Simulation over and it seems we won

The simulation wasn't as nerve wrecking as I expected it to be. I guess this was because of the very well balanced team I ended up in. And a very beautiful team, as I am sure you all will agree.

The good news is that our group made the most profits selling American tooth paste in Latin America and we won the competition, getting a bottle of Chilean wine as prize. And good marks too, I hope! We didn't have the most sales, but, in the end, the money that ends up in the stockholders' pockets is what counts, right?

Some tips for future participants:

• Be clear where you want to start, how and why.
• Develop a good idea which countries to enter in the next rounds to have a general strategic direction.
• Don't compete on price. Invest in advertisement and promotion, keep an eye on the margin.
• Take a closer look at wholesalers and deploy fewer sales people to traditional retail.
• Go for big markets. Early on.
• Keep number of markets and SKUs low, to make situation review and decision input stay in a manageable time frame. Keep comlexity low.
• Make notes for your final report during the simulation.
• No real need for laptops. One extra computer per team is more than enough.
• Use benchmarks. Compare with the competition.
• Don't build up too much capacity at first.
  

A conservative approach worked for us. But I am curious what would happened if we had gone to all markets at the same time. Or entered one market with all SKUs. Or tried only the web shopping channel.

Thanks, team "Operación latina"!