INTRODUCTION

Continuous improvement (development) in overall quality settings is currently a hot topic in all the firms that
will compete in this global world. High-end companies and service businesses now perceive quality as a
strategic advantage in the marketplace. As a result, they have invested significant resources in creating certain
tools like deficiency rates, reaction times, delivery obligations, and operational performance review. All these
tools enable the business to take the largest possible market share and to cut costs, which makes it possible to
offer competitive prices. The most crucial quality and the foundation of a company's competitiveness is the
ability to bring fresh ideas.

One of the objectives of Kai-eco automobile is to be an organization which gives utmost importance to
continuous development in other to improve our product quality, increase efficiency and productivity of our
company, decrease cost for the benefit of our targeted audience, reduce waste, to promote our employee’s
satisfaction, enhance teamwork and most especially our customer’s satisfaction.

Secondly, our organization aim to implement automation as a top priority within the upcoming years by
incorporating plug-and-play technology and improved visual interfaces, will make our products (cars) more
user-friendly in other to edge our competitors.

Lastly, our organization proposed to be an organization who not only focuses on just making profit but to also
establish on having an eco-friendly future as well by incorporating environmentally friendly design principles
into our cars (products), which must be promote the growth of Kai-eco, good for our customers and good for
the planet.

A breakdown of our company’s total sales, total unsold stock, closing bank balance, outstanding loan and
shareholder fund is shown below for each round of the game.

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4

Total Sale (£m) 1366.04 2767.77 3192.84 4851.52
Total Unsold Stock (Units) 0 0 3346 45,906
Shareholder Fund (£m) 441.50 547.63 715.39 881.60
Closing Bank Balance 295.84 186.13 139.77 -295.62
(£m)
Outstanding Loan (£m) 450 0 0 300

Table 1.0: The table shows the total sales, total unsold stock, shareholder funds, closing bank balance, and
outstanding loan at the end of each round.
COMPANY’S PERFORMANCE

The company’s objectives are achievable if certain conditions are strictly considered. Some of these
conditions are the market size, increasing the strength of the workforce (number of employees), reducing
strike days this is to maintain or improve the productivity level, cost of the eco-friendly raw material, cost of
production, investing in our employees and lot more. All the factors stated above was put into consideration in
other for our company’s objectives to be visible and achievable within the speculated time (from Round 1 to
Round 4).

Kai-eco automobile is an organization who believe in the utmost importance to continuous development in
other to improve our product quality, increase efficiency and productivity of our company, decrease cost for
the benefit of our targeted audience, reduce waste, to promote our employee’s satisfaction, enhance teamwork
and most especially our customer’s satisfaction. This happened to be one of our company’s objectives.

In round 1, we invested a huge sum into our digital promotion. We chose different promotional medium so as
to capture the heart of our customers in other to buy our products (cars) and stay loyal to our company. Digital
media was said to be the catch-all strategy that we used as our main source of promotion. Right after that with
television coming in close as the second headlining segment due to it playing a big role in reaching people
quickly and doing business more effectively. The sum £14million was invested by our company mainly in
marketing for televisions. Local radio marketing strategies was a major point, because 89% of people in the
UK are interested in listening to the radio. So, radio marketing was very useful and powerful. That's not the
only reason why our company chose radio. Radio promotion is comparatively cheaper than any of the other
sources of medium. Our company spent the sum of £6million on radio promotion. Regardless of our other
forms of promotion, our biggest promotional source that really helped us most is digital media during the
business game. And we invested £20million other digital promotions.

However, our company had the total sales income of £1366.04million in the first round of the game,
characterized with cost of sales of £1117.43million, a gross profit margin of £248.60million, depreciation and
total overhead expenses of £272.99million. In which our company ran into an operating loss of £24.39million,
this is because our company’s depreciation and total overhead expenses value was a little bit higher than our
gross profit margin value. In this same round, the values of our company’s pre-tax loss and post-tax loss is
£58.90million. our company had the deficit £154.16million as our balance before loan of we need to go for a
loan of £450million to keep our company running.

Furthermore, in Round 2, our company has a total sales income of £2767.77million, cost of sales of
£2230.01million, with a gross profit margin of £537.76million, total overhead expenses with depreciation of
£407.43million, operating profit of £130.33million, pre-tax profit and post-tax profit of £119.56million and
£106.13million respectively.

