MBA 755 Lessons Learned Mike's Bike

What strategy did your team decide to adopt during the renewal stage of the simulation?

Our firm chose the broad differentiation strategy. We did extremely well with the intended outcomes, at least in the first two weeks of rollovers. We were able to maintain a strong lead by aligning ourselves with clear goals as we began linking them to our initiatives for the broad differentiation strategy. Our vision for the company’s renewals was the basis for the goals of the operations. Once we had clearly stated our goals were able to make decisions for peak performance.

How did the strategy work?

The broad differentiation strategy worked very well for renewal. Our strategic plan began to form as we delved into the feedback from the reports and adjusted our strategy accordingly. This increased our commitment to the change and reinforced our decisions to continue our strategy which in turn improved performance. As we created new bikes and expanded our line our profitability increased and adjusted prices to fit the market demand our profitability and shareholder value increased. The problems we faced in our last two rollovers were clearly management issues, when the leadership changed it had a serious impact on the final decisions that were made for the last two years. The leader's ability to sustain company performance is limited to their ability to effectively communicate and channel the goals to execute the strategy.

What concepts from the course did you see reflected in the game play?

One of the key concepts that support our play of the simulation was the appraisal of external and internal indicators. During this rapidly changing environment we were able to stay in line during this mature stage of business by monitoring the expected outcome of our competitors by performing a situational analysis as we reformulated our strategy based on the competitive results. The basis for our decisions were our financial reports that helped us to look at the driving and restraining forces, as we worked to increase shareholder value. We looked at trends and patterns to gain customer loyalty, determine high quality or low price and the introduction of new products from customer demand.

What could your team do differently if you were to play the simulation again?

The most important lesson learned when operating in a renewal environment is collaboration and communication is key. If we were to play again, we would make sure that any lead doing the inputs would have a clear understanding of the strategy and a full understanding of how the game operates. Substandard leadership creates serious risks to your stakeholder and the company itself.