2015
L.P.E.U International
Marketplace Report
MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
CHRISTINE PARSONS
21128396
21126839
21210174
21212172
Contents Page
Executive summary
2
Introduction
3
Review of Financial and Market Performance
3
Marketing Plan
4
Business Performance during Second Year
8
Current situation and Market and Conclusions
13
Participation Log
19
Individual Reflective Practice
19
Executive Summary
This report will look at the performance of LPEU International in the marketplace live simulation and
will look at how effective the strategy used was for the company.
LPEU International resulted in a big loss for the company with very small market share due to the
decision making over the eight quarters. Although the company was doing well up to quarter 7 and it
was potentially going to end in a profit, the decisions made ate the end of quarter 8, where too
much money was invested all at one time, resulted in a big loss in both profits and market share.
The segments, which LPEU decided to target in the early quarters, were Costcutter and workhorse as
they were both very big markets with high demand. In the second year of operating LPEU
International chose to expand into the Mercedes market, as the potential revenue from this market
was very big. However to achieve the best sales the branding needed to be appropriate for the
target consumers in these three segments. Therefore the branding, pricing and the advertising were
all decided on from the target segments wants and preferences in order to achieve the best results.
Although the results in profit and market share were bad for LPEU International, the company still
has some strengths, which can help to regain this market share in the future. The advertising for the
brands of LPEU International was always a strength throughout the process and at the end of
quarter 8 the advertising for all the brands was rated one of the highest, therefore investing into
more regional advertising rather than local as it can increase awareness of the brands. The
workhorse segment was very strong throughout the process and at the end of quarter 8 it was the
market leader of workhorse, the strategy used for this brand could be used with the other brands in
order to strengthen the profitability and market share.
However there were some very big downfalls and weaknesses for LPEU International at the end of
quarter 8 which could be difficult for the company to come back from. LPEU International ended on
a big loss of 4 million and the overall market share of just 9%. These figures could be very dangerous
for LPEU International as it could put the company out of business if they do not fix the brand
strategies for Costcutter and Mercedes.
Introduction
This report looks at the performance of LPEU International in the Marketplace Live Simulation. It will
look at the strategy used in Marketplace and will assess how effective the decisions made were and
how they could have been improved. It will also critically evaluate the experience of managing in
teams in order to make effective marketing decisions.
Review of Financial and Market Performance
Looking at the overall performance of LPEU International the decisions that were made over 8
quarters resulted in a loss for the company due to a series of causes as shown in figure 1. During the
second year of operation LPEU International chose to invest more of its money into the company
over the 4 quarters in order to expand. This money was invested into research and development,
new sales offices, new brands, increasing advertising placements and increasing sales force. These
investments led to a significantly large increase in sales revenue over the second year reaching
revenue of 11,122,317.
However, although the sales revenues increased, LPEU International market share was significantly
small in comparison to the competition as there was less demand for the LPEU International brands.
As the market leaders had higher demand, they therefore had higher market share and were able to
generate more sales revenue due to this demand. As the competition was generating more sales
revenue they had the ability to invest money into expanding the company, whereas LPEU invested
too much money at the same time resulting in a big loss for the company.
(Figure 1)
Marketing Plan
Target Segments
During the first year of operating LPEU International targeted two segments, Costcutter and
Workhorse. It was anticipated by LPEU International that the competition would most likely also
choose to target the Costcutter segment as it is one of the largest markets with high potential
demand (figure 2) but is also moderately cheap to produce. LPEU International considered the
amount of competition that there may be in this market, however as the market size was so big
LPEU International aimed to position themselves as market leaders in order to gain the biggest
market share.
LPEU International found that Workhorse would be a good market to also target as the potential
demand was the highest (figure 2) for this segment. The ‘price willing to pay’ was also the highest
(excluding Mercedes) therefore this would lead to a high profit margin, leading to high sales
revenues.
During Q5 LPEU International decided to expand into a new market targeting the Mercedes segment
as there was no other competition targeting this segment giving LPEU International the opportunity
to position the company as market leaders. Although the demand more this segment wasn’t as high
as other markets (figure 2), the price willing to pay was the highest and therefore this segment had a
high potential of generating high sales revenue.
(Figure 2)
Brand Strategy
For each segment which LPEU International was targeting, a different brand was made as each
segment had different needs and preferences for their products. The three brands were Apollo Lite,
targeting the Costcutter market, Apollo Prime, targeting the workhorse market and Apollo Supreme,
targeting the Mercedes market.