In round 3 our company has a total sales income of £3192.84million, cost of sales of £2405.94million, with a
gross profit margin of £786.90million, total overhead expenses with depreciation of £563.74million, operating
profit of £223.16million, pre-tax profit and post-tax profit of £215.08million and £167.76million respectively.
The values in Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 are further used to prepare a table for the total sales income,
cost of sales, gross profit margin, depreciation and Total overhead expenses, operating profit (loss), pre-tax
profit (loss) and post-tax profit (loss).

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3

Sales Income (£m) 1366.04 2767.77 3192.84
Cost of sales (£m) 1117.43 2230.01 2405.94
Gross Profit margin (£m) 248.60 537.76 786.90
Depreciation & Overhead Expenses 272.99 407.43 563.74
(£m)
Operating Profit (Loss) (£m) -24.39 130.33 223.16
Pre-tax Profit (Loss) (£m) -58.50 119.56 215.08
Post-tax Profit (Loss) (£m) -58.50 106.13 167.76
Table 2.0: The table shows the sales income, cost of sales, gross profit margin, depreciation and Total
overhead expenses, operating profit (loss), pre-tax profit (loss) and post-tax profit (loss) for round 1, round 2
and round 3.

In round 4, Kai-eco forecasted a sales income of £6534.40million, cost of sales of £4856.60million, with a
forecasted gross profit margin of £1677.80million, total overhead expenses with depreciation of
£524.57million, forecasted operating profit of £1153.23million, forecasted pre-tax profit and post-tax profit of
£1137.230million and £887.04million respectively.

The table below shows the Kai-eco’s forecasts outcome and the actual outcome in round 4 during the
company’s business game.

Forecast Outcome Actual Outcome

(£m) (£m)
Sales Income 6534.40 4851.52
Cost of sales 4856.60 3807.08
Gross Profit margin 1677.80 1044.43
Depreciation & Overhead 524.57 801.79
Expenses
Operating Profit (Loss) 1153.23 242.64
Pre-tax Profit (Loss) 1137.23 213.10
Post-tax Profit (Loss) 887.04 166.21
Table 3.0: The table shows the Forecast result and the Actual result for Kai-eco automobile in round 4.

The data in the Table 3:0 above was used to explain the forecast and actual outcome for sales income, cost of
sales, gross profit margin, depreciation and Total overhead expenses, operating profit, pre-tax profit and post-
tax profit in round 4 of the business game. This table was later processed to form a bar chart for better
understanding. What really affected our post-tax profit was our forecasted and actual result for depreciation
and overhead expenses values. Our forecasted depreciation and total overhead expenses value is much lesser
than the actual result.
In Round 4, our company had £242.64million as our operating profit, which happens to be the highest in all
round of the business game simulation. However, when operating profit (loss) margin is high (the difference
between the gross profit and the overhead expenses), it means that the amount of operating profit our
company generated during the business game simulation on each pound of revenue is high. This is a good
indicator that our company has high-quality earnings.

However, our company in round 4 of the business game simulation, had the total sales of £4851.52million and
45906 unit of cars left in stock for all the car categories, with shareholder fund of £881.60million, leaving us
with a deficit of £295.62million in our closing bank and our team made the decision of acquiring loan of
£300million in other to keep the company efficient and effective.

A Chart showing Kai-eco Round 4 Forecast

and Actual result
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Chart 1.0: A chart showing our company’s forecast and actual outcome for sales income, cost of sales, gross
profit margin, depreciation & Total overhead expenses, operating profit, pre-tax profit and post-tax profit in
round 4.

Round Productivity Index

Round 1 0.85
Round 2 1.66
Round 3 1.14
Round 4 1.53
Table 4.0: The table shows the Productivity Index for each round of the business game.
Our company’s productivity was calculated as the value of our output ratio to its input. Calculating Kai-eco’s
productivity index involves dividing our index of production by our index of hours worked (input). The values
of the productivity index in Table 4.0 above was used to draw the productivity index line curve below.

