Business Strategy Game: Introduction, Vision and Mission, Strategic Objectives

BUSINESS STRATEGY GAME 1
Business Strategy Game
Course
Professor
Institution
City and State
Date

BUSINESS STRATEGY GAME 2
Business Strategy Game
Introduction
The learning experience is significantly changing following the introduction of computer
simulation games like a business strategy game. In this game, students are divided into different
teams and assigned tasks to run an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competition
against a similar company run by other class members. In real life, this can be compared to Nike
and Adidas which are some of the major athletic footwear companies in the world. Using the
example of these multinational companies, Students in groups can simulate to be members of
Nike and others as members of Adidas. In this case, the students will assume to belong to Nike
and Adidas and compete to make their individual companies succeed or gain a competitive
advantage over the other. This game reflects the real-life competition of footwear companies.
When conducting this online exercise the students learn about risk-taking especially when
developing their competitive strategies in each decision period. BSG provides learners with a
live case situation where they observe circumstance or events change as the game continues
(Thompson & Stappenbeck, 1999 p. 6). Students are directly involved and they have to make
strategic decisions for their company to run competitively and profitably.
The global athletic footwear market is competitive and beneficial to the sports industry
and generally to the lives of people (Boies, Lvina, and Martens, 2011 p.12) Globally, people
wear shoes or sandals to improve their lives and at the same time to cushion themselves against
risks that come with walking bare feet. This is being a crucial market, students can have an
experience of selling products they are consumers. Nevertheless, during the game as team

BUSINESS STRATEGY GAME 3
members we organized, planned and coordinated effectively. Essentially, when running the BSG
strategic decisions which are equivalent to those made in real companies were made.
Vision and mission statements plus corporate objectives
We fully understood that for our company to operate and remain competitive, we needed
to make strategic decisions on vision, mission, and corporate objectives. In my vivid
recollection, the vision statement created for the company to read “to give customers the most
compelling and unique online shopping experience.”For the mission statement, “it read to inspire
healthier communities by giving the most impressive and excellent shoes.” The mission and
vision statement played a crucial role in shaping our decisions and guiding our operations as a
company. Equally, we had to align the mission and vision of the company to the corporate
objectives of our company. The objectives were:
To reduce costs by avoiding shipping from North America to Asia
This route was expensive and as a business, it was crucially essential to avoid
unnecessary expenses. Businesses need financial prudence or cost leadership to allow them to
operate on low costs while maximizing profits. As a team, we had to evaluate the possible ways
of reducing our overhead costs. Notably, in year 16 as a company, we registered a loss of 83 in
the wholesale segment under the comparative competitive efforts. When a company registers a
negative, it is always prudent to look at possible areas that could be contributing to such a
situation.
To improve the brand reputation of the company by investing in advertising

BUSINESS STRATEGY GAME 4
An organization that seeks to gain a competitive advantage should consistently strive to
better its brand image through consistently and compelling advertising. Since our operations
were online, we had to improve the internet segment by allocating US$10,000 for Company A.
Increasing the advertising spending to some considerable increases online presence of an
organization. Through increased advertising, our company aimed at boosting its performance and
its returns on equity. In the digital era, for the operations of a company to be efficient, the
organization should aggressively boost its internet advertising.
To achieve the greatest competitive advantage in the athletic footwear market by adding value to
its product
As a company, the team had to put more efforts into adding value to the footwear the
company was dealing in. In year 15, our company’s “production needed to meet the values for
the retailers. Retailers can only buy products from the company if they have added value which
can attract consumers. To improve the values, we had to make some strategic decisions related to
how we were going to improve organizational operations. As a result, activities such as include
effective supply chain, and manufacturing were keenly undertaken. In addition, we also believed
that for the operations of a company to be efficient, the company had to ensure proper utilization
of raw materials and other resources (Fleisher, and Bensoussan, 215, n.p). Also, our company
adhered to the legal rules and regulations so as to avoid distractions from the government that
could have affected our efforts to add value to our products.
To manage human resource effectively to spur cooperation
In year 13, the company had aimed at success in the private market label and improving
the improving working conditions. This demonstrated the intentions of the company to have a