WINNERS' STRATEGY: Capstone® Business Simulation winners will make a long term strategy for their industry. The buying behavior and market growth rate is known for each segment. In this electronic sensor industry each segment has a unique customer with unique aspiration in terms of Age, Price, MTBF and Positioning. Based upon that, they would decide which segment they would have more than one product or may exit from a segment. They would like to know, as early as possible, how eight of their products shall be distributed across five segments in round 8. That will help them in aligning their business decisions across functional areas over the years. All businesses shall have a strategy!

INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESS: Now, they will acquire basic tools of doing business. In Capstone®, they will invest in automation, build awareness and accessibility for their products, position their products in the Ideal spot year after year in each segment while meeting the buying criteria requirement relevant for that segment. They would invest in TQM and HR. Very importantly, they will optimize plant capacity i.e. they will not carry a plant capacity that they do not need immediately. These tools help in expanding the demand for the product and in increasing the gap between price and the cost. All businesses, sooner or later, shall acquire these basic tools of doing business!

LAST MILE: The Strategy and Tools of business are in place. Now, it is time for marriage between the market aspirations and the business’ financial intents. It will boil down to who extracts the most intelligence from data that comes along year after year. Quality of competition analysis and decisions taken thereof, shall decide the winner. It will require accurate forecasting backed by a robust resource planning model to win in the market place. A combination of short term strategies, in alignment with the long term plan, may prove to be a winner. Based upon my product offering in the market place vis-a-vis other products in the market I should come up with a great forecast. Winners will usually not have a major stock out and inventory return. Capacity and Demand analysis will be critical elements in making forecast decisions for each product. Only few, THE WINNERS, will have the last mile excellence!

WINNERS SHOULD HAVE:

		optimum plant capacities
		high plant utilization
		high price realization
		minimum inventory return

Above mentioned are some basic tips that will form part of winners’ strategy in Capstone® Business Simulation. Industry to industry, based upon quality of competition, the challenges in the simulation could be very different that will require unique mix of strategy (short term and long term) and tactics just as in real business environment.