In order to build a brand best suited to its market it was important to add features which satisfied all
the needs of the consumers in the segment. Therefore to build this brand LPEU International looked
at the customer needs and use pattern to determine what it was the consumers of each market
were looking for and the most preferred features were then incorporated into the brand.
However the brands were modified over time in order to either keep up with the market leaders or
to stay ahead of the competition and to improve the brand judgement.
Pricing Strategy
The pricing of the brands was a very important factor as the consumer would use the company that
they feel has the best price for them and therefore could affect who becomes the market leader and
also the market share of each company. Therefore when deciding on the pricing of each brand it was
vital to look at the price each segment was willing to pay at the different sales channels (Figure 3).
The figures in this table were used as a base for what the price should be, however it was also
important to not make the prices higher than the competition, therefore when deciding the prices
they were set just under the price willing to pay. This strategy worked very well for LPEU
International as the price judgement for all the brands in the different sales channels was at 100
(Figure 4), which was the highest rating.
(Figure 3)
(Figure 4)
Advertising Strategy
In order to raise awareness of the brands and to attract the consumers of each segment targeted the
advertising of the brand needed to include the information which was most important to the
consumers but it also needed to be placed in places which the right consumers were most likely to
see it in.
When creating the adverts, LPEU International looked at what features and preferences each
segment had for their brand in order to put the most important information on the advert. The
adverts were continuously modified to differentiate from the competition and to attract more
customers. This strategy allowed the advertising judgement for LPEU International to constantly be
one of the highest ranked, therefore showing that the advertising was reaching the right target
market and attracting them to buy the product.
In order for the adverts to be seen by the right consumers the ad placement was very important. The
regional advertising gave LPEU International the opportunity to target each segment more
particularly by placing the adverts for each brand in the newspapers and magazines that each
corresponding segment used the most. Therefore LPEU International invested in more regional
advertising rather than local to increase the awareness of each brand.
Sales Channel
The first two sales office locations set up by LPEU International which was set up in Q2 was in
Moscow and in the following quarter a sales office was opened in Sao Paolo. These two locations
both had high demand for the Costcutter and Workhorse segments however they were more cost
effective in comparison to other locations in Europe with high demand.
During Q5 when expanding into the Mercedes segment LPEU International decided it would be
effective for the company to open in new locations with higher demand as this would potentially
increase sales significantly. The two locations decided on were Los Angeles and Paris where the
demand for all three segments which LPEU International targeted were the highest, this resulted in
an increase of sales revenue. The final sales office was in Tokyo, where demand was also very high,
and not many competitors were operating at this location therefore giving LPEU International an
opportunity to be leaders in this market. This gives LPEU International an opportunity to create more
revenue.
Business Performance during Second Year
Opening new offices
In quarter 5 LPEU International opened up two new offices which were located in Los Angeles and
Paris. LPEU international decided to take this decision because in comparison to competitors, all the
other rivals; Synergy, Evolve, pinnacle and IENA were located in North America and Europe. As well
as you can see below, the 12 month potential demand for both cities were among the highest in the
specific markets the business was targeting. Therefore a decision was made by LPEU International to
operate in those geographical areas to compete with challengers and to increase sales, revenue and
potential profits.
Figure 5: Top 8 Geographical areas of potential demand (Costcutter)
Figure 6: Top 8 Geographical areas of potential demand (Workhorse)
Targeting a new market
Another key decision made by LBEU International in quarter 5 was to target the Mercedes segment.
This was because as seen below LPEU International had a market share of 100% in the Mercedes
market. Therefore the business used this as an opportunity as Synergy’s, Pinnacles, IENA’s and
Evolve’s market share in the Mercedes segment was non-existent. Thus LPEU International saw this
to be an opportunity as it allowed the business to become the leader in that specific target market.
Therefore the business created a new brand specifically for the target market, which was done by
taking into consideration the customer needs and use patterns of the customers in the Mercedes
market and implementing them into the brand design, ensuring the features and programmes were
added in the product accordingly. Although the business did this, LPEU International should of have
observed and taken their competitors into consideration with more importance. This is because
while the business was targeting the Mercedes market, Pinnacle and IENA gained market share of
Mercedes in quarters 6, 7 and 8. Resulting in significantly lower market share in each of these
quarters for the Mercedes market. Therefore competitors should have been observed thoroughly to
increase the performance of the business.
