Strategic Management for Competitive Advantage: Performance Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic management for competitive advantage, focusing on a company's performance over three rounds of a simulated business scenario. The report examines the decision-making processes, including the introduction of new car models (Galore and Xpress), market segmentation, and pricing strategies. It analyzes key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales income, market share, production rates, R&D investments, warranty claim costs, and profitability (operating profit and post-tax profit). The report highlights the impact of strategic choices on financial outcomes, market share, and overall business success, including the effects of workforce management, automation, and investment decisions. The analysis includes comparisons between forecasted and actual results, identifies areas of variance, and provides insights into the effectiveness of different strategic approaches. The report concludes with an assessment of the company's performance, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and areas for future improvement. The report also delves into team performance and provides references for further reading.

Strategic Management for
Competitive Advantage

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Company performance-...............................................................................................................3
trends analysis-..........................................................................................................................11
Learning critical reflection........................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
Team Performance.....................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
The strategic management of the process which was considered to be more effective for
the establishment of goals, procedures and objectives were helpful for the company in the
organization to be more competitive. In this project the essential company performance and the
game in which the business objectives are going to be met will be explained in the different
rounds. This would provide the different results that are necessary for being able to find the
minimum production, sales, gross margin and also the discussed stock post tax profit and net
cash position in the market share of the organization. In this report the different production, sales
,unsold stock and post tax profit and been able to analysed for better market share. The focus of
this report will be towards the effectiveness of the functional areas which was helpful for the
competition of the business to gain advantages that were required.
MAIN BODY
Company performance-
Round year 1
Decision-making-
For cars there have been some contemplation in order to make decision. At the beginning
phase it is very essential for the organization to work with proper strategy with this regard some
decisions have been made.
It decided to introduce two models first one “City” and second one was “Large”. The
name of cars is Glore and Xpress. For the organization it is essential to decipher who will be
their customers and how they will reach to them. Here it is very significant to decide how to
make them buy products.

For selling out the cars there have been tow market segments have been decided. The
Galore car is being prepared for targetting customers having limited prevalent that's been reason
that it was targetted to produce around 25-40 and at the same time the Large cars would be
fabricated around 41-50 since their demand was expected to be higher despite having higher
price around €28295 million Jetter, Eimecke & Rese, (2018)
Being an emerging organization there was need to reach maximum amount of customers
in order to ensure proper market grasp. So here it was also decided to approach the market with
the fullest efforts in order to hike sales.
Forecasts & results-
For the round 1, it can be said that the forecasting and results had been almost
appropriate. As it can be seen, at the beginning it was decided to sell out around 25-40 Galore
cars and 41-50 Xpress cars. So at the end of the year it is found that there was no variance in the
selling plan.
At the same time the productivity rate decided 46.67 and 45 for the consecutive cars was
also same when results came out. Even there was nothing in the stock unsold so organization
achieved its goal which was decided while making decision to sell out everything produced.
The figures of salary and strike days are showing nothing as variance, but market share was not
as same as it was predicted. For the cars Galore and Xpress it was decided to be around 1.43%
and 1.95% but actually it was 1.34% and 1.83% so here it would not be wrong to say that there is
hyper need to pay attention on this realm in order to meet the criteria decided Hristov, & Chirico,
A. (2019)
Net sales income, net cash position, fixed overheads, promotion all these key ingredients
have notched up equal as it was planned. But here is prominent to see that the investments in
R&D were decided to be €20 million but was 18.45. It is evidence that the organization invested
lower than it was expected. At the same time warranty claim cost was also higher.
At the end the most relaxing thing is that the operation profit went up from 190 as
expected to 195.15 in reality. Due to higher operating profit the post-tax profit also got a surge
and was €139.8 million.
Round 1
Forecast Result

Model City Large City Large
Car Name Galore Xpress Galore Xpress
Target 25-40 41-50 25-40 41-50
Workforce 1500 1000 1500 1000
Automation Allocation 60 40 60 40
Effective Workforce 1560 1040 1560 1040
Productivity 46.67 45 46.67 45
Unsold Stock 0 0 0 0
Selling Price(£) 16224 28295 16224 28295
Market Share(%) 1.43 1.95 1.34 1.83
Salary 500 500
Stike Days 4 4
Gross Margine(%) 35 28 35.68 27.63
Sale Income (£m) 2408.96 2408.96
Net Cash Position(£m) 1652.03 1652.03
Fixed Overheads(£m) 156.63 156.63
Promotion(£m) 261 261
R&D(£m) 20 18.45
Training Cost(£m) 5 5
Automation Investment(£m) 20 20
Warranty Claim Cost(£m) 28.02 31.69
Depreciation(£m) 69 69
Operating Profit(£m) 190 195.15
Post Tax Profit(£m) 130 139.8
Loan(£m) 180
Round year 2
Decision-making-
From the performance in the round 1 there have been some issues which created
variances in adverse direction.
Keeping the performance of previous round some changes were made in the decision-
making, and it was decided that the Galore cars would be produced less than 25 at the same time
Xpress cars will be more than 55. The strategy was fabricated considering some aspects like
performance and profitability of the cars in previous round Burlea-Schiopoiu & Ferhati, (2020,
December)

