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Case Narrative

Case Narrative

Sirius Cells
Chris Andrews, Colton Kelly, Emmet McGovern, Havva Arifi
BUS 352
Juan Carlos Barrera
Siriuscells.weebly.com

Case Narrative

Abstract:
We as a team were assigned to run a cellular telephone manufacturing company
in competition with six other teams. The goal was simple, to generate profit. In this
paper, we will describe what we went through as far as the the decision making
process, group meetings, speculations, expectations and results. We will detail each
quarter along with strategies, operations, and the results garnered from those decisions.
We will also reflect on the overall project, what we learned as a team and
individually as we went through the simulation and the corresponding assignments. We
will also be discussing what we learned from each quarter and what we learned overall
from the class. In particular, each quarter will be broken down into strategies followed by
an analysis of their weakness and successes according to the results. After all is said
and done we will explain what we learned inside and outside the simulation as a group
and individually. This can range from communication aspects to when to take a loan or
branch into another territory being that these decisions cannot be reversed.
While we as a group are working together to help our company gain revenue and
expand into other territories we will be competing against several other teams also
attempting to accomplish similar goals. We would need to develop great communication
skills and make compromises in our daily lives to make sure that our team can meet
and complete our set goals and tasks. We will have to implement a plan on how our
company will earn its main source of revenue and what to spend it on. Whether we
should expand our territories, increase cellphone efficiency, or simply save it for the
upcoming quarter.
The overall goal of this assignment is to help the teams gain insight on what it
may be like running their own business by using this simulator. The simulation promotes
the drive to want to succeed by making it a competition. Students must work together in
order for them to achieve milestones and advance their company. This simulation will
help to form a small amount of experience in running a business to each and every
team member in each group.

Case Narrative

Introduction

Sirius Cells Inc. is a manufacturer located in Las Vegas, Nevada.This location


was chosen due to the fact that it is still near enough to the east coast, while also not
being located in California to avoid its high taxes. We manufacture a quality cellular
telephone using the android operating system featuring a long battery life, above
average operating speed, great app store. The phones can be used with several
different service providers.Currently, our cell phones are in the maturity stage. It
competes primarily based on affordability and quality. Our future plans include more
growth and develop to other countries in the next 2 to 3 years.
There were three major markets available to Sirius Cells; AppleOnia, Massima,
and GoogIsle.. We define our market as any individual with the need or want for a high
quality yet affordable phone. There were 5 other cell phone manufacturers competing in
the same markets with various operating systems, speed, battery life and their own app
stores.
The management team consists of the team president and Marketing Manager
Colton Kelly, Operations and Product Manager Emmet McGovern, Human Resource
Manager Havva Arifi, and Finance Manager Chris Andrews. We were required to meet
and discuss strategies for success and worked well together. Our communication was
key in our success over the several periods.
There are many risks involved in the market we are targeting. The risks involve
our direct competitors, the need for high production, expanding into other territories,and
recognizable brand equity. We can overcome these difficult risks by working together to
create a powerful amount of brand equity to gain loyal customers that can help us to
expand our reach across the other territories. We will simply need to seek more funds
whether it be a loan or the sales of our product to accomplish these goals.
We compete directly with SMOBILE, BRC International, Prestige Worldwide,
Elite, and Girls Room National, our alternatives to our product include a land line or a
fax machine. Our product is superior to our competitors/alternatives because of the
quality of speed, battery life, and affordability of our cell phones. We have a competitive
advantage because of the speed of our cell phones, established brand name, and our
superior revenue stream. We do not anticipate new companies to enter this market any
time in the near future.

Case Narrative

Case Narrative
Q1
This was the initial quarter to set everything up. We had no performance
history to base any decisions off of, nor did we purchase any reports, issue stock,
or take out any loans. We decided to expand our territory right away to introduce
our product to GoogIsle first and gain a stronghold before anyone else did. We
wanted to produce a fast operating phone with an average battery life and above
average app store. Although opinions were scattered about what options we
invest in, and how much we invest in what area of the phone.
Once we figured out where we were going to invest our manufacturing
budget, we only had enough money to produce 200,000 units. We came up with
a price of 375$, which was a happy medium of the range that was available. We
factored in costs of manufacturing and did what if calculations before doing so.
We thought we would design our phones with processing speed and
battery life as the two most important aspects. Processing speed was the
unanimous decision between leadership and that is why we chose to invest
heavily on speed in the first quarter. We invested the most out of any other
manufacturer in the simulation in this quarter. BRC International was the only
other manufacturer to invest in the product development like us. They focused
on battery life and the app store while our main focus was speed and we
invested less in battery life and app store.
By expanding into GoogIsle early, this allowed us to sell our phones in a
market without competition. Furthermore, this gave us a gateway to establishing
strong brand equity in another territory, and by expanding our brand equity we
expose more customers to our quality of phones and speed. This is consistent
with our goal of Siriusly Connecting The World.
We won achievements in 3 categories this period: profit leader, share
price leader, and brand leader. Our speed is a factor of this being that the
investment we made proved to be the highest out of all our competition. This
factored into us being the profit leader and brand leader in two territories. Even
though SMOBILE sold 350,000 units their price was only at 240, so our higher
price compensated for our low production the first quarter due to initial. We made
this possible by not putting as much money into employee benefits and salaries.
This reflected because we had the biggest turnover rate of all 7 quarters coming
in at 12%. Following this quarter we adjusted our benefits according to
preference and have had the highest employee morale and happiness since.
This results in productivity and doing good research with the money we invest in
our product. When you have happy employees you receive good work in return.

Case Narrative

Also we werent having as many employees quit, resulting in a comfortable work


environment and higher efficiency.
Another early investment we made was to set our battery life at average,
which costs 15$ per unit of production. We knew that in the long run our main
focus would be speed and battery life because i feel like these are two of the
most important things not only in the real world, but in obtaining our mission of
Siriusly Connecting The World.
We set our ethics gauge at 80% this first period in hopes to keep our
brand equity high, which worked. This also prevented us from getting sued in
later periods like SMOBILE did eventually. Although it costed us more money it
gave us the opportunity to establish ourselves as a quality product inside and
out.
We ended up coming in first place this period with 10 million in profit. We
held 25% of massimas market share and 91% of googisles!!!!!!! Our speed was
rated the highest and our price was rated one of the lowest, however this rating is
just compared to who knows what benchmark. I made my own analysis that
googisle is not too price weary due to the fact that we held 91% of the market
share with a higher price, granted we were only competing with one other
company, but our phones quality prevailed even with the higher price.
On the other hand, We were behind 3% of the market share by revenue to
SMOBILE, our closest competition throughout the simulation and 16% behind the
market share in units sold. This could have been because they spent more
money on advertising and kept production costs low, making more phones and
flooding the market with their inferior product. There were just simply more of
their phones to buy.
An obvious factor for every company was missed unit sales in the first
quarter. We missed 191,362. However, 3 other companies missed out on a great
amount more than us. This was ultimately due to initial costs of investment such
as branching into googisle which costs 2 million up front and an additional 3$ per
phone for transportation costs. We also were investing more in marketing early
on because we did not know how much of a factor this would be in selling all our
products and carrying costs were a huge expense.
Even though i dont believe we invested much money in salaries and
benefits our salary score came out at 95% and our turnover rate 10%, which
were at the top of the list compared to the competition. Our benefits score was at
59%, but the money saved in the first period was put towards production and
developed our brand equity. Also, employees that didnt leave us in the first year
reaped the benefits later on as we greatly upped our benefits turning out to have
the highest benefits score the rest of the year
Q2

