SSM Strategic Plan $-$ Group Assignment with Individual Input

Notes:

a$)$ Include the names of "Contributors:" at the beginning of all group assignments you submit, along with the student names and IDs of your Group Members, and clearly identify who is managing each of the vehicle classes, contributing to the group work, and who isn't. Only "Contributors" will be given grades for Group Assignments submitted

b$)$ Even though this is a group task, I will adjust individual marks based on the quality of the analysis and discussion of the assigned vehicle class

Instructions:

$1)$ Upload here a $2-$page Word document per group, analyzing the most relevant elements of your target markets, strategies, results, lessons learned, and future strategies for each vehicle class that each member of the team is specifically managing. The presentation is similar to what an SBU $($Strategic Business Unit$)$ Executive would provide to the Corporate CEO. Your group can design the format. The presentation should be clear and concise. Please, be to the point.

$2)$ Bring the document to discuss it in class with your Instructor $(10$ minutes per team$)$

Hopefully, you, as a team and as an individual, should have done the following analysis of the Start Position. This analysis should help you prepare and discuss this Strategic Plan Briefing

a$)$ Overall performance of your and your competitors' firms: Look at Comparative Results on the SSM site

b$)$ For each of your cars, check the following in the SSM environment:

$-$ COMPANY: Product Contribution. Is each vehicle priced to pay for production costs?

$-$ TOOLS: Sales by Segment$/$Focus Groups. Is each vehicle targeted at a particular customer? Is each vehicle priced at a competitive level?

c$)$ How well is your firm estimating production:

$-$ COMPANY: Manufacturing. If your firm is not producing enough, there can be lost sales and over$-$capacity charges. If your firm is

producing too much, there will be too much inventory and capacity and a corresponding high debt load. Manufacturing expenses show up on the Income Statement under Extraordinary Items. You may want to check out "StratSim... Forecasting and Production" PPT in Resources under the category Supplementary Materials for help if you are struggling in this area.

d$)$ How well is your marketing:

$-$ COMPETITION: Advertising levels and other marketing issues

e$)$ How well is your firm managing finances:

$-$ COMPANY: Cash Flow and Income Statement $($particularly Extraordinary Items and Interest Expense$).$ You should be using Pro$-$Forma to

determine how much Stock and Bonds to issue to cover costs. For more information, you can see the "StratSim... Planning" and "StratSim... Financial Issues" presentations in Resources under the Supplementary Materials category.

f$)$ Getting ready for the next rounds:

Analyze the results you obtained and establish your strategies and decisions for the following rounds. You can find here a summary of the type of decisions you need to make at the corporate and product levels for each period.