You should have known by now that your coursework consists of THREE parts.
COURSEWORK 1 (Group-assessed)
This will carry 40 marks.
Play the Business Strategy Game over a period of 10 years, from Year 11 to Year 20. In other words, there are 10 rounds of decision-making, each round being referred to as one year in the game. Your Year-to-Date score at the end of Year 20 will determine your Coursework 1 marks. A maximum score of 110 or above (due to bonus points being awarded) will give you a maximum of 40 marks. Marks will be awarded proportionately to your score in the game. Thus if your score is 90, your marks will be (90*40)/110 = 32.7
COURSEWORK 2 (Group-assessed)
This will carry 20 marks.
This is the reflective writing part of your coursework. Maximum 2,000 words. Reflective simply means to look back to your experiences in playing the BSG and let your tutor read about what you have learnt or realized from the game. You can write with regard to the following:
a) skills required to become a competent/successful entrepreneur. For example, numerical/quantitative/financial skills to analyse various reports such as production report or financial statements. You may also bring in other skills such as communication skill, negotiation skill, conflict-solving skill, etc, because you guys are doing the coursework in a team and disagreements are bound to occur. All of these are exactly what an entrepreneur will do - analyzing all types of data, communicating with stakeholders, negotiating with financiers and suppliers, solving conflicts within the organization, etc.
b) knowledge deemed useful/beneficial/necessary to be possessed by an entrepreneur . For example, knowledge with regard to foreign exchange risks, knowledge pertaining to various distribution and promotional strategies.
Ensure that each point that you write about is justified with reference to your experience in playing the BSG. You may refer to specific sections of the game and also incidences that occur such as a conflict situation with members of your team.
COURSEWORK 3 (Individually-assessed)
This will carry 40 marks.
This part represents a presentation of how you had played the BSG in Coursework 1, what your company had achieved, and the lessons you had learnt from playing the game, with regard to entrepreneurship (a summary of Coursework 2). At this stage, your presentation marks will be awarded.
Your presentation is to be videotaped, uploaded to Youtube, and subsequently to be uploaded to Tarcbusinessreview.com. Only selected presentations are to be uploaded. Selected presentations are defined as presentations which are deemed excellent by tutors. Once uploaded to Tarcbusinessreview.com, students will pitch their videos and invite their friends to vote for the best video presentation. There are no courseworks for this stage, but the 3 best videos with the highest number of votes will be rewarded with a 3D2N stay in Resorts World Genting, courtesy of Comeyumchawithme. LOL!!!!
Saturday, 23 May 2015
Friday, 22 May 2015
Business Strategy Game - Blow Water
Now that all the orders and payments are in, briefing and practices will commence within the next two weeks. That is, once the local distributor of BSG delivers the licences (prepaid codes) to us. Altogether there are 173 sub-groups plus 6 tutors playing and competing against each other - a total of 179 "companies". These 179 companies will be divided into 15 industries. 14 industries will have 12 companies each and 1 industry will have 11 companies, making a total of 179 companies.
Each company will receive a set of industry code and prepaid code. You will then have to register online via the BSG homepage. The industry code denotes the industry that your company will be competing in. The prepaid code gives you the right to play the game. Each industry will consist of companies from different programmes of study (3RAC, 3RBU, and 2RMK) and your tutors. LOL!!!! Do not worry about your tutors - just like you, they are all beginners in BSG. You will be able to beat the sh*t out of them!!!
Registering for the game will be the first step in the whole process. There will be a briefing soon (during lecture time) with regard to how to register and how to play the game. Most likely, this briefing session will be in Week 4.
The game will be played over 10 rounds of competition. Each round is known as a Year, so the game will start from Year 11 and end in Year 20. All companies in every industry will start at the same position in Year 11. Therefore, it is assumed that your company has already been in existence for 10 years (ie. Year 1 to Year 10). You will start the game by making decisions for Year 11. There will be a deadline for the decisions. For example, you start the game at 0015 hours Monday, and the deadline for decisions is 2359 hours Wednesday. You can change your decisions any number of times as long as you do it before the deadline. On the deadline, the decisions that you saved before the deadline will be deemed to be the final decisions. The system will then close and start processing all the decisions made by companies in your industry. The result will be known in about 12 to 15 minutes time. The result will show your company's performance viz-a-viz the other companies in your industry. The best company with the highest score will be ranked at the top, while the worst performing company will be at the bottom of the list. This is arguably the most exciting moment because you will very much want to know the outcome of your decisions.