Case Narrative

We did well this second period being in first place with cumulative
revenue. However, we were only competing with one other company in the
Googisle, since it is going to cost initial investments for other companies to
branch out i tried to focus more promotion marketing on our selling discount in
Googisle where we did best. We did average in Massima, but need to make sure
we make the right decisions to stay on top.Things can change very quickly. We
missed 200,000 units that could have been sold. I was considering taking a loan
out to produce more goods. I made the decision to buy the marketing report. We
did well on marketing last period, however we only had one competitor in
googisle where i see in the future more competitors in this territory. This
marketing report is more of a boost though, it gives a 10-15% more efficiency
within our marketing strategy. I also bought the competitor report for R&D and
price. I can see who put how much money into what product as well as price.
However, price can change each period, and so can your discount price. You
cannot make this discount in consecutive periods so i decided to make the
discount this period and invest more money than we will in the future in
promoting this initial sales offering. This should benefit largely in this period. Our
price is right in the middle and our investments in speed, app store, battery life
are right where i want them to be compared to competitors. Next period i plan on
buying the demograph/psychograph report to figure out which territory prefers
speed, because we invest the most money in speed, and more money in speed
that all of our competitors. The reason for this is our ultimate goal is to connect
the world! Depending on our profit next period, i think we will branch out to
Appleonia. SMOBILE has a lot of money into their app store and i'm assuming
they have high ethics being that they have the best brand equity in massima,
where there are 5 competitors. We are the highest in Googisle, but we only had
one competitor. So based on this , without buying the report, i would assume that
Massima consumers prefer better APP development over speed. Although i find
a loophole in this because if we can nearly match this APP development and
maintain our speed our phones would be more efficient because whats an APP
that lags!!!!!!! We put out max stock shares & bumped up battery life to long (cost
7.5 mill)

Case Narrative

Overall we came out in third place this period. We actually had a lost of
approximately 6 million making our cumulative profit at 4 million. This is the only
period we had a lost. SMOBILE gained the lead in this period and would continue
to be dominant throughout the next couple years. Our share price dropped to
$50.84 and dropped from the previous year. We did issue just under the max
amount of stocks capable to produce nearly 10 million this period in order to try
and compensate for our low profit levels and give us some capital to work with
the following period. This ended up playing out as we had 9.98 million more at
the beginning of the third period to allocate.
The reasoning being for our low profits this period was the early
investment of making our battery life long which upped our unit cost for battery
from 15 to 30 per unit. Some of us were against this decision but after extensive
reasoning we ultimately made the decision to do so. We looked at this decision
as a long run investment. Nobody else was making investment in battery length
so by year 7 this should make our product much more desirable. Also, we can
connect the world for a longer amount of time per charge.
We did sell 285,000 units this period, but our price was the lowest it was
all 7 periods: 300. Plus we had 20% discount rate.
We ended up still holding the brand leader achievement and i believe this
is part due to our high ethics and especially due to our investment in speed. We
still have the highest amount of money invested in speed and this gives us some
compensation for our low profits.
Our employee morale was up this period to 91% and our turnover rate
down to 7%! We upped our benefits to what was preferred and this resulted in a
100% benefits store which stays consistent over the next few periods. Our
Human resources were number one this period.
We held 24% of the market share by revenue and 20% by units sold. Our
market share by revenue was the second highest and units sold was third. We
sold 74% of our units in Googisle and 26% in Massima. This shows that our early
investment of branching out moved us away from the eventually number one
competitor SMOBILE. We got in and established brand equity early which kept
loyal customers wanting more of a fast, long last lasting, efficient phone that
wanted to keep the world connected. Although rank wise we may seem down
compared to year one, this was all part of our master plan. However, sometimes
these early losses can result in companies collapsing and one competitor
becoming a monopoly because there is no close competition and their capital
grows superior.

Q3
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Case Narrative

We held most things constant this period besides the fact that we
had to have more employees in manufacturing being that we jumped up our units
being produced from 285k to 420k. The past two periods we've had missed unit
sales of 130k and 190k so were trying to find that even mark where we can
maximize production, turnover, and shareholders wealth. Last period we made a
long run decision of increasing the length of our battery in hopes to develop a
larger consumer base. This was a big financial cost, which is why our units
produced was lower than usual, and consequently our profit. We hope that our
profit will jump back up significantly this period and put us back in the running
against SMOBILE and not let them become a monopoly in the manufacturing of
Android cell phones. We do not have a price discount this period and it was poor
management last period to make a price promotion discount when we lowered
our units cost and dumped all the money into battery enhancement. This was a
last minute decision collectively and i did not reevaluate previous changes which
costed us a couple million. There would have been a large benefit this period of
the price promotion discount since we increased our unit production by a great
amount. In the future we hope to figure out the target market preference for
appleonia and become the dominant provider of cell phones in that territory as
well as maintain our dominance in googisle. Massima is already being
maintained by SMOBILE, but i feel that we are right on the border and can be the
share leader in both massima and googisle.
We applied for a loan accidentally last period. We saved it and forgot to
remove it. Poor communication. However, this money came in handy as we
invested more money this period in advertising. Our profit this third year was at
20.79 million and we sold just over 372,000 units at 350 each. Due to the fact
that we raised our price, we actually had the largest revenue and profit dollars
this period, but cumulative SMOBILE was still in first place. Once again we were
the brand leader! We also received achievements in being the market share by
revenue leader and by units sold this period. We missed 325,000 unit sales. Im
not sure exactly how this is calculated. Maybe our price was too high and if we
balanced out an optimal price production combo that is preferred this could be
the equilibrium?
Many companies made the transition to IOS operating systems this
period. We stuck with Android and the only other Android competitor is the first
place team SMOBILE.
Our speed investments were once again the highest and our app store in
vestments were also the highest out of anybody. We used the money we
received from the loan to do so. Our brand in googisle was once again the
highest and our brand in massima was at 69% at this point.
We had more employees than weve ever had at 120 this period, however
our productivity was at 93%, the highest its been.
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Case Narrative

From the reports we bought during the second period we realized that
massima consumers prefer app store and that appleonia is the least price weary.
So we invested a great amount of money into app store development this period.
This was the reason SMOBILE had such a grip on the revenue and brand equity
in massima. It was simply what the customers preferred. Our market share did
stay consistent this period in massima at 25% and dropped down to 47% in
Googisle due to the fact that there are now more competitors in this territory.This
period we invested more money in advertising for googisle because this is where
most of our revenue is coming from and keeping us above water. We are now
contemplating how to branch into appleonia because our main competitor is in
the same two territories as us and we normally have a higher price than them,
which is necessary to make money due to our high manufacturing costs because
our battery length. Appleonia consumers are the least price worried so they
would be ideal for us to build brand equity with and keep our prices high which
could result in our profits still being high if a scenario came up such as a financial
crisis and we had to make less units due to capital being less available.
Our revenue did grow greatly in massima this period coming in at 117
million, 25% of the market, while SMOBILE had 26% of the revenue from
Massima. So even though more companies are branching into googisle we ares
till the greatest revenue generator in that territory and we are making significant
gains on SMOBILE in their main territory.
Overall SMOBILEs profit dollars are at about 50 million compared to our
25 million. If we dont make some moves soon our early investments can result is
taking us out of the game and this company becoming a monopoly in the
cellphone manufacturing industry. We became very worried at this point, and
began taking many different plans into account for where we would head. This
next period would be our make or break period. If we let SMOBILE keep their
profits super high and grow equity in our territory we could have problems and
never be able to compensate for the period we had a loss and SMOBILE made
29 million. We need to figure out a reasonable plan of attack at this point to
bridge the gap we made profit wise.

