Business Simulation: V Connect Strategy and Performance Report

This report presents an analysis of a business simulation centered around V Connect, a smartphone company. The report begins with an introduction to the business simulation concept and its value for potential entrepreneurs. Part A focuses on V Connect's vision, mission, and strategic elements, including HR practices and company culture. It then provides a detailed review of the company's progress over several years, including competitor analysis using Porter's Five Forces, market share analysis, and product/price analysis. Part B reflects on professional development, identifying key events, applying relevant theories, and offering recommendations for both practice and future research. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for V Connect's future strategic direction, emphasizing the importance of market understanding, strategic planning, and continuous improvement. The analysis includes an examination of V Connect's performance in various markets and its competitive standing against I-Tech. The report highlights the importance of adapting to market changes, understanding customer demand, and managing competitive pressures effectively to achieve long-term business goals.

Business Simulation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
1. Vision and strategy..................................................................................................................1
2. Review of progress of each year..............................................................................................2
3. Future plans and recommendation...........................................................................................9
PART B.........................................................................................................................................10
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................10
Introduction................................................................................................................................10
Identified events.........................................................................................................................11
Review of relevant models or theories......................................................................................12
Review of practices of industry.................................................................................................12
Application of theory addition to practice.................................................................................13
Discussion..................................................................................................................................14
Recommendations for practice and research.............................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Business simulation can be defined as an opportunity for potential entrepreneurs as it
requires the students to set their own business with a new idea and under real market situation.
While playing the simulation game they are required to make sure that they form effective
decisions and try to increase profitability of business. With the help of it, individuals can
experience the challenges and situations which could be faced when they will operate their own
business. It can also help them to experience the market changes, trends, competitors and other
key elements which may leave impact upon the functionality of business. Apart from this,
personal development can be defined as the process of taking actions to develop own capabilities
and skills so that all the difficult tasks in future could be performed. It contributes in the growth
of an individual as it guides to take appropriate steps to enhance personal qualities to meet career
goals (Aithal, 2016).
Present report is based upon a simulation game as well as professional development and
both of them are reflected in separate parts. First one is based upon a company which is V
Connect it is a new company and it is involved in the production of smart phones. Slogan of the
entity is connecting the world. The main competitor of the company is I-Tech which is also
operating business under the same industry. The first part covers various topics such as mission
and strategy, review of progress of all the years and future plan along with recommendations for
the business. Second part is based upon reflection of professional development. In this part of
assignment different events will be identified and reviewed, appropriate theories for their
management will be applied and recommendations for practice and research will be discussed.
PART A
1. Vision and strategy
While operating a business it is very important for the owners to formulate specific vision
and strategy for carrying out all the operational activities systematically. V Connect is a
company which is operating business under smartphone industry. It is involved in production of
smartphones that are sold in different countries such as Netherlands, Belgium, France, China,
UK, US, Malaysia, UAE, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada etc. In
order to execute all the operations properly different elements are focused by the entity which are
described below:
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Vision: The vision of V Connect is to shape the future of information technology and be
the market leader in future so that it can capture a large market share (Brijs, 2016).
Mission: V Connect’s mission is to produce smartphones that are based upon latest
technology in affordable price so that the number of customers from every class whether it is
lower, middle or upper could be increased.
Values: V Connect is highly focused with acquiring loyalty of customers as well as the
staff members as it can help to grow the business and meet the long-term goals. Apart from this,
the enterprise is also focused with delivering best services to the clients by making sure that
advanced technology is used to manufacture the mobile phones.
HR: For all the business entities human resource play a major role in the attainment of all
the organisational goals. V Connect make sure that it is having skilled and experienced
individuals in all the departments of it so that growth for business could be acquired. The entity
is also focused with providing appropriate training to all the staff members as it can help to
facilitate them to perform all their jobs properly.
Culture: While operating business at a large platform it is essential for companies to
make sure that their culture promote creativity, positive working conditions and equality. V
Connect is paying attention towards all these elements so that the employees can perform their
jobs properly and motivated to enhance productivity of whole enterprise (Burger and Luke,
2017). Apart from this, the organisation adopts range of strategies like proper leadership,
combination of costs etc. which facilitate it to engage stakeholders in the business activities. The
culture of V Connect is innovative and flexible which help all the employees to work properly
and function the whole company in systematic manner.