Figure 7: Market share for Mercedes market
Improving Costcutter
In terms of the Costcutter and Workhorse market, LPEU International did not make many changes in
relation to the workhorse market, as this specific brands marketing strategy was sufficient and sales
revenue had more than tripled from 330,486 in quarter 4 to 1,541,106 in quarter 5, so satisfactory
amounts of sales and profits were being made in this sector. Therefore no major changes were made
for this brand. However decisions for the Costcutter market changed because there was high
competition in the Costcutter market (See Figure 4) as all the competitors had a percentage of the
market share, and LPEU Internationals market share decreased hugely from 17% in quarter 4 to 8%
in quarter 5. Therefore the business decided to modify the Apollo Lite brand which was positioned in
the Costcutter market. The changes were made by looking at other competitors such as Pinnacle and
IENA, these two rivals were selected as these businesses were leading in this specific market.
Therefore LPEU International reviewed the brand strategies that were used for those specific
competitors then mimicked and implemented those strategies into the Apollo Lite brand.
Similarly the main point highlighted in quarter 6 was that after improvements made for the
Costcutter market in quarter 5, the market share was still the same at 8% in quarter 6. Therefore the
same strategy of mimicking competitors for Apollo Lite as discussed in quarter 5 were used in
quarter 6. Here the business should have become more daring and innovative to come up with
better ideas to improve the brand strategy of their products. This is because it could have allowed
the business to be different from competitors which could have appealed to customers more. As
well as this as discussed before, LPEU should have been more wary of all the other competitors’
next/future steps, in order to lead in its market which the business was unsuccessful in doing.
Figure 8: Market share and competitors for Costcutter markets in quarter 5
Research and development
LPEU International invested in research and development for brands by investing in new features to
be fitted into the brand designs and products. This was to improve products and increase demand
and therefore sales and potential profits for the business. However the business was unaware that
the R&D investment had to be placed by the business itself and was not placed into the products or
brands automatically by the computer. Therefore when LPEU International realised this, other
competitors such as Synergy and Pinnacle had already placed the new features into their products.
Showing LPEU International were not prompt and were unaware of vital information. Therefore each
members in the team should have been more alert, and needed to assess situations more often in
order for the business to have performed better than what they had.
Quarter 7
Quarter 7 results were not at the standard our company were hoping for, as we did not accomplish
what we thought we would. The decisions made as a group was to look into what the market leaders
were doing right and tried to match that to our results and tried to make those decisions even
better. Some the decisions made were to modify our advertising for (Apollo Supreme1, Apollo
Supreme), brand for (Apollo Supreme) and buy more marker research. However these decisions did
not have any affect to our market share or our market demands;
Figure 9: Q7 results
The diagram above shows the results of the LPEU international were our market share was 11% from
the previous quarter and it stayed the same even after the changes that were made, in comparison
to the competitors such as IENA who’s market share went up by 7%.
We noticed a new competitor who decided to with Mercedes and managed to take almost half of
the Mercedes market share which was 45% in comparisons to our market which from previous
equator which was 91% dropped to 20% in Q7 and 14% in Q8. Whiles with Costcutter due to the
changes from Q6 it did not cause any effects again however in Q8 it dropped to 2% as shown on the
diagrams below.
Figure 10: Q7 results
Figure 11: Q8 results
Furthermore we decided to open up new offices in Tokyo and London because these locations had
high demand and a high level of competition such as IENA, Pinnacle and synergy who had already
invested in these cities earlier with high revenue than our company the LPEU international. In
addition we opened a new scheme that staff can be trained professionally, keeping in mind that we
hope this will help us increase our sales.
Whiles in quarter 8 our market share continued to drop even more to 9% in comparisons to the
competitors IENA with 43% and pinnacle 32% of the market share. We then found out our poor
performance was due to not investing into the R&D from the start, instead we invested more into
advertising doubled it from 701,910 to 1,653,324 and sales force went from 1million to 5million
which was also a negative outcome compared to the previous equators as shown on the table
below.
Figure 11
In this equator we spent too much money more than the market leaders who had more revenue and
were bigger than us, secondly we looked too much into what the competitor were doing and forgot
to learn how to insert important featured such as the R&D which we only figured how to use them in
the last quarters which was already too late. This is why our teams advanced balance scored had the
3rd poorest marketing effectiveness, financial performance and investments in the firm’s future.
