Now that you are finishing up the Capstone simulation assignment, let's reflect on our experiences and share.

At some point in the simulation your team had a vision and a strategic direction. For example, you might have said, "We plan to be a focused differentiation company and we will concentrate our resources on the High-Tech segment." Or you might have decided to be in both segments and compete on price, or any number of other combinations of vision and strategy.

1a. Which strategy did your team choose in the beginning and why? Do you think it was the right strategy? Why or why not? If you were going to start the simulation over, which strategy would you have chosen instead? Which strategy did your team end up with in the end? Explain your answers.

1b. What core capabilities did you need to develop in order to successfully execute your strategy? What were the top three competencies you believe were necessary to execute your team's vision and strategy? Be sure to provide your explanation as to why you think these three competencies were so important to your team's success. For example, it is one thing to say, "We will compete on price", and another to build a company that can effectively compete on price and still produce a solid return for stakeholders. Let's relate two popular ideas, "Core Competency" and "Competitive Advantage", to your situation. You could develop competencies in awareness, accessibility, product redesign, product invention, automation, plant utilization, human resources, cash flow management, and forecasting. All of these competencies take several years to develop. You would use these competencies to develop competitive advantages. For example, competencies in automation and human resources could lead to a competitive advantage in cost leadership. Competencies in awareness, accessibility, and design could lead to a competitive advantage built upon differentiation.

1c. Every team has some successes but also makes some mistakes in this assignment - the key is that we have learned from our mistakes. What do you think were your team's primary successes? What do you think were the primary mistakes that your team made, and what did you learn from them? What would you do differently if you had it all to do over again?

1d. If you were to give a talk to the next BBA class to take the Capstone course, what would you tell them to do in order to properly prepare for the simulation? What are the skills that are necessary to be successful in this project? What things should they avoid doing? What are the keys to success?