2. Review of progress of each year
For all the business entities like V Connect it is very important to review the progress on
yearly basis as it can help to analyse weaknesses and threats for business. If an enterprise will not
review the progress then it will be very difficult to reach the long-term goals such as higher
profitability and market share. Another situation which may take place due to this is improper
execution of all the operations. For the purpose of reviewing the performance two main aspects
are required to be followed these are competitor analysis and performance results (Hassen, Turki
and Gargouri, 2016).
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Competitor analysis: While analysing performance with the help of competitor analysis
factors such as porter’s five forces, market share, product/ price analysis, competitors,
competencies and capabilities could be analysed. Discussion of all of them in context of V
Connect is as follows:
Porter’s five forces: It is mainly used for the purpose of analysing competitive position
of a company in the market. There are five main forces of it which are discussed below for V
Connect:
 Bargaining power of customers: All the individuals who are buying products from an
organisation and using for satisfy their needs are known as customers. When there are
law number of sellers in the market then the bargaining power of customer swill be low
and in opposite situation the bargaining power will be high. The number of smart phone
sellers in the Netherlands, UK, China, Japan, US, UAE, Germany etc. is very high and
due to this the bargaining power of customers for V Connect will be high. In order to
maintain the sales-level the management is required to take appropriate actions so that
bargaining power could be reduced (Heiskala, Jokinen and Tinnilä, 2016).
 Bargaining power of suppliers: The external stakeholders who are delivering raw
material to the manufacturer are known as suppliers. While planning to perform all the
operations in systematic manner it will be very important for V Connect to maintain good
relations with suppliers so that they can supply goods on lower cost. The number of
suppliers in smart phone industry is high so that bargaining power of them for V Connect
is very low. When one of them will sale stock on higher cost then the company can
contact another party, which is selling the same items on lower cost.
 Threat of substitutes: All the items that are providing same benefits to the users are
considered as substitutes for each other. Some of the main substitutes for smart phones
are smart devices, video calling portals etc. These are minor substitutes for the
organisation and their threat for the entity is very low. It shows that there is very low
threat of substitute for V Connect. In order to ignore the little threat, the entity is required
to focus upon differentiation so that large number of customers could be attracted
(Lenart, 2016).
 Competitive rivalry within industry: For all the business entities it is very important to
identify the major players in the industry so that level of competition could be identified.
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V Connect is operating under smart phone industry and the main competitor for it is I-
Tech which is also dealing in same types of products. There are various other smart
phone manufacturers in the market and it shows that the competitive rivalry in the
industry is very high for V Connect.
 Threat of new entrant: In last few years various new companies are being introducing
innovative smart phones with new technology. It shows that threat of new entrant for V
Connect is high as various new entities may use new technologies to launch smart phones
in the market.
Market share: V Connect is operating business under smart phone industry of different
countries. Netherlands is the home country of the company and the other nations in which it is
carrying out operational activities are UK, US, UAE, India, China, Germany, Japan, Canada,
Malaysia etc. As the home country of the entity is Netherlands so that market demand on the
basis customer focus is analysed for year 2020 to 2029. In 2020 the total segment demand on the
basis of market segment was 384000 and in this year the organisation have not made any sales.
For 2021 and 2022 the demand was 276480 and sales for the years were nil. In 2023, 2024, 2025,
2026 and 2027 the demand was increased up to 304128 and the sales was the same which is 0. In
year 2028 and 2029 the market demand on the basis of customer focus was 319334 and the sales
for the year was 78135 and 66663 respectively (Mansour, 2016). The analysis of market shares
shows that the demand of products of V Connect was very high during the year 2020 to 2027 but
the entity was not able to sale any product on the basis of customer focus. Since year 2028 the
organisation started to sale the smart phones. It shows that performance of it is high and in future
it will be enhanced.