There is much joy and satisfaction when you see your company at the top of the pile, and a lot of despair when your company is at the pit. I had experienced both feelings. Important thing is to rise from the depth and continue fighting. To me, it is better to have fought and lost, compared to calling it quits and not knowing if I could have won. You may not perform well in the initial years because maybe you are on the learning curve. But, if you put in the time to analyse the game, you will recover. That is why the game is played over a period of 10 Years so that you will have sufficient time to remedy your errors and to bring your company to a satisfactory score.
When I played the game, I only wanted to win. It was all or nothing for me. There were Years when my company was in deep sh*t, but the word "quit" was never in my dictionary - not then, not now. I think I'm the type who thrive on challenges and adversities. The more obstacles there are, the faster my adrenalin flows. This spirit carried me through the Years. I won the game, crowned the Industry Champion and got an A for my course. Satisfaction.
I hope you guys will possess the same spirit as I did. Play the game to the best of your ability. Be competitive because competition breeds efficiency. The more competitive it is, the more efficient you will become. You will find that if you fight to win, most likely you will end up with very high points even if you don't win the game. Fight well and you will get your A for this part of the coursework.
Cheers and have a good weekend.
Each company will receive a set of industry code and prepaid code. You will then have to register online via the BSG homepage. The industry code denotes the industry that your company will be competing in. The prepaid code gives you the right to play the game. Each industry will consist of companies from different programmes of study (3RAC, 3RBU, and 2RMK) and your tutors. LOL!!!! Do not worry about your tutors - just like you, they are all beginners in BSG. You will be able to beat the sh*t out of them!!!
Registering for the game will be the first step in the whole process. There will be a briefing soon (during lecture time) with regard to how to register and how to play the game. Most likely, this briefing session will be in Week 4.
The game will be played over 10 rounds of competition. Each round is known as a Year, so the game will start from Year 11 and end in Year 20. All companies in every industry will start at the same position in Year 11. Therefore, it is assumed that your company has already been in existence for 10 years (ie. Year 1 to Year 10). You will start the game by making decisions for Year 11. There will be a deadline for the decisions. For example, you start the game at 0015 hours Monday, and the deadline for decisions is 2359 hours Wednesday. You can change your decisions any number of times as long as you do it before the deadline. On the deadline, the decisions that you saved before the deadline will be deemed to be the final decisions. The system will then close and start processing all the decisions made by companies in your industry. The result will be known in about 12 to 15 minutes time. The result will show your company's performance viz-a-viz the other companies in your industry. The best company with the highest score will be ranked at the top, while the worst performing company will be at the bottom of the list. This is arguably the most exciting moment because you will very much want to know the outcome of your decisions.
There is much joy and satisfaction when you see your company at the top of the pile, and a lot of despair when your company is at the pit. I had experienced both feelings. Important thing is to rise from the depth and continue fighting. To me, it is better to have fought and lost, compared to calling it quits and not knowing if I could have won. You may not perform well in the initial years because maybe you are on the learning curve. But, if you put in the time to analyse the game, you will recover. That is why the game is played over a period of 10 Years so that you will have sufficient time to remedy your errors and to bring your company to a satisfactory score.
When I played the game, I only wanted to win. It was all or nothing for me. There were Years when my company was in deep sh*t, but the word "quit" was never in my dictionary - not then, not now. I think I'm the type who thrive on challenges and adversities. The more obstacles there are, the faster my adrenalin flows. This spirit carried me through the Years. I won the game, crowned the Industry Champion and got an A for my course. Satisfaction.
I hope you guys will possess the same spirit as I did. Play the game to the best of your ability. Be competitive because competition breeds efficiency. The more competitive it is, the more efficient you will become. You will find that if you fight to win, most likely you will end up with very high points even if you don't win the game. Fight well and you will get your A for this part of the coursework.
Cheers and have a good weekend.
