The End of a Rather Brief Era

Week 11 has finally come and is almost gone. With the final week of this Marketing Management course coming to an end, it is time to reflect on what has occurred most recently and throughout the course.

The End of the Simulation

My teammates and I implemented our revised plans for periods 8-10. Just like our plans for previous periods these too had to be modified to adapt to the changing situations. I've come to realize that there is no need to call the plan of the future a revised plan as the revisions should be implied. While I suppose its not impossible to never have to make any adjustments I would tend to think its quite the rarity in most businesses. I'd likely believe that if you're never revising your plans than you're doing something wrong. The appropriate changing occurred and decisions were made that ultimately landed team 4 at the top of the balanced scorecard rankings for the class. Just to brag a bit more, we held that number one spot for 5 out of the 10 periods and held strong in second place for another 4. And that one remaining period I'm quite certain was some sort of technical error on the part of interpretative simulations.

Our team had worried about whether or not we would be able to resurrect our struggling Allround product. Finally in the latter periods we were able to do so and end with the product on an upswing. A change in pricing strategy due to consumer demands and an increase in promotions were the key contributors to this success. At the same time, the success for Allround+ continued to grow and we had the company moving forward and increasing unit sales, contribution after marketing, profitability, and net income.

My experience in the simulation was a pretty positive one. While the practice sessions were certainly plentiful and helpful, it really took some time in the "real" simulation until I finally got used to the simulation and the consequences of my decisions. For the most part, I think the reactions that were generated seemed pretty realistic to what should be anticipated in the real world. The simulation is definitely a great tool for getting your hands dirty in the marketing world, without running the risk of running a real company into the ground. Hopefully, any future endeavors will be even more successful than my experience with Pharmasim.

Final Thoughts

Without rehashing everything that was discussed and learned about throughout the past 11 weeks, I'll give some of my final thoughts on the subject matter. For starters, I now see the relevance that marketing has throughout the entirety of the company. I understand the importance of researching before hand and the concept of letting a product sell itself. I grasp the difference between knowing and understanding competitors at various levels and basing your marketing strategy on what your competition is doing. I see that companies should always be aware of any competitive advantages they have and operate according to those advantages. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your organization and the opportunities and threats that are present is crucial for moving your business forward. That good old SWOT Analysis from way back in freshman year of undergrad at WNEC is still important and should always be in mind. I have cemented all of these things in my mind.

The most important takeaway that I have from this course and that I think is most beneficial to anyone taking this course and to those outside of it as well can be summed up in one word: consumers. Business is consumer driven. Products and services are developed based on the wants and needs of consumers. These are established by doing your research, identifying opportunities, and seeking out attractive market segments. A company must know exactly who it is that they are targeting and what need they are fulfilling. Consumers will always have different needs or wants and often times these will be changing. It is vital that the company adapts to these changes. The success of any organization no matter the size, industry, product/service being offered, location, or any other characteristic is ultimately based on knowing, understanding, and catering to the consumers.

This is the consumers' world and we're all just operating in it. 

Revisions and Creating a New Plan

As we move towards the final week of Marketing 640, our Pharmasim project is heading into its final 3 periods of simulation. After creating an initial plan and reflecting upon its successes and failures, a new plan had to be developed for periods 8-10.  As last week pointed out, the original plan was not adhered to completely and changes had to be made. Thus, the new plan for coming periods will certainly not be the same as the plan going into the previous periods.

The most prominent change is the elimination of one of our product offerings. This change has already occurred within our simulation but the original plan was to move forward with 3 products. This has since been altered and our new plan only accounts for Allround and Allround+. This was the appropriate move for our team to make as we were in a hole financially and likely would not be able to move forward with 3 products. We had a serious decline in our former star product of Allround and a miserable start with Allright, which had a negative product contribution in its inaugural period. With Allround struggling and needing more attention and Allround+ seeing growing success, it was an easy choice to eliminate Allright. There was no telling how long it would take for the product to get in the black and Allround was a previous industry leader that we felt confident could recover with proper backing. Personally, I will wonder what could have been with Allright. Our introductory period of Allround+ was not extremely profitable either, although it was not negative. This product certainly boomed thereafter and is now a profitable product for the brand. I do wonder if Allright could have done the same. Despite this wonderment, I certainly do not think our decision was a mistake as the situation called for appropriate action to move forward.

Another big change that our team is moving forward with is to get rid of the price skimming strategy. Previously, we were successful as selling a high quality product with a price reflective of its quality. As the periods progressed, the high price became more and more of an issue, especially when our prices began rising higher than the impossible to predict rate of inflation. Additionally, price was increasing in importance as a decision making criteria for consumer purchases. It made sense to move away from this high priced strategy and become more competitively priced as the periods progress. Personally, I was never quite sure as to why price was not being considered more highly from the beginning in consumer's minds. In the real world, I would never purchase a product that is priced as quality product if an equally effective product is available for a lower price. It seems more realistic to me that at least a portion of consumers are starting to weigh price more highly in their decision making in the simulation.

As we move into the final periods of the simulation, we must still remember to go with the flow and alter our plans as the situation calls for. I do feel that we are a little better prepared with this plan and have scaled our expectations back to more realistic results. With that being said, I'm sure there are more surprises left to encounter that will shake things up once again.