Productivity Index
1.8
1.6 1.66
1.53
1.4
1.2 1.14
1
0.8 0.85
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4

Productivity Index

Chart 2.0: A Line flow showing our company’s Productivity Index

From our company’s productivity line flow above, we can deduce that our company was highly productive in
the second round of the business game simulation. In round 1, we had 0.85 as our company’s productivity
index with the workforce of 2100 employees, and we were able to produce 76,670 unit of cars. Likewise, in
round 2 we had 1.66 as our company’s productivity index with the workforce of 2100 employees, and we
were able to produce 159,430 unit of cars. In round 3 of the business game simulation, we had 1.14 as our
company’s productivity index with the workforce of 3300 employees, and we were able to produce 160,920
unit of cars. Finally, in the round 4 of the business game simulation, we had 1.53 as our company’s
productivity index with the workforce of 4000 employees, and we were able to produce 260,040 unit of cars.

However, all these data was use to prepare table 5.0 below showing the relationship between the Productivity
Index, the number of units produced, the number of strike days, and the numbers of employees (workforce)
for each round of the business game simulation.

Kai-eco’s productivity index for each round of the business game simulation is affected by the number of
units produced, the number of strike days, and the numbers of employees (workforce). This shown in the table
5.0 below.

Productivity Number of Number of Unit of cars

Index (%) Workforce strike days produced
(Employees)
Round 1 0.85 2100 5 76,670
Round 2 1.66 2100 5 159,430
Round 3 1.14 3300 2 160,920
Round 4 1.53 4000 3 260,040
Table 5.0: The table showing the Productivity Index, the number of units produced, the number of strike
days, and the numbers of employees (workforce) for each round of the business game simulation.
Some of the factors that affects our company’s productivity index during the business game simulation are the
number of workforce (number of employees), number of strike days, and number of unit (cars) produced. In
round 2, we had the highest productivity index compared to other rounds of the business game simulation.
This is as result of amount of unit of cars produced compared to the number of workforce (employees) and the
number of strike days.
LEARNING

For a bigger portion of market share, many companies adopted the skill of influencing pricing strategy. Kai-
eco aims to set up a customer penetration price in the market. This is basically achieved by providing a low
price for our products or services to a limited period of time. So many people can purchase at a particular
specific time.
The process of achieving good profit with minimum wasted effort shall only be obtained upon consulting the
business consultants who are expects. Kai-eco shall assist to find not only the best pricing strategy company
but also know the other relative services that might benefit our customers' budget. This will help Kai-eco
create a budget system. That will increase productivity.
Kai-eco determines our prices though the Brand For example, any base or Basic model Mercedes is more
expensive than a Vauxhall   base model that competes in the same segment. This is mainly because of the
brand value and image. Manufacturing Country, especially if the car is manufactured in Europe abroad. This
has a big impact in determining the price because of currency rates. The quality of high materials being used,
research and development, labor force cost, etc. also determined the rationale behind our prices.
In the first round (Round 1) of the business game simulation, Kai-eco was able to produce 37400 unit of cars
in the small car market sector (Kx1) whereby all the unit produced were sold at £15000, with none left in
stock and leaving our company with a market share of 0.82% in the small car market sector. In the medium
car market sector (Kz1) we were able to produce 39270 units of cars in which all the unit of cars produced
were sold at the rate of £20500 and none left in the stock with a market share of 0.91% in the medium market
sector. This shows the level at which the digital promotion helped in making our company’s products (cars)
reach the targeted audience. Though, our company had an operating loss of operating loss of £24.39million,
the management believes that further investment in the promotional platform and acquiring a loan of
£450million would help the company in the coming round of the business game simulation.

Our company made the decision of using the digital promotion platform to capture the heart of the people oof
the UK and the European communities because we believed that we would flourish more if invested more on
our digital promotion so as to enhance the chance of our company’s products (cars) getting to the targeted
audience, if our employees are more productive by reducing strike days and if our company produces most
affordable cars. These three decisions were made to increase the number of cars to be produced and to
increase immediate sales of our company’s products. Sales promotion would also help our company to attract
new customers, and would allow our company to get an insight into customer's behaviors.