Product/ price analysis: While planning to analyse performance of an organisation it is
very important for the management to analyse product or price so that actual performance could
be assessed. In year 2020 according to the price the demand of products of V Connect was
1800000 but the sales was very low as compared to it which was 505933. On the other hand, the
total segment demand on the basis of quality for 2020, 2021 and 2022 was 240000 and 172800
respectively and sales for the same was 0. In 2021, 2022 the total segment demand on the basis
of price was 1377000 and sales for the same was 420621 and 381247 respectively. In 2023 the
demand on the basis of price as well as quality was increased. The sales on the basis of price was
390471 and for product quality it was 0 same as previous years. In 2024 total sales on the basis
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of price was 223458 which was decreased as compared to previous year and the demand for the
same was 1514700 which is increasing continuously. The sales on the basis of product quality
was also 0 for 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027. For year 2025, 2026 and 2027the demand on the basis
of price was same but the sales were 242025, 122539 and 117284 respectively (Outmazgin and
Soffer, 2016). In 2028 and 2029 the sales on the basis of price was 0 but on the basis of product
quality the organisation was able to generate the sales of 23754 and 21090 on the demand of
199584. The analysis of product and price shows that the entity was generating good sales from
2020 to 2027 and in the same year the sales was not made by the entity on the basis of product
quality. In 2028 and 2029 sales was generated on the basis of quality rather than price. It shows
that the company is required to make sure that it tries to meet the expectations of clients so that
they demand could be met. The demand in the market of Netherlands is very high but the supply
of smartphones is very low.
Competitors: While planning to reach all the long-term business goals it is very
important for all the companies to make sure that they are analysing the competitors which may
leave impact upon functionality of business. The major competitor for V Connect is I-Tech
which is also a company operating under smart phone industry. By formulating effective
strategies V Connect will be able to deal with it and attain competitive advantage in the industry.
Competencies and capabilities: It is very important for all the entities to analyse their
own competencies and capabilities so that the ability to meet expectations of clients could be
analysed (Păunescu, Popescu and Blid, 2018). All of them can help to respond all the challenges
such as lower demand, unsatisfied customers etc. By analysing performance of V Connect
different capabilities and competencies of the entity were identified. Some of them are discussed
below:
 Very high demand of products in home as well as other countries: With the help of
product, price and market analysis it has been analysed that the demand of smart phones
of V Connect is very high in Netherlands as well as other nations where it is operating
business. With the help of it, it can sustain in the market for long run and reach all its
business goals successfully.
 Large marketplace: This competency is also identified with the help of market share
analysis. As the company is operating business in different countries so it shows that it
has captured a large market share. Apart from this, very high demand in the market also
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shows that the market place for V Connect is very large where it can sale its products and
meet the business objectives (Ranta, Aarikka-Stenroos and Mäkinen, 2018).
Performance results: While analysing the results of performance there are several topics
which are required to be focused by all the business entities. These are evaluation of strategy,
decision, marketing, HR, Logistics, accounting, product development or event response. By
analysing the financial statements, the performance results could also be assessed. The analysis
of all the final accounts is as follows:
Income statement: It is one of the main final accounts in which detailed information of all
the incomes and expenses is mentioned. By analysing the results in the business simulation
game, it has been analysed that for 2020 the gross profit of V Connect was 101451 and the net
income for the same year was 70683 in negative. In 2021 the gross profits were decreased up to
95478 and net loss was increased up to 101990. During year 2022 the GP was increased up to
152707 and the net loss was increasing continuously and it was decreased up to 257884. For
2023 the gross profits were 293130 and net loss for year 2023 was 222799. In 2024 the gross and
net loss were 4780 and 647630 respectively. In 2025 the profits were increased up to 11351 and
net loss for the year was 687461. For 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 the gross profits were 41717,
50347, 263139 and 240814 respectively. The net losses for the same period were 703589,
790704, 732837 and 853186 respectively (Samouylov, Gaidamaka and Zaripova, 2016).
