STRATEGY CONTENT 1. Competitive Environment During round 1 of the simulation, we were allocated 2 brands, namely SIRO and SIBI.

Our main characteristics were to do with low pricing. Below were the main competitors and their potential strategies. a) SUSI: This brand was the main competitor for SIRO. They had a similar design to our product (i.e. Design choice 3). Also, they increased their price for their product, and in return gained a greater market share. b) SALT: This brand opted to do reduce their price (from 420 to 400), and in return gained a greater proportion of the singles market. c) SILU: This brand chose to keep the same price, and moved to specialty from mass merchandise. 2. Team Analysis Among other features, we studied in detail the characteristics of the different brands (including our own brand and the brands of the competitors). This was important as we had to know where everyone stood regarding the values of the products. Also, we also studied what each market expected/demanded. For example, singles demanded average performance and convenience, whereby others demanded cheap products with high performance. Furthermore, we analysed that in 5 years, the singles market will grow rapidly, therefore prompting us to start building relationships with this particular segment so as to gain sustainable profitability. 3. And 4. Group Objectives and Strategy As stated above, we decided that we needed to focus on the singles market, as it promised to be a lucrative segment in the near future. Also, we discussed the possibility of moving our focus from specialty and department store to mass merchandise due to the fact that we perceived specialty as a waste, and therefore we had the objective of increasing mass merchandise by 5%. Furthermore, for SIBI our strategy was to increase price as we expected that it wouldnt affect the sales due to the fact that the design was good and the professionals liked it. And for SIRO, our strategy was to increase production and inventory by 30% so as to cover the expected growth

STRATEGY PROCESS a) Mainly, every single member of our team had an agreement on the decisions, and felt that the strategy chosen were the best we could have come up with. b) One of the strategy options brought up was to keep everything as they were before without putting any changes, as an anticipation of the decision of other team. However, we decided that wed rather be brave and stick to one side so as to increase our chances of gaining a competitive advantage.

c) The main problem, as expected, was that we did not have little experience with the software and found it difficult to navigate through its different features. However, as time passed by, we stepped up a notch and started making quicker decisions and knew exactly where to go to find any particular information about the brands, characteristics and the competition. It was also unfortunate that we forgot to purchase the market research for the following week. The main success from round 1 was the consensus of the group and the determination shown by all members towards the decision making. d) The main thing I personally have learnt is that, prior research is very significant so as to make decisions quicker and not rush towards the end. This proved to be vital, as at the end, we forgot to purchase the market research for week 2. I also learnt, that patience and an open mind were vital to the success of the group decision making, as we saw that this helped us to compromise and agree on our strategies.