Further it was last time seen that the expenditure in R&D were less even did not meet the
predicted criteria so this time the among was hiked and decided to make €30 million in R&D.
Now the entity is performing good even in last round there was no stock unsold which raised the
motivation level and this time it is decided to target 60 and 40 automation allocations for the
cars.
The prices of cars were also hiked considering their market performance, in last round for
Galore the price was €16224 million and for Xpress €28295 million but in this round it was
hiked to 18000 million and 27990 million.
Along with selling price the market share was supposed to be hiked since last time
despite selling out entire stock and getting bigger profits the entity was lacking in its market
share so this time for the cars it was kept around 1.95% and 3.2% respectively.
Forecasts & results-
For this round the performance has been almost as same or even better as expected by the
organization. In this round the targets were forecasted bigger, yet they achieved majority of
KPMs. As it was decided the workforce, automation allocations, effective workforce,
productivity all has been same.
In the second round the entity has forecasted to sell out Galore less than 25 and Xpress
more than 55, so they achieved the aim. At the same time the productivity rate was decided 47.5
and 41.67 respectively and nailed it.
At the same time the pre-decided price got marked, for Galore the price was €18000 and
for Xpress it was €27990, both were recovered. In the first round the biggest issue was with
market share since despite achieving goals the entity was unable to grab its market share so with
this regard they have worked with higher efforts and for this round market share was intended to
be 1.95% and 3.2%, but in reality it did not turn out bigger and had been 1.83% and 2.95% for
respective cars Franceschini, Galetto & Maisano, (2018)
At the same time sales income intended to be €3809.25 altogether and was remained
same. Fixed overhead and net cash position were depicted same. In last round there was less
spending in R&D so this time an intensive attention was paid and as it was decided to be €30
million but in reality was €32.87 million.

In round second the warranty claim cost was decided to be €30 million but has been
€36.99 million, the depreciation was intended to be €-133 but in reality was around €133.1
million which was a big shuffle. At the end the operating profit and post-tax profits for the entity
were higher than expectations, had been 486.1 million and 335.24 million respectively.
So from the comparison above it can be concluded that the overall performance has been
satisfactory.
Round 2
Forecast Result
Model City Large City Large
Car Name Galore Xpress Galore Xpress
Target <25 55> <25 55>
Workforce 2000 1800 2000 1800
Automation Allocation 60 40 60 40
Effective Workforce 2060 1840 2060 1840
Productivity 47.5 41.67 47.5 41.67
Unsold Stock 0 0 0 0
Selling Price(£) 18000 27990 18000 27990
Market Share(%) 1.95 3.2 1.83 2.95
Salary 550 550
Stike Days 3 2
Gross Margine(%) 38.7 25 40.25 18.73
Sale Income (£m) 3809.25 3809.25
Net Cash Position(£m) 2727.86 2727.86
Fixed Overheads(£m) 236.05 236.05
Promotion(£m) 199 199
R&D(£m) 30 32.87
Training Cost(£m) 5 5
Automation
Investment(£m) 20 20
Warranty Claim Cost(£m) 30 36.99
Depreciation(£m) -133 133.1
Operating Profit(£m) 450 486.61
Post Tax Profit(£m) 300 335.24
Loan(£m) 800
Round year 3
Decision-making-

The performance in the round 2 was quite satisfactory yet there have been a few areas
with strong need to ponder over. The organization has experienced tremendous amount of surge
in term of its overall performance.
Keeping success of the round 2 the organization made couple of decision for its further
growth. Such as the target for large Xpress which was in previous round not absolutely decided
but this time it is decided to keep it between 41-55 Torbacki & Kijewska, (2019)
On the other hands it is felt that the market trends are going faster and despite making
intensive efforts the entity was not able to ace its market share as decided. So this time had paid
serious attention to R&D, and intended to spend 130 million.
One key decision was about price of products. For Galore car in second round it was
18000 but for the third round decided to keep it at 16224. At the same time considering the
performance of Xpress car the price was hiked from 17990 to 28295.
Forecasts & results-
In round 3 it was decided to sell out less than 25 and between 41-55 cars of Galore and
Xpress models and had been same in actual. Other elements such as workforce, automation
allocations, effective workforce, productivity were same.
For consecutive third round there was 0 unit was unsold. In this round due to made
drastic decisions the market share had been achieved as intended. For the cars it was intended to
be 1.65% and 2.52% and in reality it was 1.65% and 2.72% Gonzalez-Camejo, Aparicio, (2020)
In the 3rd round the expenses were hiked to 132.01 million in order to ensure better
performance in the market whereas it was decided to be 130 million. On the other hands this year
the KPMs have shown deviation due to improper forecasting. For instance, strike days were
decided to be 3 but in reality went up to 4, the sales income was 3809.25 million which was
exactly same as forecasted, some expenditures such as Fixed Overheads had surged to 244.3
million from the forecasted 240 million.
Warranty claim cost for the third time in a raw had been higher than forecasted, for the
round it was forecasted to be 35 million but was 37.66 million, this time depreciation was same
as intended Amos, Au-Yong, et al. (2020)
At the end operating profits were forecasted lower due to some strategic decision-making
as higher investments in R&D and toppling performance of equipment and plant, so for the