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Business Strategy Game - A Short Intro
The Business Strategy Game (BSG) was introduced to the
Bachelor of Corporate Administration (Honours) Third Year students as part of
their coursework for the course BBDM3023 Business Strategy in Practice. Due to
the nature of the course, the BSG came in nicely for the students to practice
and see the outcomes of their strategies.
BSG is an online exercise
where class members are divided into teams and assigned the task of running an
athletic footwear company in head-to-head competition against companies managed
by other class members. Company operations parallel those of actual athletic
footwear companies. Just as in the real-world, companies compete in a global
market arena, selling branded and private-label athletic footwear in four
geographic regions – Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin
America. All aspects of BSG parallel the functioning of the
real-world athletic footwear market, thus allowing students to (1) think
rationally and logically in deciding what to do and (2) get valuable practice
in making a variety of different business decisions under circumstances that
mirror real-world competitive conditions.
In the game, students craft out
strategies in the areas of corporate social responsibility, production, sales,
marketing, distribution and finance. They are awarded points based on (1)
earnings per share (2) return on equity (3) market value of share (4) credit
rating and (5) image rating. The game draws together the information and
lessons of prior courses, consolidates students’ knowledge about the different
aspects of running a company, builds their confidence in analysing the
revenue-cost-profit economics of a business, helps students understand how the
functional pieces of a business fit together, provides valuable practice in
crafting profitable growth strategies, and sharpens the students’ business
judgment. Students will gain some useful experience and practice in assessing
business risk, analysing industry and competitive conditions, making decisions
from a companywide perspective, thinking strategically about a company's market
position and the kinds of actions it will take to improve it, developing
strategies and revising them in light of changing conditions, and applying what
they have learned in business school.
Throughout the duration of the game,
where student teams competed with each other for the title of Industry
Champion, we observed that there were genuine interest and enthusiasm among the
students. The discussions and arguments were of an intensity not normally
observed in normal tutorial classes.
Some comments from students on their
Facebook group are listed below:
Kyo HuAt good experience in playing this.learn alot from this
game.quite stressful but worth it.
Hong Sheng Loh Good
experience , not only can apply your marketing knowledge in the game, but also
learnt human behavior in business environment and develop your analysis skill .
Exploit your mind to learn from mistake and draft the better strategy for next
round to keep your competitors out
Elijah Ng Worth
the price we pay for since it allow us to run a virtual company at a reasonable
price. In the virtual business world we have to make decisions. Each decisions
you made, it must be justified and it will affect other departments' decision
too, so try to make as minimal mistakes as possible and take corrective actions
whenever possible. Everyone definitely will make mistakes so when we made
mistakes, asked yourself where does it go wrong?
You must find out A.S.A.P otherwise you will go down very soon and even when you became one of the top performer companies, understand that it will not last forever. You need to have a clear goals of how is your company is heading through and setting strategies that can align to your goals (or concept). Most of all, you should share your experience with other experts so you get to learn more and win the game.
You must find out A.S.A.P otherwise you will go down very soon and even when you became one of the top performer companies, understand that it will not last forever. You need to have a clear goals of how is your company is heading through and setting strategies that can align to your goals (or concept). Most of all, you should share your experience with other experts so you get to learn more and win the game.
After ten rounds of decision-making, the Industry
Champion is determined. Being the Industry Champion, the student team has won
the right to be invited to compete in the Best-Strategy Invitational (BSI)
hosted by the BSG’s author team. This invitational is held three times a year
in May, August and September. It is in the BSI that our students can benchmark
themselves against the best student teams from around the world. In the just
concluded invitational, a total of 216 high-performing student teams from
colleges and universities worldwide took part. Five students from TARUC
participated, with FOUR of them winning in their respective industries and thus
were declared Grand Champions. In winning the BSI, our students have
demonstrated excellent strategic decision-making skills as well as having the
right attitude and temperament to withstand the intensity of the competition
over a period of two weeks. Oh yes, one last thing, our students used something
extra which no other team applied – psychological warfare which put their
competitors in sixes and sevens. What a great experience for the students!!
Saturday, 16 May 2015
Business Strategy Game - You will get hooked on it!!!
