The Business Simulation:

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28/04/24 1
 Business Simulation Assessment
• Sits within specialist modules:
– MO9701 (for MSc Global Logistics, Operations and Supply Chain
Management)
– MK9700 (for MSc Digital Marketing)
– MK9705 (for MSc Marketing)
– MN0490 (for MSc Finance)
– BM9720 (for MSc Business Analytics)
– SM4022 (for MSc International Business Management)

• This will be part of the assessment for each of the above modules – 2000
words, weighted 25%. The remaining assessment for each of the named
modules are module specific and are covered elsewhere.
 Assessment Components
• Front Page
• Contents Page
• Introduction
• Critical Evaluation of Company Performance
• Critical evaluation of and reflection on decision
making
• Critical assessment of self and team working
• Conclusions
• References
 Front Page
• Module Code, Student ID, Group and Team Numbers.

• We mark by seminar group and cross-reference by team to

pick up any potential academic misconduct (see below).

• Remember, this is an INDIVIDUAL piece of work standard

University regulations apply regarding plagiarism and
collusion.
 Contents Page
• List the contents of the report with page numbers by each
section.

• Number each page in the report.

 Introduction
• This is worth 5% of the assignment, so 100 words
approximately.
• Strategic Objectives for your company at the end of the
simulation: These should be the objectives that your team
agreed at the beginning of the simulation. There should be
enough measurable objectives to evaluate the success of the
company. They should be SMART objectives.
• Competitive Strategy: What was the intended strategy at the
start of the simulation? Why would your Differentiation or
Cost Leadership strategy create an advantage over your
competitors? What market segment were you targeting?
 Critical evaluation of company
performance I
• This is worth 50% of the assignment, so 1000 words
approximately.
• Present a table showing the following key performance
measures over the four rounds;
– Production (units) for each model
– Sales (units) for each model
– Unsold stock (units) for each model
– Sales revenue for the company
– Profit after tax
– Bank balance
– Outstanding loan
– Shareholder Funds
 Critical evaluation of company
performance II (PG Goal 4, Objective 1)
• Critically evaluate the performance of the company from the
perspective of the key business functions which are linked to
the pre-defined strategic objectives.
• Explain the links between actions, outcomes, and strategy
clearly.
• Where possible you should also apply referenced business
frameworks and theories to illustrate your actions and
learning.
– (NOTE: a detailed discussion of the theory is not required,
the references suffice given the constraint of word limits).
 Critical evaluation of company
performance III
• Comment on the trends in the above measures over the
course of the simulation, linking these to decisions made
during the simulation.
• Did you change the competitive strategy during the
simulation?
• If change in the competitive strategy was required how
was this strategic change managed within the company?
• Make effective use of trend charts? Link these to our key
SMART objectives.
Critical Evaluation of and reflection on decision
making I (PG Goal 2, Objective 3)
• This is worth 25% of the assignment, so 500 words approximately.
• How effective was the decision making process in your team from
the perspective of your chosen business function (this is
programme specific – GLOSCM – Operations/SCM, Digital
Marketing, Marketing – Marketing, Finance – Finance, Analytics,
IBM – Any one of the key functions)?

• Where did you/your team arrive your learning from in terms the
chosen area of company decision making? There is an expectation
that you link theory to practice here and this should be reflected in
appropriate use of academic sources to support your arguments.
 Critical Evaluation of and
reflection on decision making II
• How effective was your team demonstration of
functional impact and functional interdependence?
• In short, demonstrate the effectiveness of your
functional decisions in combination with the other
key functional areas.
• Include social and environmental contexts here from
either an internal or external decision-making
perspective.
Critical Evaluation of and reflection on self and
teamworking (PG Goal 2, Objective 1)
• This is worth 15% of the assignment, so 300 words
approximately.
• Link to appropriate theory from your Leadership and
Management development module, e.g. Belbin, Tuckman.
• This should be a critical evaluation of the of the performance of
the team and a personal reflection on your role in the team.
• Don’t simply tell a story of what went well and what didn’t, link
to the theory and identify what you attempted to put in place to
meet challenges and how your leadership and teamwork has
developed for the future.
 Conclusions
• This is worth 5% of the assignment, so 100 words
approximately.
• Was your company successful? Explain your answer.
Explicitly link these concluding points to the SMART
objectives presented in the report introduction
(assess these as met, partially, not met with
reasons).
• How would you improve the performance of the
company if you played the simulation again?
 References and Appendices
• See standard referencing style required (APA) – see the
assignment brief.
• These are crucial, especially in the main assessment of
company performance if you are applying specific strategies
and most certainly in the section on decision-making where
you have been asked explicitly to link theory to practice.
• There should no appendices.
• The main tables and graphs should be included in the main
body of your report, not hidden at the back!
• The limit of tables and graphs is a MAXIMUM of 12 in total
for the two types of display.
 Assessment Submission
• This is to be done via the relevant module Blackboard site.

• This will be marked electronically, with annotated feedback .

• Refer also the marking grid attached to the assessment brief

regarding the allocation of marks by part of the assessment, which
will also be referenced as part of the assessment added to your
electronic submission. The pass mark is 50%.

• Those requiring to resubmit this assessment, will re-work the

original submission, this decision will be made at the June 2022
assessment board.
 Finally!

ANY QUESTIONS?