You have now completed two practice rounds of the BSG simulation.  Although much of the goal of the practice rounds are to learn how to use the BSG simulation system and understand how the various screens and reports operate, another key goal is to try to build and execute on a business strategy.

For this week’s discussion board posting, consider the following:

• A winning business strategy must fit the firm’s external and internal situation, help build sustainable competitive advantage, and improve company performance.
• Yet, how well a firm performs, and the degree of market success it achieves are directly attributable to the caliber of it’s strategy and the proficiency with which that strategy is executed.
• Excellent execution of an excellent strategy is the best test of managerial excellence.

Please create a post that responds to the following 4 questions considering the above and based on your experience in the BSG Practice Rounds in Week #1:

Note: these four questions are meant to guide your team weekly in your collective analysis of your performance.  Don’t assume these questions are only relevant for Week 2.

1. Did your team develop a cohesive business strategy before embarking on completing the entries for your decision rounds?  How well developed was that strategy? (Note:  Don’t give away the details of your strategy if you plan to use that for future decision rounds).
2. Did your team focus on ensuring your decisions would attain all five of the key goals the board set for your firm (EPS, ROE, Credit Rating, Image Rating, Stock Price)? How did these goals impact your strategy decisions? If you didn’t attempt to achieve meeting or exceeding in all 5 metrics, which ones did you knowingly sacrifice on and why?
3. How well did you actually implement your strategies?  Did things turn out as you expected?  If not, what types of things went wrong and why do you think they went wrong?
4. What were the key changes you made to your strategies and decision entries after your Year 11 results were posted?  Did you change your strategy?  If, so, why?  Did you change the way in which you were trying to execute your strategy?  If so, how?

Note: Please make sure that you do not reveal any of your team’s planned “competitive strategies” in your postings above, although it is fine to reveal what you did if it is generic in nature or would not reveal anything about your planned strategies for future decision rounds.