Case Narrative

Q4
From the previous year we had about 30,000 left over units, which
costed us 3 million off the get go. So not only do we have to compensate for the
gap weve created profit wise from the leader, but we have to deal with this set
back.
During this period we began to hold all our investments pretty consistent
being that we had the highest investments in speed and app store development.
Also we held our advertising and marketing consisted with ranging between
500,000 to 1,000,000.
With our funds down because of carry over costs and our loan repayment
we had less money to work with during the fourth quarter. We were only able to
manufacture 300,000 units this period, which is the least weve made since the
first period.
So at this point we begin to think we may have made a wrong move
investing in battery life. We havent been making enough money to compensate
for our loss during the second period and now all our units didnt sell for some
reason. However, we have really good brand equity in both territories were in. So
we decided to buy a market size report to analyze and decide how many units we
must sell in order to be able to maximize output and not have any left overs.
Massima has a 300 millon budget cap, Googisle 125 Million, and Appleonia 100
million. We are the leaders in Massima for units sold at 22% and Googisle at
42%. We are also the leader for revenue in Massima by market share at 25%
and at 44% in googisle. The reason Massima has the largest market demand
revenue wise is because there are 6 companies in this territory. So we need to
realise that as more teams branch out there is more money to be made in the
abiding territory.
To attempt to make a jump profit wise we jacked up our price another 25$.
Using the what if calculator this small increment of 25$ showed a large increase
in profit even though we were only selling 300,000 units.
During this quarter we sold all of our left over units plus the new ones
made resulting in 336,632 units sold and a profit of 28 million, compared to
SMOBILES profit of 16 million. This was a big jump gaining 12 million on the
leader. Keeping our price high and depending on the quality of our product as
well as the loyalty of our customers resulted in us generating a great amount of
revenue this period. We did drop our ethics to 60 % this period in order to give us
a little more money because we took a big hit with the carry over costs and our
first loan payment. The accidental loan actually played out in our favor, but it
could have been a big set back f it was not a necessity and we would have been
paying interest for basically no reason.

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Case Narrative

Our cumulative profit rose to 53 million this period, where as SMOBILEs is


66 million. As long as we can continue to make gains on SMOBILE we now have
hope of being able to creep back and have a chance at taking the lead. We also
eliminate the opportunity of SMOBILE becoming a monopoly in the cell phone
manufacturing industry. fourth period we received the achievements of revenue
leader, units sold leader, brand leader, market share by revenue leader, and
market share by units sold leader.
In comparison to SMOBILE, our revenue by market share cumulative wise
are both at 25% and by units sold they are at 26% while we are at 23%. Our
revenue in Massima is at 169 million compared to their 214 million. We are
making gains here. Revenue from Googisle was at 56 million for SMOBILE and
103 million for us! we are making double what they are in our dominant territory,
while we begin to creep on them in theirs. I think this could be due to the fact that
they already have their base and loyalty equity wise and as other companies
branch to other territories they have less money to work with and spread
themselves too thin giving Sirius Cells the opportunity to pick up on this revenue
in the territory.
Part of us gaining this competitive edge on SMOBILE this period is due to
our employees research, development, and productivity. Our productivity was at
100 % this period!!!! Our employee morale is at 91% and our benefits score
100% again. Our turnover rate is also still at 7% which is very good. This benefits
us in the long run. We have a strong base and other people want to work for our
company. Also our employees talk good about our ways obviously and this
results in good brand equity and no bad media reports that could result in us
being sued for our dirty work on the inside.
Our speed is once again the leader and so is our battery life as well as
app store. Our brand in Massima is at 70%, while it is at 98% in Googisle.
We need to decide when to branch into appleonia because SMOBILE and
us are beginning to equal out profit wise. Whoever makes the move at the right
time, with the right preferenced product for the customer will be the winner in the
long run i believe.

Q5

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Case Narrative

Before the 5th quarter we were warned about a financial crisis and to take
the necessary action so that we will not take a deficit. We learned in the third
quarter that having carry over costs from left over inventory can be very
inconvenient for the following years finances. So in hopes of not taking a big hit
during this financial crisis we dropped our manufacturing of units down to
230,000 for the 5th quarter. We held our price consisted and actually ended up
profiting 13 million.
SMOBILE profited 4.5 million during this financial crisis and this brought
their cumulative profit to 71 million, while we narrow in on them at 66 million. We
are within 5 million now and our profits have out down them two quarters in a
row.
With dropping our units manufactured this period we had capital left over
to put into marketing and advertising. We put 500,000 more in each category for
massima and googisle. The left over money we just left in our cash flow just in
case this crisis went haywire and really dropped the consumption of phones. This
way we had a safety net and could maybe have a chance at recouping.
In the 5th quarter we actually did not receive any achievement awards and
are still rolling steady in second place. SMOBILE somehow became the brand
leader in googisle and massima. This is dangerous for us being that we are
slowly making gains and now our main competitor is now the brand leader. We
once again have to make smart decisions to have the chance of staying in the
race for first. SMOBILE put more money in their app store than us this period, so
maybe the preference in googisle has shifted towards a more app oriented
phone. We took note of this and know that our strength has been in having a high
priced phone so we have collectively made the decision to branch into appleonia
finally in the future. We know that appleonia worries the least about price as long
as the product is quality and that is exactly what we offer.
In order for us to still be able to manufacture as many units as we want,
actually more units than normal due to that we are distributing to 3 territories
now, we must find a way to have more initial capital.
This is where I realised we shouldnt have issued all our stocks out at
once and held some for a situation such as this. We had a maximum of 10 million
dollars to be gained from stock issued and we have already attained that amount.
So now our only choice is to apply for a stock and wait a period. This gives
leadway for SMOBILE they could beat us into the branching into appleonia and
beginning to set a brand equity foundation and have another source of income.
However, will they have enough money to make the product necessary to
maintain the lead if they branch into this territory? They still have another 5
million that could be generated from stock at this point. This had me weary.
SMOBILE has been showing success in taking over brand equity in territories
and their product only beats us in app store. Our battery life and speed blows
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Case Narrative

them out of the water still. The consumer preference must have shifted towards
app store or a lower priced phone. Our phone has been consistently higher
priced than the competitor. However, this is the reason we are still in the race. I
am almost shocked the competition hasnt noticed how much higher our price is,
especially the team in first place, and tried to slowly inch their price up until it is
marginalized where their production levels equals out to the product wanted.
After the simulation advanced we found out SMOBILE had actually made
the move to branch into appleonia and this was a little sketchy. we needed to
follow the lead. We cannot let them be the only android competitor in a market
that doesnt mind price for a quality phonel. This has to be the reason SMOBILE
has been gaining equity in googisle. We did not want to buy a report to be sure
because it would cost too much. By our own analysis we made this assumption.
So by branching into appleonia in the following period we could take over
potentially.
We had to talk as a group to come to this decision and calculate precisely
how large of a loan we would need for the production levels we are seeking. Also
that the loan wasnt too large and unneccessary.
Our market share in massima dropped to 18% this period, compared to
25% the last two consecutive periods, and in googisle it dropped to 27%
compared to 44% so with many other competitors offering similar products for a
lower price they were becoming the favored brands.
However, our brand in Massima has jumped to 74% this period which is
the highest its been yet. Our brand in Googisle was at 93% the lowest its been
yet as well.. we decided to take out a 7 million dollar loan and make the move.
This period we once again bought the media research report. We bought it
in period 2 as well so its effectiveness has worn off. Im not sure how much of a
difference the report made, but it claims that the first period it would make our
marketing and advertising 15% more effective and with us branching into a new
territory this could be an advantage. Plus the report is only 200,000 which is
worth the money either way.