In the Second round (Round 2) of the business game simulation, our company was able to produce 67320 unit
of cars in the small car market sector (Kx1) whereby all the unit produced were sold at £15500, with none left
in stock and leaving our company with a market share of 1.34% in the small car market sector. In the medium
car market sector (Kz1) we were able to produce 82110 units of cars in which all the unit of cars produced
were sold at the rate of £21000 and none left in the stock with a market share of 1.78% in the medium market
sector. Our company increased our investment in research and development from £10.65million to
£10.92million which helped us in productivity rate. Also, we invested in our employees training cost. These
two investments (research & development investment, training cost) helped our company’s productivity
index. We have the highest productivity index in this round during the business game simulation. With 2100
workers, we had a productivity index of 1.66%, which happened to be the highest throughout the business
game simulation.

For the forthcoming round of the business game (Round 3), our company made a decision of investing more
on Research and development in other to establish our company’s objective of becoming an organization that
gives utmost importance to continuous development and also by increasing the workforce (number of
employees).

Thirdly, in round 3 of the business game simulation, with £111.10million invested on research and
development and increase in the workforce (2100 to 3300), our company was able to produce 75240 unit of
cars in the small car market sector (Kx1) whereby 71894 unit of cars were sold at £17000, with 3346 unit of
cars left in stock and leaving our company with a market share of 1.27% in the small car market sector. In the
medium car market sector (Kz1) we were able to produce 85680 units of cars in which all unit of cars
produced were sold at the rate of £23000 and no unit of cars produced were left in the stock, leaving us with a
market share of 1.72% in the medium market sector. With the further investment on research and
development our company’s objective of implementing automation as a top priority within the coming years
was achieved.

In other not to have much products left in stock, and to produce most affordable price of cars, our company
made a decision of cut-costing our products and to make our products (cars) possess distinct attributes (eco-
friendly features), this is done in other to edge other competitors in the European automobile industry. Our
company’s cost-focused strategy demands on being able to provide the bottom price in a compact and niche
market sector. Our company’s differentiation-focused strategy would improve our products that we make with
the help of the unique features (eco-friendly features) that would set Kai-eco automobile apart in the current
market. In this round of the business game simulation, our company made the decision of implementing
automation as a top priority so as to make continuous development in other to improve our product quality,
increase efficiency and productivity of our company, decrease cost for the benefit of our targeted audience,
reduce waste, to promote our employee’s satisfaction, enhance teamwork, produce eco-friendly products
(cars) and most especially our customer’s satisfaction.

One of our company’s competitive strategies is the cut-cost strategy even with the implementing of
automation to all our company’s products (cars) so as to produce the most affordable cars in the European
automobile industry, to reduce the numbers of unit of products left in the stock in round 3 of the business
game simulation, and to promote our customer’s satisfaction. We made the decision of selling all our products
(cars) in the small car market sector at the same rate of £17000 (even with automation). This is just to satisfy
our customers so as to enjoy a kind of luxury cars at affordable prices, and to make more sales of our
company’s products.

In Round 4 of the business game simulation, our company was able to produce 95040 unit of cars in the small
car market sector (Kx1) whereby 76480 unit of cars were sold at £17000, with 21906 unit of cars left in stock
and leaving our company with the market share of 1.30% in the small car market sector. In the medium car
market sector (Kz1) we were able to produce 95000 units of cars in which 93429 unit of cars were sold at the
rate of £23500 and 1571 unit of cars were left in the stock with the market share of 1.84% in the medium
market sector. In Round 4, our company invested in the large car market sector in which we were able to
produce 70000 unit of cars in the large car market sector, 47571 was sold at a reasonable rate of £28500 and
22429 unit of cars was left in the stock. In the large car market sector, we had 1.84% as our market share
value. The decision of achieving one of the company’s objectives of implementing automation as a top
priority within the upcoming years needs to be achieved before the end of the business game simulation. Our
company invested £111.10million and £106.90million on our research and development in round 3 and round
4 of the business game simulation respectively.

However, in Round 2 of the business game simulation, £200million was further invested on automation,
£100million was invested in round 3 and £200million was later invested in the round 4 of the business game
simulation. This decision helped our company to achieve our objective of implementing automation as a top
priority within the upcoming years.
CONCLUSION

Decision making is a crucial and important aspect in a business environment. Decisions made can either
affects a company positively or negatively. This is reason why all decisions made by our company during this
business game simulation are properly checkmated before finalizing on them.

