ICE week 7 questions

ICE Week 7 - Generic Competitive Strategies Year 4 Plan As always, ALL members of your team must be logged into the simulation to participate in this ICE. The simulation contains important details necessary to contribute to this ICE. This is a group assignment. Only one member of your team will need to submit this ICE. However... ALL members of your team must participate in a discussion of these questions and you are expected to collaborate and as a group. | DO NOT want people to do this alone because that is not the purpose. You need to work as a team, ensure that all members understand the concepts, and that all are able to contribute to the decisions your team makes in the simulation for Year 4. Question 1 State your Team # AND the_name of your Kayak Company. AND Write the first and last name of all members who are present and making a contribution to this report. Students can use the editor to answer Please only include the names of team members who actively contributed to this activity. NOTE: Please be aware that including the names of individuals who did not contribute is fraudulent and is academic misconduct. All members must actively participate and make a meaningful contribution to share in the grades earned by the team. Be sure to collaborate, i.e., work together, discuss, share opinions, help each other to learn during the ICE. Members must log into the simulation to access the information needed to participate. NOTE: This ICE is designed to (1) help you to learn and engage in the application of the subject matter, and (2) it will guide your team through a process that will help you to make better decisions as a management team in the simulation. Please DO NOT cut this assignment into pieces that are completed by individual members in isolation. This is designed to work best when all participate together to ensure that decisions are aligned.

Be sure to pay attention to the targets and suggested strategies set by your Board of Directors, and make your decisions based on careful analysis of last years results. Make sure that each managers decisions are coordinated and will help you to pursue the generic competitive strategy your team has decided to deploy. NOTE: Consider expanding your selection of kayak models if you believe that will help to better pursue your chosen generic competitive strategy. NOTE: The content posted in this week's learning materials will be extremely helpful when completing this ICE. Feel free to review as needed, including the short video. The image below depicts and briefly describes some of the highlights of each of the generic competitive strategies, but there is far more useful information in the learning materials. Trying to appeal to Low-Cost Broad g‘a"Y different Gt Differentiation uyers o . gy Strategy = = - & = g A narrow segment = FOCUS.Ed : (market niche) Differentiation Strategy Low-Cost Differentiation Type of competitive advantage pursued

Question 4 Match the descriptions to the most likely generic strategy option. Options: Low-cost strategy Prompts Broad differentiation 1. | Strive to achieve lower overall costs Focused differentiation than rivals and appealing to a broad spectrum of customers, usually by underpricing rivals. 2. | Offer a variety of very good products that satisfy the needs of a variety of customers. 3. | Concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by offering niche members customized attributes that meet their tastes and requirements better than rival’s products. 4. | This strategy depends on the existence of a buyer segment that is looking for special product attributes and a firm’s ability to stand apart from rivals. 5. | Offering a variety of superior products worth paying more for. 6. They emphasize efficiency, automation, economies of scale. 7. Invest heavily in marketing and R&D to better understand the unique needs of different groups of customers.

The details about each of the five ways the kayak industry has segmented the market can be found in the Week 7 content folder in Blackboard. It has the title below. Pursuing a Generic Competitive Strategy in the Kayak Simulation Read the description of the five different product categories. You will refer to this information to answer important strategic questions in this week’s ICE. In the simulation, the kayak market offers five product categories that appeal to the needs of different groups of potential customers. In addition, companies can further customize their products to better satisfy the features and price expectations of their target market(s). Take a few minutes to review this short document together as a team. This is important and will help you to make better decisions in the simulation. Question 5 What is the relative demand of each of the market segments for kayaks? Prompts Answers 1. | Leisure)/L1: Sit-on-top kayaks 2. (Leisure)/L2: Sit-in kayaks 3. | (Excursion) Touring kayaks 4. | (Tandem) Tandem kayaks for two paddlers 5. | (Fishing) Kayaks may also be used for fishing

Question 7 If you wished to pursue a cost leadership strategy which kayak(s) would you offer? Briefly describe at least three things you might do to build a competitive advantage based on having lower costs than your rivals? Students can use the editor to answer Question 8 If you wished to pursue a broad-differentiation strategy which kayak(s) would you offer? Briefly describe at least three things you might do to build a competitive advantage based on giving customers what they want? Students can use the editor to answer Question 9 If you wished to pursue a_focused-differentiation strategy which kayak(s) would you offer? Briefly describe at least three things you might do to build a competitive advantage based on satisfying the needs of your customers? Students can use the editor to answer

Having a competitive advantage based on either having the lowest cost structure or by satisfying customer needs better than rivals requires a company to measure its performance, but also to collect information about rivals. Being the “best” is a relative term. Use the most relevant details included in the Annual Analysis of Industry [This report is at the bottom of the Strategy Room page] AND purchase the Market Study in the simulation and analyze relevant information to gain a better understanding of your competitive position compared to your rivals. You can purchase the Market Study by clicking on the image of the graph found in the Tasks section for any of the managers. For example, in Marketing, under Products you will see the following image: Retail price D = @ Click on the graph to purchase the Market Study. Once you purchase the study, you can then click on any of the specific reports related to each of the functional areas to help you make informed decisions for Year 4. For each of the following variables, how does your company compares to the other firms competing in your industry? Question 10 Retailer's discount: What is the current range of discounts offered by competitors in the industry, and how motivated are retailers to sell your kayaks over a rivals? Students can use the editor to answer Question 11 Promotional budget: What is the current range of competitor's promotional budgets, and how important is brand awareness to your generic competitive strategy? i.e., Is promotion equally important regardless of the generic competitive strategy chosen? Students can use the editor to answer

Question 16 Review the Market Study and look at Products/Retail Price to compare the decisions that rivals are making in Canada. Are any of the five market segments currently not being pursued by rivals in the industry? How does this create opportunities? Students can use the editor to answer Question 17 Based on the Market Study, compare your price, quality, and features to your closest competitors. Are you offering your customers good value? Students can use the editor to answer In the simulation, experiment with several variables such as improvement projects, wages and benefits, training, preventative maintenance, etc... and after saving each, click on the Quality forecast to see how or if quality was impacted by your choices. [NOTE: You need to save the changes before you can test the impact on quality, but you can also undo and resave if you need to] Question 18 REQUIREMENT: Document the details of any “five” variables that you experimented with and explain how each impacted your quality forecast. Students can use the editor to answer

Question 19 Explain how any one of the Improvement Projects could help to improve your efficiency. Students can use the editor to answer Question 20 Explain how any one of the Improvement Projects could help to improve your quality. Students can use the editor to answer 4 Combine pages (6 and 7) 4 Page 7 of 8 Question 21 Chair of the Board Explain how you managed the complaints about the defective products last year? In retrospect, did you make the best decision considering your generic competitive strategy? Students can use the editor to answer Question 22 How do you plan to address the threat from the customer's lawyer? Explain. Students can use the editor to answer

Question 27 | declare that the team members identified above actively participated in today’s strategic planning session and contributed in a meaningful way to help our team achieve its goals. True Correct answer False NOTE: Ensure that all of your team’s decisions are entered and saved into the Kayak Simulation.