Q6
We received our loan of 7 million this period. The main use of this load was to
hinder the financial deficit of the 2 million integration cost to move into appleonia
distribution. This move did not change our transportation cost. Also, since we were
moving into another territory we wanted to make more product than average. We

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Case Narrative

normally make around 330,000. I found this to be right around the max amount of units
we sell without having left over inventory. So based on the report we got the second
quarter appleonia consumes the least product. We made 375,000 products this period
and kept our price at 375. We sold all of our units and had a profit of 31 million!
SMOBILE only made 20 million. We are now the leader, but only by 3 million after we
pay off the last loan payment next period.
Now we are right where we want to be. In the lead and integrated in all territories.
However, we are only up by 3 million. So this next period is going to be the deciding
factor in who runs away with the title. We are Sirius about our game.
This quarter we were the revenue leader, profit leader, units sold leader, share
price leader, advertising leader, market share by revenue leader, market share by units
sold leader, and ethics leader.
We jacked up our ethics this period because its been lower the last few periods
and we wanted to have a better ethics rating than SMOBILE. This was the first period
weve received an advertising leader achievement so buying the media research report
must have been a great move. It helped us just edge by and take the lead.
Even though SMOBILE was already laying ground in Appleonia we didnt do too
bad. SMOBILE made 17 million, while we made 12 million. We sold 5% of our units in
appleonia and they sold 7% of theirs. However, they only sold 19,390 units while we
sold 18,750. So we were very close with our initial entrance. We were 20% of the units
sold in MAssima and 45% in Googisle. We put a good amount of money into advertising
hoping that the combo of the research we bought and investment in advertising would
come through. In jumped us up in both Googisle and Appleonia.
Our brand presence in appleonia was only at 3% compared to SMOBILEs 18%.
This next period we will be okay as long as we maintain our profits in Googisle and
MAssima.
Human resources dropped down to 94% this period its been at 100% for 4
periods straight. However, our productivity was still at 100% and turnover rate the
lowest out of any team at 8%, even with making the most units. Our benefits are still at
100% and salary score at 87%. Our employee morale is also at 90% which is tied with
one other team. Even though we are making a large number of units, since we give our
employees good benefits and have ethics up we are productive and we do not lose
money.
We held 25% of the market share in MAssima, 20 % of Appleonia, and 46% of
Googisle. MAssima is up 7% and Googisle 19%. I believe the market research report
did a significant amount for our advertising effectiveness even though it dropped to 10%
this period. SMOBILE was beginning to take over the brand equity in Googisle, so it felt
good to reestablish our presence in a territory we were initially dominant in.
We did have missed unit sales of 180,427. This is due to the fact that we
branched into Appleonia. So we could have taken out 3 more million dollars in our loan
and put it towards making more units and this could have given us a larger lead margin.
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Case Narrative

There were three events that occurred during this period. Inflation rose, which
resulted in higher manufacturing costs. Inflation also made fuel prices increase. Lastly,
due to fears of the financial crisis consumer confidence was lower due to uncertainty in
the market. Given the following events, we still prevailed. I think this was due to the
quality of our product. We have the highest rated product in speed, battery life, and
were right there for app store. So customers that did buy product bought ours due to
that most consumers spending money during a financial crisis possibility probably have
some disposable income and more worried about quality than price. The move into
appleonia was big for us because our price is high, which is a necessity to stay above
water with our already high manufacturing costs.
In the future we plan on maintaining our high levels of production in hopes to
blow SMOBILE out of the water. It is the last period so we believe that carry over costs
wont be factored in to our ultimate profit. We also will jack up our price now that we
have entered Appleonia.
We have slowly made advancements back to the lead, which was ours the first
year. Our early investments in battery life and moving into Googisle are now beginning
to pay off. It is nice to see results after 4 year of building yourself back up and chasing
the leader. Even though the research report only costed 200,000 i think it is a large
weighted factor in our advancement this period. We have been pretty much neck and
neck with SMOBILE up until this period. We made a significant amount more than them.
Our brand equity in Googisle has dropped to its lowest yet at 90%, but we sold the most
weve sold in that territory in multiple years. I believe this is due to our investments in
advertising and marketing research. Also, we made the initial movements of what
percentages of money into internet,mail, and radio for advertising. Certain mediums
reach customers better in different territories and these must be allocated accordingly to
achieve the maximum benefit and return of exposue.

Q7
In the final quarter we held our price at $375 and made as many units as we
possibly could after we allocated all our money, which ended up being about 304,000.
We profited 29 million dollars this period compared to SMOBILEs 8.6 million. We took
the reigns by a long shot. SMOBILE jacked their price up to 425$, but only sold
241,480.
We ended up with a cumulative revenue of $126 with the second runner up being
SMOBILE with 99$ million. Our revenue dollars were also 500 million compared to
SMOBILEs $466.

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Case Narrative

The achievements we earned this final period were profit leader, revenue leader,
units sold leader, share price leader, market share by revenue leader, market share by
units sold leader, and HR leader.
Overall, we sold 2,103,369 million units while SMOBILE sold 2,138,225 units.
The fact that we sold a significant amount of more units than SMOBILE this final period
was big due to the fact that they jacked their price up. We were very close in terms of
profit.
Our market share of massima for the 7th period was 23%, for Appleonia 11%,
and for Googisle 36%.Massima was down 2%, Appleonia down 9%, and Googisle down
10%. Inflation seemed to have a greater impact this period that the last financial crisis
event.
We once again purchased a market report to up its effectiveness in advertising to
15%. This has seem to be an important factor in getting our product more well known.
After seeing the survey reports even though SMOBILE had the strongest brand equity in
Googisle, we had them doubled in loyalty percentage. So we had many repeating
customers. Maybe we introduced a family plan and these customers branched out to
their grandmothers or finally made the decision that their children were old enough to
have cell phones.
Our HR score was the same as its been the last 3 periods at 94% and our productivity
stayed up at 100%. Our employee morale is the highest its ever been at 91% and
turnover rate down to 7%. Happy employees means quality work.
We did not miss any unit sales this period compared to the last period where we
missed 180,000 potential units sold.
Overall our brand in massima averaged out to 76%, in Googisle 85%, and 6% in
Appleonia. Our battery life averaged 100%, our app store 93%, our speed 100%, and
our price 70%.
Our overall market share by revenue was at 24% compared to SMOBILEs 23%.
Our market share by units sold overall was 23% as was SMOBILE;s. Our revenue in
MAssima overall was 291 million, SMOBILES was 317 Million. Our over Appleonia
revenue was 19.5 million compared to SMOBILEs 20.5 million. Our overall revenue in
Googisle was 190$ million compared to SMOBILEs $128 million. OVerall units sold in
massima were 20% compared to SMOBILEs 25%. 6% in Appleonia for us as well as
SMOBILEs and 43% for Googisle compared to SMOBILEs 30%.
Price and consumer preferences are two huge factors that played out in our
victory overall. I wish we would have bought one consumer profile report because they
are very detailed. Instead we bought a product competitiveness report early on, which
didnt really benefit us, but costed us a good amount.

