Reflective Report on ERP Game 2022

Reflective Report on ERP Game
Introduction about the game
The game is a hypothetical simulation of a practical situation of real business wherein 5 team
consisting of 3 to 4 members participated in three rounds of 15 minutes each. The time slot of
15 minutes symbolised a time frames if 20 days and the business catered three regions of
Germany with a central warehouse engaged in purchasing. The rules of the game was
modified with the changing round. The game encompassed distribution of 5 products relating
to dairy industry and the market dealt was highly competitive with little or no scope for
negotiation for purchasing. Hence, no cost cutting was possible for purchase of raw material.
However, setting selling price was at discretion of the team members and played a critical
role in sales and profit of the company. The name of the software on which the game is
played is HEC Montreal ERP Simulation Game.
The Game had additional constraint with respect to funding, storage, financing, credit rating,
market valuation, distribution etc. The same was required to be properly taken care of while
taking business decision in a simulated environment.
Team Experience
As detailed earlier, the game was played in teams with each team comprising of 3 to 4
members. The member of my team had a fantastic experience as we were quite interested in
understanding the financial mathematics behind business. During the game the team members
realised the importance of effective decision making as a single wrong decision can bring
down sales and valuation drastically. The team devoted its time in understanding the game
and realised that all the markets and product should not be tapped, rather focussing on some
profitable sector and appropriate pricing can be the game changer.
Further, during the game the team also realised how the coordinated and quick actions can
help in achieving miracles as seen in the team performance from round 1 to round 3. The
thing that particularly interested the team was cost control by reducing the marketing
expenditure and corresponding impact on profitability. The time slot of 45 minutes made the
members feel as if we were running our own actual company and we the members of board
were executing key strategic decisions.
Apart from above experience, we also learnt the importance of patience in business as we
realised that looking the movement of the flow and then acting is better than start acting
impromptu without realising how the market responds.
Most Liked Part in the Game
As discussed earlier, the game was based on real life simulation wherein the catered market
was Germany. The most interesting part of the game was the exposure as we were involved
in multiple facets of business ranging from decision regarding the pricing of product, decision
regarding expenditure on marketing, decision on storage, decision on region to be catered,
funding etc. The overall facets made the members of the team feel like a business man.
Further, to be specifically precise the most liked part was the evolution of the game as we
played. The game was adapting and evolving with the decisions and no decision was perfect.
Least Liked Part in the Game