Current Situation and Market and Conclusions
Although LPEU International was at a loss at the end of Q8 the company still had strengths, which
could help in the future to turn the loss into a profit over time.
Strengths
AdvertisingAs shown in figure 12 below, for L.P.E.U International, all of its brands were regarded as the highest
rated ads in Costcutter, Mercedes and Workhorse, therefore the advertising strategies used were
extremely successful. This proved positive for the brand as the advertising used attracted more
customers to the brands products, thus increasing its sales revenue.
(Figure 12)
As mentioned above, LPEU International was shown to be one of the top competitors within its
advertising strategies. Shown in figure 13, Apollo and Inspire are the top competitors for Costcutter’s
advertising. Whereas Pinnacle and Evolve were further behind only scoring 58 and 51 for their
advertising strategies. Therefore LPEU Internationals advertising is more effective as it is more
attractive to its target audience and therefore the company is at an advantage as it can attract more
customers.
(Figure 13)
Workhorse - Market Leader
Throughout the process the market share of workhorse was continuously increasing however it was
not a market leader, in Q8 it was found that Workhorse was the top brand for LPEU International in
generating revenue; this is a key strength for LPEU International as it allowed the company to
expand its consumer base more as well as stay ahead in the market above other competitors.
(Figure 14)
At the end of quarter 8 the results were found that LPEU International had strong brand judgement
with Workhorse, being the top competitor within this market. Other competitors such as Inspire plus
and synergy were not so successful with the brand judgement within Workhorse as shown in figure
14, thus boosting LPEU International’s chances of gaining more consumers and maintaining its
strong position within the market.
Market share
Throughout the course Workhorse’s market share continued to increase. In quarter 9, LPEU
International’s market share in workhorse increased to 38% (figure 15), significantly higher than the
other competitors, making it the top market leader. This is a key strength for LPEU International, as
it will allow the company to increase in revenue as well as expand its consumer base more
effectively than the other competitors.
(Figure 15)
Sales
The brand for Workhorse, which was Apollo Prime, proved to generate strong sales revenue, thus
improving the market share and maintaining a strong position against its competitors within the
same industry. The sales revenue totalled to 4,605,750 an increase from 2,677,391 in quarter 8,
indicating the brand significantly improved from quarter 8 to quarter 9. Therefore, as the brand
expands it could potentially lead to a further increase in sales, as it is currently the market leader in
the workhorse segment.
(Figure 16)
Weaknesses
Despite there being a number of key strengths, there were some vital downfalls. LPEU International
suffered a significant loss of profit in quarter 8. Throughout the course, there has been a loss, but it
has been regained with profit. However in quarter 8 the company made a loss of -4,296,229. This is
primarily due to the group making the executive decision to spend the remaining money on new
strategies to improve the market share of the chosen brands (Costcutter, Workhorse, Mercedes).
However this backfired, as there was more money was spent than what the company made in
revenue resulting in a big loss. This loss will potentially make it harder for the company to turn this
into profit in the future.
(Figure 17)
In order to improve from each quarter the group would see what the competitors were doing
differently to the company, and would use this to determine new tactics and strategies. However
this could have been a downfall for the group, as instead of finding ways to differentiate form other
competitors, the group was using the same tactics used from other competitors.
(Figure 18)
From figure 18 it is clear the LPEU International’s brand Apollo Lite for Costcutter faced a decline in
market share, having only 2% of the market compared to its competitors IENA with 49% of the
market. This had a negative impact on the company, as there were little sales for this company, thus
reducing revenue.
(Figure 19: Brand Judgement)
One problem found from the Costcutter brands was that consumers had a poor brand judgement of
the product, and therefore reflected negatively on the sales. As shown in figure 19 LPEU
International only scored 45 on the brand aimed towards the Costcutter segment compared to IENA,
scoring 80. Therefore it is important for LPEU International to improve the brand to the same
standard as the market leaders in order to regain the market share.
Similarly, the market share for Mercedes dropped considerably from 91% in quarter 6 to 14% at the
end of quarter 8 (figure 20), negative for the group as this had an impact on sales and brand
judgement. As the Mercedes brand was a big part of the sales revenue that was coming in losing
market share is very bad for LPEU International as this means the competition dominating the
market is taking all the revenue, which could have been generated by LPEU. Therefore this could
have a very damaging effect on the company leading it to fail if the brand is not modified and the
market share is not regained.
