Life in the fast lane...

My strategies for Capsim simulation game

2009-02-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

My team Digby won the online strategy simulation game.

The game was full of fun and more importantly learning. A lot of the times in my classroom discussions, we have discussed how strategic management sounds like all abstract and gaseous. In this game, I could not only apply my lessons from the strategy course but also could see the results in the game’s simulated markets. Wow! Especially when I could define my winning strategies!

For those who are still wondering as to what is CAPSIM… It is a strategy simulation game hosted on CAPSIM.com and team members act as top management of their respective companies. The teams need to take decisions on R&D, Marketing, Production, TQM, HR and Finance in a simulated market conditions. The teams compete each year on their products in a simulated market.

For those of you who are looking for strategies that I applied in the game. My ten commandments :)

1. Take all types of loans in the initial rounds. These loans should be used in the initial rounds to fund your R&D and automation.
2. Release products in all segments such that they form a diagonal on the perceptual maps of high tech and low tech products. Ideally, one product should be launched each year till year 5
3. High tech products launched initially would slowly move to low tech segments. Keep launching newer ones in high tech
4. Production automation - gradual increase to 10. This is very important to increase contribution margins which are very helpful in later rounds
5. Target 100% awareness and keep spending on marketing till you reach this stage. The spending could follow this

Round when the product is launched - 1700
Subsequent rounds till awareness reaches 100% - 2500
After awareness reaches 100% - 1400 to maintain dominance

Target 100% accessibility and keep spending on sales till you reach this stage. The spending could follow this

Round when the product is launched - 2500
Subsequent rounds till awareness reaches 100% - 3000
After acessibility reaches 100% - 2000 to maintain 100%

6. 1000-1200 is the maximum market share for a product in a competitive market.
7. Sales forecast can be determined by taking the total of potentials for each segment of your product
8. No dividends should be given in any rounds
9. Whenever cash available, buy back the shares. This would increase your share price significantly
10. At each round, keep an eye on Balanced score card proforma. Your target in each round can be
Rounds 1-3 : 40+
Rounds 4-6: 70+
Rounds 7-8: 85+

My GMAT AWA strategies...

2008-03-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

The AWA essays written by students taking the GMAT are rated usually by one human reader and a computer program called E-rater. These essays are marked on a scale of 0 to 6.0 and the score is rounded off to the nearest half point.

The E-rater is not programmed to appreciate your individual style of writing, humor, or yours inspirations. It looks for the style and structure of your essay to that of other high-scoring essays. The key to write a 6.0 point essay on the AWA section is to understand the algorithm of the E-Rater.

A Sample Structure

- Restate the argument or your understanding of the issue
- Take a stand early
- Use PREP strategy
Point
Reasoning
Example
Point again
- Cover all your points in about 5-6 crisp paragraphs
- Conclude by restating your stand

Key words to impress the E-Rater

- In this argument/issue
- To begin with
- First, Second, Third..
- In addition to…
- Finally, Additionally
- Further more, Moreover
- In sum, In conclusion
- Inorder to strengthen the argument
- For example,
- For instance,
- Not only…But also
- Another problem

Some good links for AWA

Kaplan AWA

Majortests.com

800score.com AWA Essay guide

Live Online E-raters

WayAbroad.com (Choose english from the top right corner)

Bottom line…

Practice is an important for improving your essay writing skills. Always make it a habit to write your AWA essays along with all the Full length practice tests.

My GMAT Quant strategies...

2008-03-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

Maths has always been the tricky part of the GMAT. The Questions appear to be simpler than they actually are! Yes, this requires some special care and a high level of concentration.

Books that I used -

Basic GMAT mathematics fundamentals from Princeton review and Official Guide 11

Kaplan 800 - Good collection of problems

Permutations and Combinations, Probability, Statistics from class XI and XII mathematics text book
Official Guide 10 and 11

The key to success in this section depends on your

Basics
Accuracy
Timing (Speed)
Concentration

123 strategy as defined in my earlier verbal strategy post applies for this section as well. Here the 123 becomes 1234 where 4 stands for Concentration

Don’t get carried away with a good score in some full length practice test! Practice is the most effective way of improving and sustaining your good score in the Quant section.

My GMAT Verbal strategies..

2008-03-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

Books and material

Hard copies
- Princeton review …good basics book
- Kaplan 800 … toughie
- OG 11 … good set of GMAT level questions.. will not call it bible… there is much more to GMAT than just OG
Soft copies
- Manhattan SC (must read for improving your SC hit rate)
- Manhattan CR,RC … nothing much to gain from… you can still read it as it is quite closely integrated with OG and can give you some good starting points. I read this after I had read other CR and RC strategies (from kaplan, princeton, 800score.com)
- OG 11 verbal review
- OG 10
Other material
- SC1000
- questions floating on scoretop.com , pagalguy.com , gmat_may2007@googlegroups, prachi_parekh_gmat@yahoogroups
- 800score.com material

Always remember the simple principle for GMAT preparation… work on your basics, get a feel of the questions, improve your accuracy and then time yourself.
My 123 approach is
1. Basic
2. Accuracy
3. Speed
Do not try to move from 1 to 3 or directly 3… it is extremely important that you go step by step.

Princeton Review and Kaplan GMAT are good books for your basic preparation. Keep working until you are comfortable with all types of questions. Ample number of questions are available online to test your accuracy. Continue with questions till you reach an accuracy atleast greater than 85%. Start timing yourself and target your speed to
SC-1 to 1.5 min
CR-1 to 1.75 min
RC-1.5 to 2.0 min (including time taken to read the passage)

Practice Tests and actual exam

Do not panic! Keep your cool and keep talking to yourself… keep faith in the system and your capabilities.
GMATPrep 1 - try to give this exam around atleast 10/12 days before the actual test
GMATPrep 2 - 2/3 days before actual test

Other tests… you can give them at any time depending on your level of preparation

Bottom line

Work hard…Never lose hope …and believe in yourself… after all GMAT is just an exam… there is more to life than just this shitty exam… Give yourself sufficient time for other important things too

All the best! Feel free to ask any specific questions… I will be happy if I could help in any way

Disclaimer - I have just tried to put down my beliefs and strategies which worked for me. They may or may not work for you