round the forecasted profit was 256.3 million but was 286.34 million. At the end amount of loan
which was 180 million in the first round and for second round was 800 but this time came down
to 600 it shows that the entity is reducing its rely on debt funds. Post tax profit for the year was
212.93 which was 12 million higher than forecasted.
Round 3
Forecast Result
Model City Large City Large
Car Name Galore Xpress Galore Xpress
Target <25 41-55 <25 41-55
Workforce 2000 1800 2000 1800
Automation Allocation 60 40 60 40
Effective Workforce 2060 1840 2060 1840
Productivity 47.5 41.67 47.5 41.67
Unsold Stock 0 0 0 0
Selling Price(£) 16224 28295 18000 27990
Market Share(%) 1.65 2.52 1.65 2.72
Salary 550 550
Strike Days 3 4
Gross Margin(%) 35 20 38.83 15.67
Sale Income (£m) 3809.25 3809.25
Net Cash Position(£m) 2816.3 2816.3
Fixed Overheads(£m) 240 244.3
Promotion(£m) 190 199
R&D(£m) 130 132.01
Training Cost(£m) 5 5
Automation Investment(£m) 0 0
Warranty Claim Cost(£m) 35 37.66
Depreciation(£m) 200.79 200.79
Operating Profit(£m) 256.3 286.34
Post Tax Profit(£m) 200.93 212.93
Loan(£m) 600
Round 4
Decision-making
In the performance of this business for the round 4 this project was able to successfully
satisfy the ways in which the people were able gain effectiveness of the different needs of the
organization. It was also considered to be more success with the experiences which resulted in

the tremendous amount of the surge that helps the simulation in the gathering the information
about the overall performance.
The factors which were considered to be helpful for the success of the round in the
organization was helpful for the different types of decision-making for the further level of
growth. It was also the target of the large Xpress for the previous round that was able to analyse
the ways in which the was able find absolutely the key factors responsible for the decision-
making.
On the other hands it was found that the market trends have been developing very fast
and effectively in order to influence the ways in which business would be performing in the
round 4. Hence, the focus of the business has been over the attention to be given towards the
development of the R&D. This has been said to be the factors which was helpful in the
recognition of the ways in which they were able to analyse the factors that were effective
towards the second round and the 18000 for the third round in order to keep the performance
very consistent in the 4th round of this simulation.
Forecasts & results
The results of 4th round was different from that of the third round as the business were not
able to make the profit which they desired. It was comparatively very low as the sales was also
low for the Galore and Xpress models. It however did include the other elements of the
workforce, automation, allocation, effective workforce and productive in the ways they were
able to manage the performance.
The consecutiveness of these rounds were said to be very effective for the round to be
able to generate more drastic changes which were needed for the growth that was essential for
the hike for the performance in the market.
It was also helpful for the being able to generate the decision-making in order to gain the
sales but the due to the increase in the strike days the performance of the organization was
affected.
Round 4
Forecast Result
Model City Large Medium City Large Medium
Car Name Galore Xpress GX Eco Galore Xpress GX Eco
Target <25 41-55 25-40 <25 41-55 25-40
Workforce 2200 1800 1800 2200 1800 1800

Automation Allocation 50 25 25 50 25 25
Effective Workforce 2250 1825 1825 2250 1825 1825
Productivity 43.18 41.67 33.33 43.18 41.67 33.33
Unsold Stock 0 0 0 0 0 0
Selling Price(£) 17599 27000 23599 17599 27000 23599
Market Share(%) 1.08 2.57 1.07 1.08 2.57 1.07
Salary 600 600
Stike Days 3 2
Gross Margine(%) 35 12 21 35.08 10.52 20.69
Sale Income (£m) 5112.85 5112.85
Net Cash Position(£m) 4008.36 4008.36
Fixed Overheads(£m) 369.44 369.44
Promotion(£m) 209 209
R&D(£m) 49.12 49.12
Training Cost(£m) 5 5
Automation
Investment(£m) 100 100
Warranty Claim Cost(£m) 65 71.44
Depreciation(£m) -344.04 -344.04
Operating Profit(£m) 230.5 236.04
Post Tax Profit(£m) 165.15 170.15
Loan(£m) 850
trends analysis-
Production-
It can be seen that the production has been almost same, in the first year it came up but
the production of Galore has been reduced due to strategic reasons. At the same time the trends
of Xpress are looking almost same.

Unsold stock-
It has been zero and there is no trend, it shows that the entity made good performance
throughout the all four sessions.
Sales-
The sales trends are also looking almost same but for the round second and third it can be
seen that sales were looking stable. At the same time in the last round the trends are looking a bit
falling down.