current ratio for each. Has the current ratio increased or decrease from round to round? Explain the major cause of the changes from round to round. Also, calculate the working capital for each round. Has your company had sufficient working capital in each round? If not, why not?”
8. Adequate cash flow is required for a company to support operations, invest in the future, pay down long-term debt and reward shareholders with dividends. Analyzing the Statement of Cash Flow for each round identify the change in cash flow from the previous round and identify the major cause of this change.

Sample Solution

In Round 1, I was implementing a customer-oriented strategy. This strategy focuses on providing the best possible customer service and experience as opposed to one that emphasizes production or other aspects of operations. The product I designed in Round 1 had high speed and accuracy settings, as well moderate service life and slightly higher price points. The idea behind this was to prioritize giving customers the fastest and most accurate services available while also ensuring that the machines are reliable enough for long-term usage without becoming overly expensive. By balancing these four characteristics, my goal was to ensure that customers will have an excellent experience with our products without breaking the bank.