Description

 

The University of Waterloo ARBUS 400 class is currently participating in Capsim a business simulation software. Within a team of five, we are in charge of managing a multi-million-dollar company for the next eight weeks, which accumulates to years in the simulation world. The simulation’s complexity demands teams to spend meaningful amounts of time collaborating outside of lecture hours. To be able to work effectively with minimal supervision from professors or T.A.s. Team members, must display various work approach skills. Capsim is broken up into many different departments some of these departments include: research & development, marketing, production and finance. Each decision we make for our business has an impact on our results in Capsim. Thus to keep the company attractive to investors, it is essential that we analyze, discuss, and make sure all decisions are thought out, in order to achieve success in the Capsim business simulation.

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Situations/Tasks

 

This Simulation Capsim requires members to demonstrate various work approach skills; one being decision making. I have previous developed this work approach skill through wide-ranging group work in circulars, as well as work experiences in life. Decision making is an essential part of group work; failure to do so would lead to making the wrong decisions or not being able to complete task in general, which only waste time, energy and causes frustration. ​During Capsim I continued to demonstrate my decision making skills by evaluating past results, justifications and simulation manual, so I could better understand what would be the most appropriate decision for that year. For an example in year 3 our company strategy was no longer effective. We were trying to dominate all five markets and this situation was leading to net loss, large amounts of inventory, leading to an emergency loan and a low stock price of the minimum 1 dollar. It was up to my team and I to make a decision to fix this situation. 

 

Action

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Thus my team and I took action over the situation and made the decision of instead of trying to dominate all five markets we decided to focus on three markets. To make this decision we made a cost/ benefit analysis. I also evaluated our cost and revenues in our net income to see which method was best for our company. When making this decision I  took into consideration the competitive environment and figured out which markets were most saturated and would not be beneficial for us to compete in anymore. Through evaluating the cost/benefits and our competitive environment we decided to sell off two segments in markets that were saturated and compete in 3 markets that were less saturated. This was a risk but it was a decision that was calculated thought out and analyzed. 

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Results

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The end result was a positive one, from utilizing my decision making skills my team and I were able to increase our stock price from $1 to $15 dollars. The results of my analysis showed that moving products to different segments was the most cost-effective decision. In this situation, I was able to enhance my decision-making skills by utilizing this tool successfully. I enrich my professional skills by figuring out proactive ways to problem-solve in a team environment and make decisions that were effective and caused a positive impact for our business. Overall Capsim has taught me the importance of decision making, teamwork, dedication, and how to deal with set backs. Moving forward I hope to continue to be challenged and grow as a professional, I feel this course has taught be valuable life skills that will help be take on any future set back on challenges that may occur in my professional life.

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