(Figure 20: Market share Q9)
Due to Costcutter making a loss and Mercedes losing a large part of the market share, the group
should use the same strategy conducted for Workhorse to improve the other brands, and become a
strong competitor once again.
Participation Log
21128396
Introduction
Review of financial and market performance
Marketing Plan
21126839
Current situation and Market and conclusions
21210174
Business Performance during second year
21212172
Business Performance during second year
Individual Reflective Practice

21210174
Me and my group managed Marketplace decision making by consulting each member of the team
and coming up with a rational decision which would best fit with our business practice. My team and
I without much thought going into it carried out the simple decisions. Whereas the more complex
decisions in Marketplace where thought through between us, were I and my team members
weighed up the strengths and weaknesses of our options and continued with the process of
improving and altering our branding, marketing and finance strategies in order for LPEU
International to succeed.
Throughout the Marketplace experience I have learned that when making decisions, not only should
you assess the current situation your business is in but also what could potentially happen in the
future. This is because in Marketplace, we tried to mimic what our competitors were doing in order
to improve our business. However whilst we were doing this, I didn’t realise that competitors will
also be enhancing their business further, which resulted in the overall performance of our business
to not improve effectively in comparison to competitors. Therefore from this, I have learned to
always assess what is going to happen in the future, to be wary of what others might potentially do
and not to always copy others but to be diverse as this is what could actually stand out and improve
your business.
I have also improved and developed my management skills further whilst playing the Marketplace
game. For example my interpersonal skills have improved as I had to cooperate with other team
members so planning and communicating was important. My team members and I did this by
contacting each other via telephone before meeting up and logging onto Marketplace to ensure that
all members will attend. So if a member could not attend there would legitimate reason to why,
which followed with me or another member of the team to contact the specific team member to
ensure they were up to date with what was happening in Marketplace.
I also believed that understanding the team dynamics was important in the Marketplace. This is
because once each member of the team including myself was aware with what the strengths, and
weaknesses of each member of the team was. Me and my team allocated roles accordingly to
ensure that each member of the team was happy with what roles they were assigned to, and to
increase the effectiveness and performance of the team. As well as this, I tried to motivate the
other members of the team throughout the process of Marketplace, I did this by firstly getting to
know some of the team members better. Then I tried to provide team members with what I thought
how LPEU International were doing in terms of performance and what could be done better, which
was then discussed between us as a team. This helped me and my team to stay informed about what
was happening in the team and in the Marketplace environment.
Although I have used these skills before as I have worked in teams numerous of times throughout
my time in university. These skills have been developed further, particular in this subject because the
Marketplace stimulation felt like I was in the real world, dealing with real finance and problems that
I know could potentially occur in my career. Therefore these skills have allowed me to be reflective
on how to use them when I go into the working environment. As well as this, I will continue to
analyse the skills and situations I will face, in order to ensure I improve in areas I am weak in and to
perform better when I go out to work after university.

21212172
As a group we managed marketplace decisions marketing by discussing the positions each personal
is capable of handling which were;

President/ leader

Brand Management

Advertising

Sales Management
My responsibility was advertising, we had agreed each member will contribute and explore at their
time to understand the website.
As a team we also tried to make each other comfortable to make it easier to communicate in case
someone doesn’t understand something in the game and also making it easier to make decisions as
a team, we agreed to be there for each final marketing decision as a team. With each step of the
game we realised that there is so many aspects that will need to be remembered and covered and to
do so we had to work together throughout each equator
Furthermore the programme allowed me to experience what it is like to make decisions for a
company and how that can cause major effects to the company and the brand, also learned different
tactics that should be considered when making marketing decisions such as understanding the
market and the consumers’ needs, this is because we experienced how some situations that are
commonly encountered in real life business.
In addition adapting to situations that are unexpected an example being our competitors were at the
beginning we had no threats and we felt confidence, however throughout the game competitor such
as IENA rose rapidly and unexpectedly and took half the market share.
The marketplace was one of the most interesting experiences in this module as stated before it’s the
closest thing to real life business experience, this had prepared to make decisions required to
perform in the short run, at the same time making clear and attainable long term goals. Furthermore
it helped to expose me to all modern marketing aspects as the task was from a large international
firm who decide to enter into the microcomputer business and we had to manage the marketing
division with the expectation of making build a self-sufficient and profitable division for each
quarter.