First time I played this game was way back in 2009. Then was taking a course in Strategic Management and the game was part of our coursework. Was totally blurred at the beginning but I was one who just didn't know how to quit. Started googling for articles on the game and got quite a lot of useful tips. Soon learnt that whatever winning strategy they advise you may not work because the dynamics in your industry is so very different. What works for one company in one industry may not work for a company in another industry. Like the Chinese game of mahjong, the probabilities are endless. You just have to depend on your own analytical skill. Following blindly someone else's strategy may just end up in your company getting a monstrous kick on the backside.
You will tend to make a lot of wrong decisions at the beginning, don't worry, there is time for you to recover. I made a lot of mistakes, recovered quickly, took some risks, and ended up as industry champion. Proud to brag that my sales and profit graphs hit through the roof. LOL!!!! Maybe my competitors that time were too lembik!!!
Most exciting times were waiting for the results of each round of competition - that happened at 11.59 pm - one minute before midnight. And then your heart dropped when you looked at the result and you were way down at the bottom. OMG!! What happened?? And then you realised that you had made a stupid error. Oh well, fortunately still a few more rounds to go, so there was time for remedies. Because the game is being played over 10 rounds, you can consider the first few rounds as being part of the learning curve. Making errors are common. Being at the bottom of the standings is acceptable. Staying there is not. Persevere - that is one of the characteristics of being an entrepreneur.
BSG is a "live" case study of your company. It's different from those "dead" cases that you have to do in your tutorials. In dead cases, you make recommendations but you do not know whether those decisions have been effective or not. You do not know the outcome of your recommendations. You just make decisions based on the assumption that all things remain unchanged. But, the real world is not constant. What is constant in the real world? Change is constant. The environment changes. Your competitors react. What you hope to happen as a result of your decisions do not happen. In BSG, you will be able to see the results of your decisions.
The game will require you to possess many skills - which will stand you in good stead, whether you so decide to become an entrepreneur, accountant, or manager. Accounting students will be quite comfortable with financial statements analysis. Let's see you putting your knowledge into good use!! Marketing students will tend to focus on marketing efforts. Let's see how good you are. Business Administration students will apply a combination of knowledge garnered from various disciplines - social responsibility, logistics, production, foreign exchange, marketing, and finance. Don't worry, your counterparts, the RCA students did very well in this simulation.
There will be more about the game in my future blogs. Meantime, remember to divide yourselves into small groups of 4 - 5 students. Each small group will be called a "company". Nominate a leader (the CEO) of your company. Each company collect RM100 for the BSG playing rights and submit the collection to me ASAP. The distributor will require 2 weeks to deliver the rights. My calculations - if you submit the payment to me next week, it will be Week 5 before we can start the simulation. The sooner we get the payments and registrations done, the sooner we can start. Cheers!!! Tune in for more postings on the BSG!!!
You will tend to make a lot of wrong decisions at the beginning, don't worry, there is time for you to recover. I made a lot of mistakes, recovered quickly, took some risks, and ended up as industry champion. Proud to brag that my sales and profit graphs hit through the roof. LOL!!!! Maybe my competitors that time were too lembik!!!
Most exciting times were waiting for the results of each round of competition - that happened at 11.59 pm - one minute before midnight. And then your heart dropped when you looked at the result and you were way down at the bottom. OMG!! What happened?? And then you realised that you had made a stupid error. Oh well, fortunately still a few more rounds to go, so there was time for remedies. Because the game is being played over 10 rounds, you can consider the first few rounds as being part of the learning curve. Making errors are common. Being at the bottom of the standings is acceptable. Staying there is not. Persevere - that is one of the characteristics of being an entrepreneur.
BSG is a "live" case study of your company. It's different from those "dead" cases that you have to do in your tutorials. In dead cases, you make recommendations but you do not know whether those decisions have been effective or not. You do not know the outcome of your recommendations. You just make decisions based on the assumption that all things remain unchanged. But, the real world is not constant. What is constant in the real world? Change is constant. The environment changes. Your competitors react. What you hope to happen as a result of your decisions do not happen. In BSG, you will be able to see the results of your decisions.