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Case Narrative

Lessons Learned
The first thing we learned was from our closest competitor; do not open your
mouth until all of the quarters are in, or talking trash in videos... (you know who you are
SMOBILE). Keeping the price of the cell phone high did not seem to impact sales. It
seems that marketing and superior product sell. We never upgraded our operating
system and spent most of our research dollars into speed and battery life. We were
never able to break 23% brand loyalty in Massima and waited too late to go into
AppleOnia. GoogIsle was our consistent money maker and we should have purchased
the consumer profile report.
In the beginning, we did not manufacture enough units and was number two in
revenue and number one in profit. We were obviously too conservative as we missed
191,362 unit sales and should have manufactured more to gain a strong foothold early
on that would have allowed us to run away with the lead. It seems our competitors were

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Case Narrative

too timid also to manufacture too many units and be stuck with expiring inventory down
the road. We were the only ones (beside Girls Room Int) who did not miss over 100%
of their inventory in sales as well as one of two manufacturers that expanded into
GoogIsle in Q1.GoogIsle proved to be a good choice as we experienced the best brand
loyalty there throughout the entire simulation, at 43% loyalty being our lowest (Q3, Q6,
Q7) and 52% our highest (Q2). Making the initial move into Googisle was a big move for
us because this is where most of our revenue was being generated. We ended up
coming out in first place for Q1 in profit and second in Revenue.
In Q2 we fell flat on our faces. All the brand loyalty couldnt save us from
ourselves. Feeling too good about how the first quarter went, we got cocky and
manufactured 85,000 more units, dropped the price of our phones while offering a
discount and hurt our revenue stream. Our competitors beat us solidly and it was our
fault. We were stuck and had to borrow money to get back on track. However, the
reason we had this deficit was because we made some early investments in hopes of
paying off in the long run. We collectively decided to invest in a longer battery life that
costed 7.5 million up front and moved up the cost of production for batteries from 15 to
30$ per unit. Since we had these initial investment costs we werent able to produce as
many products as wed liked and we had dropped our price to 300. We also put up a
resellers discount here, which was not a good move being that we dropped our price
and had some initial costs this quarter. In Quarter two we ended up taking a deficit of 6
million which brought our cumulative profit to 4 million dollars. While our main
competitors SMOBILE made 29 million this period. This early move could be dangerous
for companies because when you take a 35 million dollar swing to the main competitor
they can become a monopoly in the industry.
Q3 we raised the price of our phones, but not to the Q1 price, we felt that $350
would be a good number to both make up some lost revenue but not make the price
increase too steep. We also issued 190,000 of stock and raised almost 10 million
dollars. We had left over product of 30,000 units that had a carrying cost of 3 million
dollars. We also accidentally had applied for a loan second quarter so we had used that
money to make as many goods as possible this quarter. We were hoping that by upping
our price and issuing stock we would be able to use this money in the next period to buy
some reports or make sound investments in speed, app store, and advertisement. We
also bought a market research this period because it boosts your marketing and
advertising effectiveness by 15%. We needed to keep our revenue in Googisle high,
while slowly increasing our brand equity in Massima in hopes of gaining revenue there
because we learned that Massima had the largest revenue of 300 million because it had
the most competitors in it. So we realized that as more competitors enter a market more
money is spent and customers consume more. So we decided to make solid
investments in maintaining our foundation in Googisle in the hopes that people will
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Case Narrative

move to this territory and expand our profits as we maintain brand equity and loyalty.
We were still the leader in market share by both revenue and sales that we kept with the
exception of Q5.
We found that raising the price to $350 was a smart move in Q4 and we held that
price until Q7. We also started to establish ourselves as a force in both Massima and
GoogIsle. This helped us close the gap in competitiveness, as again, we were the
leader in market share by both sales and revenue and had no missed unit sales. The
cost of having leftover inventory hindered our plan slightly and were not able to market
effectively causing our next quarters sales to suffer.
Q5 This quarter you predicted inflation so we had to prepare accordingly. We
dropped our units sold to 230,000 to make sure that we didnt have any carrying costs
because those can set you back financially a great amount. We are now within 5 million
profit wise of SMOBILE and knew that if we wanted a chance we had to make a move
soon. This was to take the risk of branching into Appleonia because wed be the only
Android system in this territory. Also wed be selling to a larger market overall and be
able to generate more profit. However, to do so we would need a bigger capital to work
with being that there is a 2 million dollar initial investment to make the move and we
would want to make more product to sell. So we decided to take a 7 million dollar loan
to compensate the action. We realized that SMOBILE made the move into appleonia
already and this could be dangerous. However, we made nearly as much money as
they did revenue wise even though we entered a year later.
Q6 It would have been a good move to buy a consumer profile report before we
branched into Appleonia, but since we bought media research reports they boosted our
marketing & advertising effectiveness by 15% and i feel that this kept our sales high. We
werent putting as much money into marketing and advertising as everybody else, but
weighted wise this 200,000 investment did more for us i believe. We became the first
place team this period profiting 13 million compared to SMOBILEs 4.5 million. We are
only in the lead by 3 million cumulative. I feel that whoever analysed the consumer
report and moved forward would be the winner. I think we won because of our early
investments in battery life and speed. Without buying the report, i think the consumer
market was one that had disposable income because there was a financial crisis under
way and this means that those that do spend money have money and are more
conscious of quality than price. So even though we were on the higher end price wise
throughout the simulation we offered the best product overall and this brought us to the
situation we are in, the top.
Q7 The sweet taste of victory. We increased the price of our phones to its
original price of $375 and went all in. This proved successful even though we still had
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Case Narrative

missed unit sales, we were first place in revenue dollars for pretty much the entire
simulation. We were above the industry avereage in revenue for the entire simulation.
I feel that the biggest lesson learned was that we needed to address the missed
sales opportunities a little better. In total, we missed 570,628 unit sales that we could
have used to increase our revenue stream. These missed dollars are also missed
opportunities for other areas of expansion, R&D, human resources, or marketing. This
made us less effective and forced us to borrow money for expansion into new sales
territories and the manufacturing of more units to gain some of those missed sales. At
the end of Q6, Emmet and I discussed producing more total units while reducing the
amount of money spent on marketing and human resources for Q7 to try and catch
some of those lost revenue dollars, but ultimately decided to play it safe with production
at 350,000 units and maintain our high ethics score while marketing our product
effectively. Better marketing in Massima could have helped us early on as well as we
could never overcome SMOBILE in loyalty in that territory.