Another part that interesting and challenging was the five different market segments which were
Cost Cutter, Workhorse, Mercedes, travellers and innovators and each of these segment required
different needs and market strategy in order to target the consumers. However after studying an
understanding what we had to do we had to choose a target market between the segment which
one will be the primary and secondary target segment. We did this by reviewing the market segment
customer needs in terms to what is important to them such as how much they will be willing to pay
and media preferences for each segment. It was too much information to take in however I can only
imagine this was closest thing I got to working into a marketing company.
Lastly I got to see how business deal with interplay between marketing operations, finance and team
work , it is amazing how before making any decisions you think of the other team members because
whatever decisions is made will also affect the team and the company’s performance within the
company. It was a good opportunity and experience to me as it helped expand my knowledge not
just in marketing but also branding, understanding the consumers need, how to target different
markets segments.

21126839
Throughout the marketplace process, the group was challenged to produce an effective company
within a marketplace. Throughout the process the group faced many challenges from competitors,
tough market research choices, and determining the right strategies to name a few.
From this, the group would often reflect what was going well and what was going wrong at the start
of each quarter in order to find ways to better improve the company and its products, thus
generating more profit.
Each team member would discuss possible strategies in order to make any improvements needed.
Any decisions would not be made until all group members agreed on a strategy in order to keep all
members happy as well as improve chances of the strategy being more successful if the whole group
agreed. As well as this, the group found it crucial to keep track on the competitors and their
strategies, ranging from the products they had and what they offered, the advertising used, pricing
and locations they chose to base their products. In doing this, the group was able to keep on a
steady path with its success rate. However through the competitors the group would often choose
similar strategies to what the competitors did in the previous quarters, thus contributing to why the
group would fall slightly behind some of the competitors or say on the same level as previous
quarters, making little improvements
Despite this, the group overall managed decision making in marketplace well. Ideas and
contributions would be thought through extensively before deciding on a suitable strategy.
Extensive research into the competitors would take place, as well as determining ways the group
could improve from each quarter and thus stay ahead of competitors, creating a brand that targets
its consumer positively.
This process has been a positive experience and has reflected significantly on my understanding of
managing a company’s business and strategies. It has improved my team skills greatly, taking into
account each members thoughts and opinions on a specific strategy as well as considering every
option before jumping into a decision straight away without thinking it through in detail. It is
important to listen to what each member has to say, respect what each member has to say, and
decide equally as a group what the best route to go down will be, in order to achieve the best
possible outcome ad keep all members within the group happy.
This process has also made me more confident to make decisions and provide suggestions to
contribute to the group’s tasks each week during marketplace. This confidence will be used
positively within future work, in order to form strong decisions that will reflect well within my work.
This process has also enabled me to better understand how to keep a business strong through
various strategies such as keeping up-to-date with what your companies competitors are doing,
keeping ahead in order to improve revenue and making sure the right market research is undertaken
in order to keep your company afloat. Overall, it has been an extremely positive experience,
providing me with skill I will take into work after university.

21128396
In order to make effective decisions throughout the marketplace process it was important for the
group to work together and to all agree with the decisions being made. However in order to come to
the most effective conclusions the group split the tasks up depending on who felt they were most
skilled in each area. The four roles decided on were leader, brand management advertising and sales
management. Splitting these roles meant that whoever was in charge of each area made the final
decisions although the whole team would input their own thoughts and opinions. This made it easier
as it meant the most skilled were focused on their area resulting in more effective decision-making.
My role in this process was group leader. This role meant that I was overseeing all the decisions
being made and was able to put in the final input on what should be done with our company in
marketplace. However as a leader I chose to always take into account what the group member’s
opinions were, especially those more skilled in the area, as this was a fair way to ensure the whole
team was participating and working together to come to conclusions. The role of leader helped me
gain leadership skills, which are very important in a work environment and also helped me in
learning how to better communicate with my team, which is also a very important skill to have in a
work environment.
Throughout the experience the group was faced with many tough marketing decisions to be made in
order to stay ahead of the competition and deciding on what the most effective strategies would be
for the company. Working in a group this made the decision process easier however the decisions
made were not always the best options leading to bad results the following quarter. This was mainly
because we didn’t start very strong in the segments we were targeting and therefore in order to gain
market share we would use the same strategy as the competition. However this affected us badly as
we were always one step behind the competition instead of ahead, where we wanted to be.