The game will require you to possess many skills - which will stand you in good stead, whether you so decide to become an entrepreneur, accountant, or manager. Accounting students will be quite comfortable with financial statements analysis. Let's see you putting your knowledge into good use!! Marketing students will tend to focus on marketing efforts. Let's see how good you are. Business Administration students will apply a combination of knowledge garnered from various disciplines - social responsibility, logistics, production, foreign exchange, marketing, and finance. Don't worry, your counterparts, the RCA students did very well in this simulation.
There will be more about the game in my future blogs. Meantime, remember to divide yourselves into small groups of 4 - 5 students. Each small group will be called a "company". Nominate a leader (the CEO) of your company. Each company collect RM100 for the BSG playing rights and submit the collection to me ASAP. The distributor will require 2 weeks to deliver the rights. My calculations - if you submit the payment to me next week, it will be Week 5 before we can start the simulation. The sooner we get the payments and registrations done, the sooner we can start. Cheers!!! Tune in for more postings on the BSG!!!
Saturday, 27 September 2014
Coursework 3093
This posting is to recap some of the things mentioned during the first week of lecture.
Coursework for BBDM3093 consists of the following:
CW1 Uploading of Executive Summary to Facebook (20 marks - group assessed)
CW2 Business Model Proposal (40 marks - group assessed)
CW3 Presentation of the proposed business model (40 marks - individually assessed)
Assume that you are writing this business model to a rich aunt of yours whom you hope to impress. You are contemplating the possibility that she may become your angel investor, since you have quite a pretty close relationship with her. Hopefully, she may come back to you for a more detailed business plan later. Your aunt is a simple woman and educated only up to secondary school level. She has accumulated her wealth through a combination of hard work, business acumen, and sound investment principles - a very down-to-earth, straight-talking woman - just say it as it is.Your business model proposal write-up to her should be written in simple, direct, and easy-to-understand style. You are not doing a piece of academic writing to be submitted to your professor. Do not indulge yourself in a fit of theoretical frenzy and write about all sorts of strategic theories which serve no purpose other than to drive your dear aunt to the madhouse.
You should discuss your business model proposal based on four areas:
Under strategic resources, there should be a good discussion on core competencies. It refers to what you can do best that your rivals cannot match. It is your core competency that gives your business the competitive advantage to achieve more sales. Your core competency may be a tangible or an intangible asset. Ensure that this core competency is possessed only by you and not your competitors, at least in the short run. Of course, your core competency could be eroded in the long run. Therefore, it is in the interest of a business to create new core competencies from time to time in order to defend or grow its market share.
Partnership network considers the relationship between your business and suppliers, as well as other business partners. Emphasis here should be on how you intend to build relationship between your suppliers and you. Sound relationships with suppliers will ensure that you get your raw materials or other merchandise at fair prices and punctual delivery schedules. You may also wish to establish networking with environmental groups, consumer associations, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. All these relationships are crucial to ensure that there are no negative effects on your revenue.
Similar to partnership network, the last section, customer interface considers the many ways that you connect with your customers. You may want to use a mix of various social media platforms to connect with customers. It is advisable also to consider the use of CSR initiatives to create a positive corporate image. Building relationships with customers is important because they are your best promotional tools. Satisfied and delighted customers will help promote your products to their friends. Word-of-mouth, I would say, is the most effective promotional tool. Why do I buy a Myvi car? Because my friend told me it's good - not because of any advertisement I watched.
Therefore, guys, put on your thinking cap - think creatively. Open your eyes, observe the many business models around you. Come up with your own unique model. Don't procrastinate. Start working on your assignment now. Any questions you have, you can put in the comments section below, and we can have a discussion here. Cheers, enjoy your weekend!!
Coursework for BBDM3093 consists of the following:
CW1 Uploading of Executive Summary to Facebook (20 marks - group assessed)
CW2 Business Model Proposal (40 marks - group assessed)
CW3 Presentation of the proposed business model (40 marks - individually assessed)
Assume that you are writing this business model to a rich aunt of yours whom you hope to impress. You are contemplating the possibility that she may become your angel investor, since you have quite a pretty close relationship with her. Hopefully, she may come back to you for a more detailed business plan later. Your aunt is a simple woman and educated only up to secondary school level. She has accumulated her wealth through a combination of hard work, business acumen, and sound investment principles - a very down-to-earth, straight-talking woman - just say it as it is.Your business model proposal write-up to her should be written in simple, direct, and easy-to-understand style. You are not doing a piece of academic writing to be submitted to your professor. Do not indulge yourself in a fit of theoretical frenzy and write about all sorts of strategic theories which serve no purpose other than to drive your dear aunt to the madhouse.