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Case Narrative

Individual Learning
Colton Kelly
Throughout the simulation our team had to face many difficulties and conflicting
interests involved in what we should do next with the company. What i had learned from
the simulation this semester had a lot to do with the importance of communication, trust,
time management, and being able to make compromises.
Personally i felt that the biggest importance to the company was communication.
All of us had to be able to communicate our opinions to one another freely and not
worry about feeling judged or looked down on. It was up to us to speak up and make
sure the entire group understood what your thoughts and ideas were, and those
thoughts and ideas had to be discussed before making major decisions regarding the
company. We needed this communication so that when we could not all meet and had
to work around each other's schedules so that we were still able to accomplish our
goals.
Following communication is the issue of trust. If for some reason we werent able
to meet or fully communicate our standings, we had to trust that the group as a whole
would make the decision they felt was best and also consider your opinion. We had to
trust that one another wouldnt simply take matters into their own hands without
discussing it with the rest of the group. I know that when i couldnt arrive to team
meetings i trusted that they would take my opinion into consideration. If they never
learned my opinion i trusted that they would know me well enough as a person to get a
basic understanding as to what my opinion could be because of the time we spent
together. We developed a good team bond.
Time management was crucial in this simulation as a whole. Working around one
anothers schedules is what made this possible. We had found a basic meeting time
outside of the class periods that were given to us and it was when we were able to
make major decisions. These major decisions led our team to its success.
Making compromises is a sense of pride that had to be put aside when the rest of
the group didnt agree with an opinion that was being made. I know for me a solid
example is when i wanted to purchase the marketing analysis data but the rest of the
group disagreed. But what they had done through our communication and trust was
convince me that it wasnt a good investment. Although, I still felt differently and thought
it would be a good idea I put my pride and opinion aside for the sake of the group. It
turned out they were right and Im glad i listened.
In conclusion i learned that our teamwork was the most important aspect.
Teamwork is the best way I can describe how well we communicated with each other,
trusted each other, made compromises and made time for one another. Our teamwork
could not have been any better in my opinion. Teamwork is what led our team to ending
the simulation in first place.
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Case Narrative

Chris Andrews
I feel that this simulation was a great idea, but there were too many overlapping
issues that made this experience a little confusing. Perhaps it was the blending of
reality and simulation that has thrown me for a loop. I was confused about how we
were supposed to pick a real physical location to manufacture fake smartphones to
distribute to fake customers. If we were to be concerned about our manufacturing
locations, then why do we start off with even money? If there is no financial penalty for
being located in a highly taxed area, then what is the point? If we wanted a location that
puts us close to our customers, then where is close to GoogIsle. I found more
frustration in blending the reality with simulation then trying to schedule meeting times
with my team. I had to learn to shut up and figure it out.
I will say that I learned that when you are running a company, there are many
things you should be aware of. The simulation gave us an overview of the operations of
a manufacturing facility, but I feel that it left some things out. First, we could not shop
for our resources. Our costs of production were based upon what we wanted in our
phone, not how cheap we could find our parts. Second, we were all provided with equal
starting capital for each quarter which is totally unrealistic. Other than that, I feel that
how differently groups of people can think is staggering. We all were given the same
blank slate and took the limited options for modification in completely different
directions. When given choices, individuals are different, and groups show that
dynamic as well. The difference in the phones themselves between each team was
amazing, not to mention the different strategies implemented by the teams and
individuals.
I was also exposed to the new generation of kids entering the workforce. This
was where I learned how these kids are thinking, why they think that way and what
motivates them. They are completely different from my generation and I think that they
will make the workforce an interesting place, but I am worried. The short attention
spans and bombardment of social media accounts and updates puts a higher
importance on what is going on in social media and not what is going on in their
immediate environment. I feel that this was the most important lesson, integration and
working alongside the next wave of those entering the workforce. I learned how they
operate and have given them an opportunity to work with someone from my generation
who most likely will be their immediate boss.
Overall, it was an enriching experience. As an employee at a company with 23
individuals, I am exposed to many things others in similar positions with bigger
companies never get a chance to see. This experience gave me insight and
opportunities to practice budgeting, forecasting, marketing and product development,
and working with a team. Aside from working in a team, the lessons learned from
running a cell phone manufacturing company has given me valuable tools that I have
already started to integrate at my real job.
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Case Narrative

Havva Arifi
Throughout the simulation I have learned that communication is a key to team
work. Along with communication, I fell like guidance throughout the project was needed
from the professor regarding deadlines and due dates for parts of the project. With
communication and guidance, time management is also an important part to being
successful in a team.
When communicating with the group, there was an open and honest
atmosphere, which was great and easy to work with. When one team member had an
issue with what was being discussed about the company they were not afraid to voice
their opinion. Every team member respected and listened to the opinions of one another
even if at times there were disagreements with what the final decision was. The team
leader, Colton was very helpful and resourceful when it came to getting everyone on the
team on the same page regarding what we wanted to do as far as the simulation went.
He stepped up when needed and stepped down to be an equal when it came time. The
one problem with communication would be actually responding to what time and dates
work best for every member involved. Which was quickly resolved once every team
member got into the groove of his or her day-to-day schedules.
Guidance from the professor was needed when it came time to tell us what he
was expecting from each of the teams. Even though an outline was provided about two
weeks in advance of when the project was due, the outline would have been in better
use when the simulation was given. I feel that if provided the outline of what was
expected with a set due date would have helped greatly in the success of the project
due at the end of the semester.
Time management is another key to being a successful team. As individuals we
had to figure out how and when to fit in time to work on the simulation as well as the
business plan. Personally, being a commuter I had to find time between working, my
other schoolwork, and babysitting where I can find time to fit this project in. talking with
my team members we all came up with a time and place to meet that worked for
everyone involved. When working on this project I learned how to manage my time
wisely so I would also be able to fit in other things that I enjoy into my day-to-day life.
In the end I feel that communication, guidance, and time management were the
three keys to our success within the simulation. Learning to work with other people who
have very different schedules than me was a learning experience I will carry with me
into the real world. Overall, I feel like these were the keys to our success as team taking
first place.

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Case Narrative

Emmet McGovern
Throughout the semester i have learned a great amount from the simulation
exercise. There have been ups and downs that come with working in a group, but in the
end we prevailed. The simulation was a small portion of the learning factor of this
assignment. We collectively had to make decisions in where to invest money and when,
which taught us to hear out everybodys opinion and come up with an optimal route
each quarter based on our target goal for the time being.
The most difficult part of the simulation process was meeting as a group. Luckily,
you gave us time in class, but when we met outside of class we did not seem to be as
productive as wed like to be. We did make a contract that hypothetically could be used
to combat these incidents. We have very different schedules and the communication
aspect was poor overall for our group. However, we did bring many good ideas to the
table and our strategy was impeccable in the long run.
One thing ive learned in my finance class is that the ultimate goal is to maximize
shareholder wealth; the bottom line. In the end our strategy played out to a tee. We
came up with initial numbers that were more or less a shot in the dark because we were
only competing with our class, but the process after that was more of a competition with
others rather than ourselves. We made some investments in our product early that
made our profits dive due to the lack of finances, but our quality made our product
prevail when we made mass amounts of phones for a higher price. The phones were
still bought and we came out on top because of our initial investments and consistent
analysis of quarters.
Listening is one big factor i learned in this team project. I am a very independent
person and like to make decisions myself and deal with the consequences later,
however listening to my teammates and bouncing my ideas off them led us in the right
direction rather than being biased. I had to explain my perspective to them and either
mold them to my vision and integrate theirs with mine so that we are all aiming towards
the same goal and act accordingly. Many factors of the simulation are hypothetical and
id like to see breakdowns of inventory and quality of products in real time. Maybe like
an iphone vs android break down comparison would be cool. You could make separate
groups take very similar products and try to compare them based on a variety of
categories (i.e. quality, service, customer preference, target market, parts, durability)
and then choose which company theyd invest in and why.
Overall, it felt very rewarding to be the champion and that my competitive
analysis had some direction. In the future i will be more affirmative in the paperwork. It
could be paralleled to a cop. Sometimes taking care of the business is easier than the
strenuous and extensive paperwork that is necessary for more reasons that just
legalities.