Balance sheet: It is also known as statement of financial position as details of all the
finance related are mentioned in it. The balance sheet of V Connect is showing 406694 cash for
2020 and the total equities and liabilities for the year were 490281. In 2021 the cash was
decreased up to 287550 and the total of equities and liabilities was 383023. In 2022, 2023 and
2024 the entity was not having cash for carrying out operational activities which shows that in
this year performance of the company as very weak. It affected the functionality of business and
resulted in very bad execution of operational activities. During the year 2025 the enterprise taken
overdraft of 159964 which is a very huge amount and it increased the liabilities of the company
for the year. From year 2022 to 2029 the organisation as not having cash as during these years
net loss was faced by the entity. During the period of 8 years the entity has gone through very
bad times as lack of cash has affected the operational efficiency to meet the long-term goals. The
total overdrafts for year 2029 were around 471218 which shows that V Connect is operating
business by taking money from bank as it is having lack of funds due to insufficient profits.
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Cash flow statement: In order to keep record of all the cash related transactions all the
organisations generate cash flow statement which helps to analyse liquid strength of the business.
Apart from thus it also helps to analyse that the entity will be able to meet all the short-term
obligations in one year or not. The cash flow for year 2020 is showing total inflow of 526772
and the expenses for the same are 634564. It shows that the entity will not be able to meet all the
expenses as the incomes are lower than the expenses. Incomes for 2021 to 2029 are 490390,
644570, 1329416, 1615518, 1379725, 1096142, 1114518, 1228727 and 1292391. The expenses
for the same period are 608534, 927620, 1324416, 1610518, 1374725, 1091142, 1109518,
1223727 and 1287319. The incomes and expenses of all the years are showing that in year 2021,
2022 and 2024 the company will not be able to meet all the expenses as for these years
expenditures are higher than incomes. In 2023, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 organisation
will have cash inflow as incomes in these years are higher than the expenses. The cash flow
statement shows that the company will be able to generate cash inflow continuously in last five
years which are 2025 to 2029 (Winston, 2016).
From the analysis of final accounts, it has been determined that profitability of V Connect
is very low and with lower profits it is very difficult to perform all the operations systematically.
In order to enhance the performance, it will be very important for the company to take effective
actions so that it can improve the performance and meet long term business goals. The income
statement is showing that from 2020 to 2029 the entity was only having net loss which is
reflecting very low profitability. Balance sheet is showing since past few years V Connect was
not having cash to support the operations. It shows that performance of company was not good
but the business was surviving because of the overdraft amount which ws taken by the entity.
Performance analysis: It is about studying or evaluating performances of an organisation in
particular scenario as compared to its objectives that was to be attained (Borko and Et. Al.,
2015). It is considered as a measure of failure or success of entity in some project through using
multiple parameters. It assist in building positive culture to manage performances which yield
excellent results. At the time when managers of company are planning for analysing performance
through checking detailed information about all business elements in proper manner. It covers
aspects involving evaluation of decisions along with strategy. The main decisions that company
analyses are marketing, accounting, event response, human resource and product development.
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According to decision taken by V Connect managers, it has been evaluated that the
demand for smart phones of the entity are very high. However, it was unable to meet all of the
demand due to ineffective marketing strategies implemented by it. With this, it is seen that the
marketing department of the smart phone company are unable to attain sales target as per the
numbers defined in its business model (Farrell, 2015). From the past years, it is seen that the
performance of the business are getting worst as revenues generation is decreasing and loss
margins are increasing. The entity requires setting and implementing effective marketing
strategies in order to sustain in the market and overcome situations of losses.
Decision making done by HR manager in V Connect are about recruitment, selection,
training, development, compensation, employment policies, performance management and
practices. It is evaluated that the skill set hired by human resource managers are competent and
have huge innovative ideas for assisting in achieving targets. The company applies workforce
planning strategy along with workforce development strategy that benefits the entity in meeting
skill gaps and required employees to complete production targets and accomplishing sales results
(Jang and Lee, 2016).
As per reports of V Connect, it is seen that multiple number of changes are executed by
entity in decision or strategies for logistics in order to frame detailed organisation along with
executing complex operations to manufacture large volume of smart phones in limited duration.
It is reducing quality among smart phones resulting in reducing inability for meeting demands
and so on. All these have impacted negatively on business as customers are least buying products
offered by the entity and this influenced sales for the products during 2019 to 2029 negatively.