You should discuss your business model proposal based on four areas:
- core strategy
- strategic resources
- partnership network
- customer interface
Most important element to be discussed under core strategy would be your basis for differentiation. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors? Differentiation is important - otherwise, why should consumers buy from you? They buy from you because you are different - you are able to provide them with something that your competitors don't. I'm a Dell customer because I want to pay only for components that I need. I'm a Maybank account holder because it provides convenience by having the largest network of ATMs. I study in TARUC because I have no choice!! (1. LOL, private joke with one group of students - please ignore! 2. Or is it because TARUC is so strongly differentiated that you don't really have to look at our competitors?). Differentiation can be in many forms - in terms of the design of the product, service given to customers, distribution channels, payment methods, etc. Use your creative thinking. Take a walk - go to a shopping mall, observe the many businesses there, ask yourself how you can do things differently and add-value for customers.
Under strategic resources, there should be a good discussion on core competencies. It refers to what you can do best that your rivals cannot match. It is your core competency that gives your business the competitive advantage to achieve more sales. Your core competency may be a tangible or an intangible asset. Ensure that this core competency is possessed only by you and not your competitors, at least in the short run. Of course, your core competency could be eroded in the long run. Therefore, it is in the interest of a business to create new core competencies from time to time in order to defend or grow its market share.
Partnership network considers the relationship between your business and suppliers, as well as other business partners. Emphasis here should be on how you intend to build relationship between your suppliers and you. Sound relationships with suppliers will ensure that you get your raw materials or other merchandise at fair prices and punctual delivery schedules. You may also wish to establish networking with environmental groups, consumer associations, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. All these relationships are crucial to ensure that there are no negative effects on your revenue.
Similar to partnership network, the last section, customer interface considers the many ways that you connect with your customers. You may want to use a mix of various social media platforms to connect with customers. It is advisable also to consider the use of CSR initiatives to create a positive corporate image. Building relationships with customers is important because they are your best promotional tools. Satisfied and delighted customers will help promote your products to their friends. Word-of-mouth, I would say, is the most effective promotional tool. Why do I buy a Myvi car? Because my friend told me it's good - not because of any advertisement I watched.
Therefore, guys, put on your thinking cap - think creatively. Open your eyes, observe the many business models around you. Come up with your own unique model. Don't procrastinate. Start working on your assignment now. Any questions you have, you can put in the comments section below, and we can have a discussion here. Cheers, enjoy your weekend!!
Saturday, 13 September 2014
BBDM3093 Entrepreneurship Exam Postmortem - What Happened?
Another exam session finished and done with - now waiting for the Board of Examiners to confirm the set of results. For BBDM3093 Entrepreneurship, this is only the second time that we had the examination. The first time was last semester, the exam being taken by RCA, RIN, and RHR. This round, students from four programmes took the exam - RPA, RLM, REC, and RMK. The outcome is highly satisfactory, in terms of the passing rate (inclusive of coursework), but let us wait for the confirmation by the Board of Examiners before announcing it. As of now, let me just give you a feedback of what you had done for the exam.
Question 1(a) asked on the myths of entrepreneurship. I would say that you have done well, but not excellently. You have demonstrated an understanding of the subject matter as well as the ability to relate to the case study. Your answers are almost too mechanistic to me - explain and relate. Shows that you have studied your notes, listened to your tutors, and read my blogs (ha!!). But, nothing beyond that - you have not read widely, you have not shared your thoughts, you have not been "original". Okay, to be fair to you, you were too bogged down with coursework and you were simply just struggling to stay alive!!! I did come across one script where the candidate wrote one full page for each myth - there's one answer book for the five myths asked. The discussion was so thorough, that I simply had to give full marks. And this candidate managed to provide equally thorough answers for all the questions. One of a kind!!!