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Case Narrative

Team Dynamics
Our team consists of four college students with degrees in business
management, marketing, administration, and entrepreneurship. Bringing together a
team with well thought out mind process to provide a well-rounded company. Colton
brings his leadership in the Marketing with his great people skills and communication
abilities. Colton has the ability to sell anything to just about anybody. Emmet brings
outside knowledge of operations from his own experience in the business world, with his
moving company during his early adulthood. With his experience Emmet is an essential
asset in the operations and management of the business. Chris being the oldest on the
team brings in knowledge from his personal experience as well as bringing in wisdom to
the younger members of the team. Havva brings to the team her experiences in
customer service from her time working in the restaurant business at a young age. Her
experiences working as the hostess and manager will bring the team assets that will
help in the Human Resources department due to her knowledge of how well people
work together.
The team was formed based on what each member can bring to the company.
Emmet brings in his knowledge from running his small business; Colton brings in his
knowledge in marketing, while Havva and Chris bring in their knowledge from a
business management point of view. Each member benefits one another in a way that if
one member does not know how file a report the other will jump in to help. Working
together hand-in-hand the team furthers our success in the cell phone industry with
providing the customers with high quality phones at a reasonably low price.
Working together to succeed in the cell phone industry is our number one priority.
Emmets leadership as Vice President of Operations helps direct the team in the direct
needed to be successful. Emmet shows the team that anything is possible when you put
your mind to it as well as helping in an area that may be insufficient. He is the first to
step up not only pointing out the problem but also being the problem solver. Being the
Vice president of marketing, Colton is always coming up with new and innovated ideas
about how to get our product out in the world to our target market. He is constantly
coming up with new ways to market out product according to the market the company.
With his ability to sell anything to just about anyone Colton is a key asset to our team
and company. As vice president of Finance, Chris keeps our books in check. His
experience and knowledge working as an estimator for the company he worked for,
brings another key asset when calculating costs and estimating our future profits. Being
the Vice President of Human Resources, Havva brings her experiences working with
people in the restaurant business to the company as part of the hiring and managing
employees. Through her years working as a hostess and manager Havva has learned
what kind of people work well in a group together and what kind of people do not. She is

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Case Narrative

a key asset to the company when it comes to hiring and or firing employees as well as
assisting in the help of any conflicts that may occur.

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Case Narrative

Conclusion
Before this simulation, none of us with the exception of Emmet knew what
it was like to run a business. Each of us have different experiences and knowledge that
were weaved into the decisions made for the direction of Sirius Cells. Most of us had
met each other for the first time and did not know what to expect from each other, or the
class. With each advancement in quarter, we were figuring out the delicate balance
needed to bring together the team and the company.
I will not say that everything went according to plan, nor did it go smoothly every
meeting, but we were able to pull it together and come out in first place after Q7. We
were able to recover as a team and right the ship so to speak after we slipped in the
second quarter as well as the fifth quarter. Our continuous position at the top shows
what determination and teamwork can do.
Emmet initially was not supportive of the early investment. He wanted to wait one
more period before doing so. This way we would have two quarters to analyse the
market. However, we waited too long to branch into Appleonia and we could have been
in the same boat with the battery investment. Im glad we did it when we did and only
had a deficit this period. Sometimes in life you have to give some to get some you know.
The only downfall of this is that SMOBILE was on the borderline of becoming a
monopoly due to the fact that they had a 35 million dollar swing profit wise the second
period.
Working as a team, like sports, shows how necessary communication is to
function properly. You need to be on the same page and have the same goal. Ours was
to Siriusly Connect The World. We did this by investing most of our money in speed and
battery life. As well connect to the entire territory possible in order to connect the whole
world effectively. I feel that we did this in a timely manner while still being able to
generate profit and allocate the right funds necessary to develop our product at a
competitive rate. We may have issued all our stocks as to put all our eggs in one
basket, but the money was used properly at the time being. We could have held some
stock as safety net to generate money needed later on. We were taking loans early and
initial investments in hopes that everything would pay off, and well, it sure in the heck
did as we saw great profits the last period of 29 million which ultimately resulted in being
the cumulative profit leader of 126 million next to SMOBILE of 99 million.

Appendix

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Case Narrative

EVERYTHING WE USED
ob descriptions:
VP of Operations
As VP of Operations Emmet oversees the day-to-day operations to support the
growth and add to the bottom line of the organization. Emmet focuses on strategic
planning and goal setting, as well as directing the operations of the company in support
of our goals.
VP of Human Resources
Havva is currently enrolled at Elmhurst College getting a degree in Business
Management with hopes of graduating in 2018. She is the vice president of human
resources, which is the department of the business that handles hiring, administration,
and training of personnel.
VP of Marketing
Colton is a current student of Elmhurst College. He is receiving his degree in
Marketing with the intent of graduating in May of 2016. He is the Vice president of
Marketing. As VP of Marketing Colton is in charge of developing and implementing a
proper marketing and communication strategy within the company.
VP of Finance
Chris is currently enrolled at Elmhurst College and is studying Entrepreneurship
hopeful to graduate in May of 2016. As VP of finance Chris focuses on matters related
to money and the organization's budget, with duties related to oversight of these areas.

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Case Narrative

Team Old School Rules & Consequences


Sirius Cells 2015

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Case Narrative

The following conditions and consequences apply to the four team members of
Sirius Cells Corporation:
1. Every team member must contribute and understand the financial stand
point, and management decisions, of Sirius cells. This can be deciphered by the notes
section under management on the simulation. If there are not notes recorded each
period by multiple team members, this does not dignify understanding of the
management and future of Sirius Cells. Consequently, their future opinions on
management decisions may not be credible due to lack of knowledge of the progression
of the company.
2. The team must meet at least once before final decisions are submitted to
collectively make decisions. This can be justified by the team leader. Consequences
include pay reduction (parallels to a lower grade) under the final standpoint of Sirius
Cells.

3. If you are to make a decision individually for the simulation you must fill out a
note under management to let the team knows where and why your decisions were
implemented. This ultimately lets other individual action be based on top of your
decisions so that conflict does not apply. Refer to rule 1 for consequences.
4. If you cannot attend a team meeting let the group chat know in advance.
Absenteeism is acceptable, communication is not.
The team members agree to the above rules and conditions via signature:
Chris Andrews
Hava Afari
Colton Kelly
Emmet McGovern

________________ Date _________


________________ Date _________
________________ Date _________
________________ Date _________

Business Plan
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Sirius Cells Inc. was founded in 2015 and is currently the leading cell phone provider. Our
executive offices and manufacturer are located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Case Narrative
Slogan
Siriusly Connecting the World.
Business Summary
Connect the world with quality and efficient phones at an easy affordable price.
Business/Product or Service
Sirius Cells makes fast quality cell phones
The company produces cell phones that can be used with several different service providers.
Currently, our cell phones are in the maturity stage. It competes primarily based on affordability
and quality. Our future plans include more growth and develop to other countries in the next 2 to
3 years.
The Market*
We define our market as any individual with the need for a high quality yet affordable phone.
The total market size was spread across three major areas: AppleOnia, Massima, and the
GoogIsle
Competition
We compete directly with SMOBILE, BRC International, Prestige Worldwide, Elite, and Girls
Room National, our alternatives to our product include a land line or a fax machine. Our product
is superior to our competitors/alternatives because of the quality of speed, battery life, and
affordability of our cell phones. We have a competitive advantage because of the speed of our
cell phones, established brand name, and our superior revenue stream. We do not anticipate
new companies to enter this market any time in the near future.
Risk/Opportunity
The greatest risk associated with our business today is our competitor SMOBILE moving into
appletonia at the same time that we made that advancement. We feel we can overcome this risk
because of our more recognizable brand name and our availability to produce more phones at
cheaper prices. Our biggest recognized opportunities include our high revenue stream allowing
us to expand to other countries, and manufacture more phones.
Management Team
The management team is led by Chief Executive Officer Colton Kelly who founded the company
2015. Colton Kelly is expected to graduate Elmhurst College in May of 2016 with an MBA in
Marketing. Colton brings great support to the marketing and advertising with his background
working with people in several different restaurant businesses and manual labor services.
Emmet McGovern has an expected graduation from Elmhurst College in May of 2016 receiving
an MBA in Business Administration. Emmet brings outstanding leadership and management
skills in operations. Emmet gained vast knowledge on operations when he was running his own
small moving company during his early adulthood. Chris Andrews is expected to graduate in the
May of 2016 with an MBA in Entrepreneurship, being the oldest member of the team, Chris
brings wisdom to the younger members of the group using his many personal experiences.

