Design - Product One

Product:
International Business
Using the Thinking Planning Implement / Executing Philosophy (TPI/E™)

Game Code:

Welcome, ()

On this screen, you select the 5 features that will comprise your product and select the countries you will be selling into. Effectively you are in the Innovative phase of the Product Life Cycle. In Years 2 through 4, you will be able to change those countries that were designated as export countries and depending upon your Professors configuration may be able to change the product features. Note: if no changes are made during a year the decisions will default to the previous Year's decisions. Begin designing your product by selecting up to 5 features from the Feature Table shown below. The Feature Table elements represent the values that are utilized to determine the Value Proposition of a Feature in each country/market and thus the value of the product in that country/market. In addition to the Value Proposition of a Feature a cost and suggested retail price for the domestic market is shown.

The value of a feature in a market/country can be an integer from 0 to 7 with 0 being the lowest value (i.e. effectively no value in that country or market) and 7 being the highest (i.e. very important to the country/market). If you select more than 5 features only the first 5 will be incorporated into the product. To determine a features Value Proposition (VP) refer to the table shown below. It shows a VP (0-7) for each of the five country/markets. As stated, zero is the lowest value whereas a 7 represents the highest possible value. As you design your product take note of the value proposition in each country/market and the associated cost and suggested retail. Once you have selected your features, perform a needs analysis, and then determine the selling mechanism for each country. After updating your design, review the created 'Product' in the second table. This reflects the total cost, recommended suggested retail and the associated VP in the country/markets. You can redesign the product anytime during Year 1 and depending upon the simulation’s configuration may also revise the product in subsequent years. It is important to verify whether your game has been configured with this design constraint. Continue this process, for all products, until you are satisfied with their design.

The second major decision on this screen is the Sell Mode - You can only select 1 Domestic country and 1 FDI country. Is important to know that designating a country as Domestic or FDI can only be performed on product screen one. The FDI country requires a minimum investment, however the company can expand operations in that country by investing additional funds (this is performed on the Finance screen). All four products are sold in the Domestic and FDI countries, whereas only those products designated as export or sold into the associated countries. Depending upon the number of “common” countries you may also have up to two countries to Export products into. The revenue from Exporting is automatically kept in country and is subject to the repatriation rates. Excess inventory will be discarded unless investments in Inventory storage facilities has been made (Finance screen) in that country. If your simulation contains multiple markets in the same country, you only will have the option to designate the selling mode in the first occurrence of that country and this may limit the number of export countries. For example, if you select domestic for that country then all occurrences of that country will also be domestic. It is important to remember that the selection of domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) can only take place during the first year of the simulation and on the product one screen. Once a country has been designated as domestic or FDI and year one has been processed, changes to that sell through mode cannot be made.

Once these decisions have been entered update (click the Update Product Button). *Have tooltips