Question 1(b) touched on the success factors as experienced by Tan Sri Lim. Some candidates wrote on general success factors which were not related to the case. These candidates got very low marks. The instruction verb used in the question was "evaluate". Just explaining what a particular success factor is, is not sufficient. You should "evaluate" - can an entrepreneur do without this factor; is it really crucial to the success of an entrepreneur? For example, take integrity as a success factor. Besides explaining just briefly what integrity may be, you should also give your view as to what may happen to an organization if the integrity factor is not present. How would it affect relationships with stakeholders? Answers given by many candidates were generally scanty and lack depth. It is important to pay heed to the instruction verb. Otherwise, your answer lacks the adequacy to be awarded an excellent grade.
Question 2(a) required candidates to determine the source of the innovative idea and the type of innovation. There is no right or wrong answer, just that your explanation has to be well-justified. Most candidates picked process needs and perceptual change as the sources. As for type of innovation, many were on the side of invention and synthesis. Whatever, the important thing is to give sound reasons as to why you said it is this or that. Some candidates gave a whole list of possibilities - there is no necessity to do this; the instruction verb is not "discuss". It becomes a discussion if you are exploring so many angles.
Question 2(b) only needed you to outline some ways to create a climate of creativity in an organization. Because the instruction verb is "outline", you are just required to describe some proposals. It is not necessary to give a lengthy explanation. Most candidates were able to get high marks for this question. Still, there were some candidates who gave the stages of creative thinking as the answer!! I wonder what it is in the question that influence them to think that this is what was asked!!! Something not right upstairs!!!
Question 3 asked you to propose a marketing plan in order to increase the number of foreign students. Many who chose to answer this question got below average marks. Some proposals were to increase the student enrollment, which was not what the question wanted. You should propose the marketing goals (must be SMART), the type of segmentation to apply, the target market to focus on, and the marketing mix strategy. Common weaknesses - goals were ambiguous, explaining all types of segmentation, no specific target market, not knowing your products, letting foreign students enjoy government-subsidized fees, and lack of elaboration on promotional strategies. There is a suspicion that candidates running out of time during the exam chose to answer this question because there are no parts, unlike the other questions. Surprisingly, the RPA students, with no foundation in marketing, did quite well in this question and got good marks.
Question 4(a) and (b) asked on the Ansoff Matrix of Growth Strategies. I would say that most candidates answered well in this question. Many were able to propose the appropriate growth strategy for the burger company and followed by an adequate discussion. The other growth strategies were also well-rationalized. Overall marks for the answers to this question were on the high side.
Question 5 - what can I say about this question? LOL!!! Many candidates secured maximum marks for this quantitative question. Those who didn't get high marks for this question - what can I say about you? LOL!!!
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Business Model Assignment Part 3 and 4
These are the final two parts of your Business Model Assignment - Partnership Network and Customer Interface.
Partnership Network consists of two sections:
Your suppliers are the ones whom you depend on for the materials needed to manufacture your product. Without them, it will be quite impossible for you to be in business. Take our national car maker as an example - it depends on many suppliers for its supply of car components, paint, cushion seats, etc. Imagine what would happen if these suppliers were to sever their relationship with you. You get nothing, manufacture nothing and sell nothing. It is therefore, extremely vital, to maintain good relationship with your suppliers. Good relationship means creating a win-win situation for yourself as well as for your suppliers. For your assignment, identify who your key suppliers are, and explain how you maintain good relationships (for example, paying them promptly).
Other key relationships would refer to your relationships with many other parties which impact upon your business. Depending on the type of business you are running, key relationships may need to be established with: government agencies, environmental groups, consumer associations, trade unions, logistics firms, etc. These key relationships may help to facilitate the development of your business. For example, having good relationship with government agencies may land your business some sales contracts with the government. For your assignment, identify any other key relationships, and explain why you view these relationships so seriously.
Customer Interface consists of three sections:
Target market refers to the market segment in which you would concentrate most of your sales efforts. It is quite impossible to cater to the needs of the whole market. People have different needs and due to the constraints upon your own resources, you cannot possibly be satisfying everyone. Therefore, it is important for you to wisely choose a segment of the market which you can zoom into. You can then use your limited resources to try to satisfy the needs of this particular segment. Perodua for example, targets fresh graduates starting out their career who want to own an affordable car. BMW targets the up-and-coming executives, and Mercedes will be looking at those who have high purchasing power. So, who are you targeting and what is the rationale of your choice?