In the smart phone market, large number of companies operates business that creates huge
competition for V Connect. The strategies that are adopted by the managers are totally different
from others. For instance, the features and apps in smart phones of V Company are different and
prices are not affordable by all types of customers. Because of this, the company has attained
new losses within the year 2019 to 2029 and needs to devise and implement effective strategies
in order to achieve high profits.
The management department of V Connect emphasises on various elements with the
purpose of devising suitable and effective decisions. The main decisions that the department has
implemented are in context to marketing, product development, accounting and many more. By
considering its updated records, it has been evaluated that the company have not mentioned any
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particular information about marketing that states that the entity have not devised any effective
marketing strategies till yet. It is only working with normal promotion and marketing strategies
to attract people (Summers, 2014). Moreover, in context to its staff numbers, it is seen that the
hired human resources were productive, competent and posses required skill set as were properly
managed by top level administrators. Furthermore, it is also determined that the company has not
published any information about its product development that reflects that minimum changes
were only made by it in its smart phones between 2019 to 2029 years. The company supply its
offerings in multiple nations that state that it is very crucial for it to meet demand for its product
in all countries including home country as well. As per its records, the sales made by it in the
period of 2020 to 2029 are 57543, 48310, 653326, 113593, 955841, 665691, 353312, 313738,
500259 and 429043 that reflects that the company has implemented various strategies to achieve
as maximum sales as possible. The information of final accounts of V Connect shows that it has
achieved losses in all these years and managers have not taken any decisions about accounting
strategies in order to solve the issue.
3. Future plans and recommendation
In accordance with the performance analysis of V Connect, it is analysed that the business
performance is weak as compared to other companies in the industry. For it, it is important to
devise effective strategies to solve the issues (Winston, 2016). Some of strategies which need to
be emphasised by the entity in coming 5 years are underneath:
 V Connect is required to make various changes in the production procedures and
recognize the weak areas in the operations to meet standards and product quality.
Recommendation: For making changes in production procedure, operational manager of
V Connect is required to buy effective machines and hire skilled employees to produce
smart phones upto quality expected by customers. This will help in producing products as
per preferences of customers, making more money, fostering performance and achieving
profits.
 V connect manager also requires to execute research practices properly for identifying the
important areas and trends through which they can attract large customer base and
influence them to make product purchase.
Recommendation: For executing research practices, marketing team of V Connect can
employ more competent and experts in marketing as well as adopt effective methods and
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sources. With this, it can recognise needs, preferences and choices of customers for apps
and features in smart phones and manufacturing the same. This will influence its sales
positively and help in making unique position in the competitive industry.
PART B
Executive Summary
Reflective report is all about a player who has own smart phone entity that is V Connect
which performs operations at different countries across globe. The entity started as small
company but with passage of time and unbridled ambition, the entrepreneur took it on gigantic
competition in which it traditionally leading the global smart phone market. It was sold by
previous management team because of certain private reasons and is now working to realise the
ambition plans. The aim is for ending as serious player of respectable size. Various markets will
be opening the border for the player and will also offer diverse opportunities for enhancing sales.
The report highlights about introduction of the business, professional development and how
learning in MBA courses ad team working are different from each other. It further includes main
identified events that are situation when I won points and score as well as comparison of cultural
context and news in success of round. The relevant theory or concept is game theory and
participative leadership concept. The company is also recommended for managing relations with
suppliers and distributors addition to make certain changes in stages of production system.
Introduction
Simulation comprises of series of rounds and every round is equivalent to a year that might
entail few themes addition to events (Greasley, 2017). Professional development is described to
the procedure to improve and enhance capabilities of an individual with access of education as
well as training opportunities at workplace or other job. When I was pursuing my MBA courses,
I learnt various things about the concept of simulation. But when I started working in team I
analysed that my learning in the courses are completely different as compared to the things that I
learned in teamwork. This helped me in improving my knowledge that course materials along
with the actual implementations are different to each other. At the time of working in a simulated
business which is V Connect, I gained learning for various concepts that are how to perfrom in
industry, what is simulation business and so on. It is one of young and owned Smartphone
business which has aim of taking entire smart phone market in complete manner. It operates
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