Therefore I learnt that although it is important to be able to do what the competition is doing, it is
more affective to be different to the competition in order to position the company as market
leaders.
I also learnt how important it is to anticipate what the competition is likely to do in the future as this
is important in order to stay ahead. As we didn’t think about the competitions possible strategies for
he future we were always behind and therefore we resulted in low market share and a loss for the
company.
Although some decisions were made badly, we also made some very good business decisions as a
group. This has taught me how business works and what the process of decision making and
implementing those decisions is. Overall, I enjoyed the marketplace experience as I feel it gave me a
realistic idea of what the real business world is like and it has given me some skills that I will be able
to use in the future in any work environment. It has improved my team skills in communicating and
making decisions together to reach the best conclusion and has also given me great leadership skills
as I enjoyed overseeing all decision-making that was made. The experience has helped me in better
understanding all the different aspects there are in building a business and the different strategies
and decisions that need to be made in order to create a successful business. I feel from this
experience I am confident to go into a business environment after university and use some of the
skills I have gained in my future career.
THE GROUPMATE AGREEMENT
1 Working as a group
1.1 Respect each other’s opinions (including personal beliefs and values – this doesn’t mean you
have to agree with them, treat others as you would like to be treated);
1.2 encourage each other to contribute ideas, particularly quieter members – make sure everyone
has the opportunity to contribute;
1.3 listen to all suggestions and offer constructive feedback;
1.4 do not get distracted from the point of the meeting.
2 Being an individual in a group
2.1 Be prepared to compromise;
2.2 understand that people may disagree but that the focus should be on the ideas or proposals, not
the individual;
2.3 remember the goal is to achieve the best result for the group;
2.4 decide how to resolve any disputes from the start; try to help each other.
3 Personal responsibility
3.1 Know what is expected of you, confirm this before any meeting closes and complete any set
work on time;
3.2 keep a record of what has been agreed.
4 Organisation
4.1 Be organised and punctual;
4.2 let others know if you are unable to attend a lecture or a meeting;
4.3 meetings need to be regular and planned;
4.4 plan when the work is going to be brought together and decide who/how it will be edited or
coordinated;
4.5 aim to have the final submission ready at least 48 hours before the deadline;
4.6 agree how information is going to be shared (maybe a private Facebook group or some other
social networking platform) and exchange contact details.
5 Roles
5.1 Everyone should make an equal contribution;
5.2 but roles and workloads need to be agreed from the start;
5.3 if you nominate a leader then that person must be given authority, but must not abuse their
power;
5.4 information needs to be shared with the group so that everyone in the group knows what’s going
on.
6 Problems
6.1 Problems or concerns should be shared with the whole group as soon as they arise;
6.2 these need to be discussed and a group agreement reached;
6.3 some issues may be personal;
6.4 think about what might go wrong and why it might go wrong;
6.5 remember that different people have different expectations and different abilities and you need
to discuss this in advance, be clear and honest.
7 Penalties
7.1 Decide what the penalties should be for transgressions or failures from the beginning, agree
them and then sign your agreement (take into account circumstances beyond someone’s control);
7.2 think about how each situation might be dealt with remembering that the objective is for the
group to get the best mark possible;
7.3 if you are going to have a system of penalties, make sure they are reasonable and that you all
agree to them;
7.4 think about what you’ll do if someone refuses to abide by the agreement and the penalties.
It is important that you try to resolve issues within the group as this reflects what will happen when
you are at work and therefore covers Business School Employability Standards.
ES 4 Communication
In particular working together helps to develop verbal communication skills as you’ll need to think
carefully before presenting your ideas and before commenting on others
ES 6 Self-management
While the module will provide a series of sign posts you’ll need to be able to manage the tasks done
by individual members and coordinate bringing these together into a single coherent piece of work.
ES 7 Interpersonal Skills
You’ll have to get used to work with different people with different personalities and approaches.
This will help you develop empathy and coping strategies.
ES 8 Team Working
Teamwork will help you to develop skills of cooperation, coordination, compromise and relationship
building in order to make the group successful.
ES 9 Self awareness
For a team to be successful you’ll need to reflect on your own skills and motivation in order to
contribute effectively to the team.
Signed:
Paula Haddad
Emily Jones
Uzma Rasool
Lulu Nt
Date: 08/05/2015