Fulfillment/Support refers to the ways in which you hope to make your customers feel happy with you. Happy customers are satisfied customers, and satisfied customers tend to repeat their purchases from you. Therefore, think of ways to make your customers' purchase experience a memorable one for them. Not only will satisfied customers become your long-term customers but they also function as your promotional tool. They will promote your product to their whole village and very soon the whole village will buy from you!! Word-of-mouth is a more powerful tool than all the advertisements you put on television!!
Pricing structure refers to the pricing strategy that you want to implement which will help you realise your mission statement or marketing goal. Some examples of pricing strategies are such as market penetration strategy, market skimming, differentiated pricing, cost-plus pricing, package pricing, psychological pricing, etc. Identify the pricing strategy that you want to implement and make sure that your pricing strategy is consistent with your mission statement. You cannot possibly be talking about making your product affordable to the community in your mission statement, but then you embark on a market skimming strategy!!
Okay, so that's it - all the four parts of the business model - core strategy, strategic resources, partnership network, and customer interface. Time is fast running out, deadline is not too far away. Start your assignment asap, otherwise you will have sleepless nights!!
Partnership Network consists of two sections:
- Suppliers
- Other key relationships
Your suppliers are the ones whom you depend on for the materials needed to manufacture your product. Without them, it will be quite impossible for you to be in business. Take our national car maker as an example - it depends on many suppliers for its supply of car components, paint, cushion seats, etc. Imagine what would happen if these suppliers were to sever their relationship with you. You get nothing, manufacture nothing and sell nothing. It is therefore, extremely vital, to maintain good relationship with your suppliers. Good relationship means creating a win-win situation for yourself as well as for your suppliers. For your assignment, identify who your key suppliers are, and explain how you maintain good relationships (for example, paying them promptly).
Other key relationships would refer to your relationships with many other parties which impact upon your business. Depending on the type of business you are running, key relationships may need to be established with: government agencies, environmental groups, consumer associations, trade unions, logistics firms, etc. These key relationships may help to facilitate the development of your business. For example, having good relationship with government agencies may land your business some sales contracts with the government. For your assignment, identify any other key relationships, and explain why you view these relationships so seriously.
Customer Interface consists of three sections:
- Target market
- Fulfillment/Support
- Pricing structure
Target market refers to the market segment in which you would concentrate most of your sales efforts. It is quite impossible to cater to the needs of the whole market. People have different needs and due to the constraints upon your own resources, you cannot possibly be satisfying everyone. Therefore, it is important for you to wisely choose a segment of the market which you can zoom into. You can then use your limited resources to try to satisfy the needs of this particular segment. Perodua for example, targets fresh graduates starting out their career who want to own an affordable car. BMW targets the up-and-coming executives, and Mercedes will be looking at those who have high purchasing power. So, who are you targeting and what is the rationale of your choice?
Fulfillment/Support refers to the ways in which you hope to make your customers feel happy with you. Happy customers are satisfied customers, and satisfied customers tend to repeat their purchases from you. Therefore, think of ways to make your customers' purchase experience a memorable one for them. Not only will satisfied customers become your long-term customers but they also function as your promotional tool. They will promote your product to their whole village and very soon the whole village will buy from you!! Word-of-mouth is a more powerful tool than all the advertisements you put on television!!
Pricing structure refers to the pricing strategy that you want to implement which will help you realise your mission statement or marketing goal. Some examples of pricing strategies are such as market penetration strategy, market skimming, differentiated pricing, cost-plus pricing, package pricing, psychological pricing, etc. Identify the pricing strategy that you want to implement and make sure that your pricing strategy is consistent with your mission statement. You cannot possibly be talking about making your product affordable to the community in your mission statement, but then you embark on a market skimming strategy!!
Okay, so that's it - all the four parts of the business model - core strategy, strategic resources, partnership network, and customer interface. Time is fast running out, deadline is not too far away. Start your assignment asap, otherwise you will have sleepless nights!!
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