GlobStrat Simulation

This was officially the first week at the HEC Montreal and we are playing games. The class was split into 8 groups of 5 each. Each team had to sell HiTech Televisions in the Asian European and the American markets. We all start with a share price of 100 and the same product to sell. We have to innovate and differentiate ourselves in a certain way to increase our market share. The business is virtually run for 6 years. The team with the highest share price at the end of the game wins. Easy?

The members in the team had to take up the responsibilities of CEO, CFO, HR Director, Director of RnD and Operations and Marketing Director. We were given resources and had to manage it in a way to invest a right amount in the right places (advertising, buying machinery, buying technology, increasing the ISO standards, employee satisfaction and providing services) at the right time. The interesting part is that there is a lot of interdependency amongst the parameters and that is interesting to understand. We initially started with our territory but could expand into any part of the world. There is competition from everywhere and strategy is the most important thing to succeed. The company has to successfully run for 6 years and we had to make 6 decisions..one at the beginning of every year. Performance prediction, Sales prediction, Finance availability and arrangement, Technology acquiring, marketing and pricing are the key. To balance all these seems more difficult than you think! Strategy is easier thought than implemented!

It is one of the best experiences at HEC. This is the second year that the game is being played and the seniors say that this is the best part of the whole course. I guess I can comment on that at the end of the course. But 5 days of hardly any sleep, working on making a decision, trying to build consensus, convincing your team mates of how and why one idea is better than the other is very interesting and never-before experience. We were absolutely dead tired at the end of the simulation. Getting into the shoes of the top management and to take decisions that effect the performance of the company, satisfaction of the employees etc gives you a feel of real life. Amazing learning too.

Is this game played in other schools?

This reminded me of the games we play at Chili’s place.