Our company’s objective of becoming an organization that gives utmost importance to continuous
development was achieve during the cause of the business game simulation. During the business game
simulation, our company invested £10.65million and £10.92million on our research and development in round
1 and round 2 respectively. Likewise, we invested £111.10million and £106.90million on our research and
development in round 3 and round 4 of the business game simulation respectively.

The objective of implementing automation as a top priority within the upcoming years was be achieved before
the end of the business game simulation. This was achieved by investing in automation, though in the Round
1, our company never invested in automation, but in all the coming round of the business game simulation, a
certain amount was invested, £200million was invested on automation in round 2, £100million was invested
in round 3 and £200million was later invested in the round 4 of the business game simulation.

Finally, our objective of becoming an organization who not only focuses on just making profit but to also
establish on having an eco-friendly future as well was achieved by incorporating environmentally friendly
design principles into our cars (products), which must be promote the growth of Kai-eco, good for our
company’s customers and good for the planet.
TEAM PERFORMANCE

Looking back on the simulation that was conducted this semester, group work has enabled us, the students
who participated, to acquire numerous practical skills that are helpful in our industry. This report examines
my own involvement in the business game simulation exercise and offers a critical assessment of both our
team's and my performance individually. Even if our team performed well overall, better methods for
organizing and allocating tasks may have been created. The team dynamics, communication style, and areas
for improvement were all clarified through this simulation. But it also allowed me the chance to improve my
skills and boost my self-confidence in these areas throughout the course of the several weeks that we took part
in the simulation.

Our team comprised eight members and we were all delegated with a particular role within the simulation.
Reflecting upon my role as ‘Human resource manager’ for Kai-eco automobile. Initially, it looks as if this
position is a herculean task for me, but as time goes on in the business game simulation, and with the help of
my teammates, I got used to the position. As the head of the Human Resource Management, I was able to
manage our company's most precious resource (our employees), to give organizational structure and the
capacity to satisfy our business needs.

In terms of talent management, I was responsible for recruiting, hiring, developing, and retaining employees
during the business game simulation. I was in charge of handling every aspect of the hiring process, from
posting job openings on job boards to finding candidates at job fairs and through social media. I was also in
charge of acting as the first point of contact for background checks to screen applicants, conducting initial
interviews, and coordinating with the hiring manager who would make the final decision. Part of my job as
the Human resource manager was to be focused with fostering the employer-employee relationship. Because
this position is crucial to the success of our company, I researched on job happiness, employee engagement,
organizational culture, and conflict resolution in the workplace. I also work on labor relations if the company's
staff is unionized, which includes drafting collective bargaining agreements, coming up with managerial
answers to union organizing drives, and deciphering labor union contract clauses.
As the head of Kai-eco Human Resource department, I lead and oversee the regular activities of the Human
Resources (HR) department, such as recruiting and interviewing employees, handling salary, benefits, and
leave requests, and enforcing business rules and procedures.

Since our company wants its employees to succeed, we give them all the resources they need to do so. These
resources include new employee orientation, leadership development programs, personal and professional
development, and managerial training; they don't have to be the common ones like those utilized in the
manufacture of automobiles. Being the human resources manager, training and development, are a crucial part
of my responsibilities. It is also my duty as the Human resource manager to keep work safety in place, I must
provide a safe working environment for our employees and our equipment.

Our group successfully shared information most of the time, and it could be claimed that good
communication, clear comprehension, and teamwork were the main reasons we mostly achieved our
company’s objectives. It can be concluded that during the simulation, our team communicated efficiently, and
with reflection, this undoubtedly assisted us in achieving our company’s objectives and missions in the end.

We were able to accomplish the company's goals thanks to the ideas contributed by various team members.
Our team realized eventually that sharing of roles and duties to team members was usually difficult. Schedule
conflicts, heavy workloads, and other responsibilities commonly contributed to this.

In conclusion, when I think back on the part I played in the group simulation project, I can say that I have
experienced, learnt, and been pushed in many ways. It may be argued that through discussing the team
dynamics and the academic content that has supported the learning this semester, new knowledge and
understanding have been acquired. It has also been important to become a reflective practitioner because
doing so can help us both perform better and understand more about our specific field of study.
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