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Case Narrative
Havva Arifi, expected to graduate in May of 2018 with an MBA in Business Management and a
minor in Marketing. Throughout her many years of working in the restaurant business, she has a
hands on experience with customer service and management. She brings great leadership to
our Human Resources department with customer service knowledge.
Operations
We have manufacturing facilities and our office of operations located in Las Vegas, Nevada. We
currently perform cell phone manufacturing in house. Being in Vegas allows for us to import
parts and goods from other countries because we are near enough to the west coast while
avoiding California's high taxes.
Capital Requirements
We are seeking more funds which will allows us to greater increase our ability to manufacture
phones, while also allowing us to further expand to more countries across the globe.
1.1 COMPANY
Sirius Cells, Inc. develops, produces and distributes cellular telephones. Our goal is to
provide our customers with quality cell phones at competitive pricing.
1.2 PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Smart Phones are our forte. We develop the fastest phones in the industry with the
longest battery life and most advanced app store to date. To top this off our phones are
reasonably priced and we are a domestic made product located in the outskirts of Las Vegas,
Nevada. We have great brand equity due to our reliability and morale! All our phones come with
top of the line warranties because we guarantee to connect you with the world.
1.3 MARKET ANALYSIS
For the first 4 years of results Smobile is in lead for profit with $66 million, while we have
a cumulative profit of $53 million. We cut the deficit in half from last period so we have been
making growth compared to our main competitor. However, we lead the pack in revenue with
$272 million compared to Smobiles $271 million. Revenue wise we both hold 25% of the
market share, by units sold they hold 26% while we hold 23% of the market share. In Massima
our revenue is $169 million total, while SMOBILEs is $214 million. They are mainly dominant in
Massima. However, we dominate Googisle with our cumulative revenue there being $103 million
to their $57 million. Our units sold in Massima is 20% compared to their 29% and in Googisle
our units sold is 52% compared to SMOBILEs 31%. At this point nobody else in the market has
a chance of catching up our profit compared the third place team is more than double. Overall
we have the best ratings for speed,battery life, and app store. These are the three things that i
believe have given us a competitive advantage over time. We had to take a deficit of profit early
in order to make these advancements possible,but the last two periods we have made jumps.
Also with our phone being top tier our higher price s irrelevant to customers who want top

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Case Narrative
quality. Our price is benchmarked at 80% compared to SMOBILEs 90%. SMOBILE and Sirius
Cells are the only two Android operating systems in the industry, and also in 1st and second
place, is this a coincidence?
1.4 STRATEGY & IMPLEMENTATION
To achieve our business goals, we will create a high-tech, precision manufacturing facility and
will implement highly efficient operations processes. We plan to promote Sirius Cells INC. with
an aggressive, targeted marketing campaign. This will include a media campaign, print and
online advertising and a targeted direct-mail campaign. These are all focused according to
territorial preference and effectiveness in advertising techniques. In addition, we will focus
heavily on establishing our presence within the industry by catching the eye of our consumers
with our new and improved app store, which is just another asset to our everlasting battery and
high speed capabilities.
1.5 MANAGEMENT
Our leadership team currently consists of VP of Operations Emmet Mcgovern, VP of Finance
Chris Andrews, VP of Marketing Colton Kelly, and VP of Human Resources Havva Arifi. Emmet
has a strong sense of overall management. He sees the bigger picture and the subcategories
that need to be acted upon in order to achieve the ultimate goal of maximizing shareholders
wealth via profit. Chris does a good job of keeping our finances stabilizes and allocating money
according to the period and future decisions. We often meet and forecast possibilities and come
up with a decisions that is most efficient based on our goal at the time of the decision. Colton
Kelly can talk and sell anything. The man knows facts and can get to a target market, or make a
large crowd aware at the very least. He is very proficient in social media and handles that factor
of the business. Havva Arifi understand benefits of our employees that will keep the turnover
rate low and a comfortable work environment. She brings in the right people to further develop
our product as well as create innovative ideas to give us a competitive advantage.
1.6 FINANCIAL PLAN
Our Company will earn revenue from the sale of cell phones. We have been profiting from day 1
and have made significant jumps the last two periods. We were down 29 mil in profits from
SMOBILE, until last period when we cut the deficit to 14 Mill. We have increased our brand
equity in both Googisle and Massima. Our Speed and App store investments have been greater
than all other teams and therefore we are a more favored company consumer wise. We have
found a happy medium price wise ranging from $325-375 and avg. units sold of around
300,000. In the long run we plan on taking a loan to merge into Appleonia and become the
largest distributor in that region.

1.7 SOURCES & USE OF FUNDS

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Case Narrative
We have applied for two loans and have issued 191,800 shares of stock.
Stock alone generated almost 10 million in revenue and the loans were for 7 and 5 million in
periods 4 and 7 respectively.

2.1 COMPANY & INDUSTRY


Our business operates within the manufacturing industry and is classified under NAICS code
334220- Cellular Telephone Manufacturing

2.2 LEGAL ENTITY & OWNERSHIP


Sirius Cells Inc. was formally organized in Elmhurst, IL.. The company's principal owners are
Havva Arifi, Colton Kelly, Chris Andrews, and Emmet McGovern, who hold equal shares of
ownership in the company.
2.3 COMPANY HISTORY TO DATE
Our company is a new smart phone manufacturing company that competes in an industry of 6
other competitors amongst 3 territories: Googisle, Appleonia, and Massima.
2.4 FACILITIES
Our facility is located in southern Nevada. Proximity to the west coast shipping ports allow us to
be closer to where our materials arrive from overseas. Nevada is one of the few states without
an inventory tax.
2.5 KEY ASSETS
Sirius Cells has put millions of dollars over their 4 year existence into app store development as
well as speed. Amongst our 5 competitors we have the highest developed app store and speed.
Our monetary investment in research and development has paid off in the long run. We also
made an early investment in expanding our battery life to the longest possible. Our operating
system is Android, there is only one other Android company in our industry while there are 4 IOS
operating cell phone companies.
3.1 DESCRIPTION
Sirius Cells INC. is a growing cell phone manufacturer and distributor of the USA. We currently
have dominance in both Massima and Googisle.
3.2 FEATURES & BENEFITS

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Case Narrative
Sirius Cells Inc. are primarily focused on the development of our speed and app. store of our
cellular devices. We made the investment two periods ago to make sure that we had a long
battery life. We continue to put millions of dollars into research and development every year. As
our company grows, so does our extensive research accumulating our comparative advantage
in the industry.
3.3 COMPETITION
Our competitors are companies that provide similar types of design and mold-making services.
We are currently in second place for profits and first place for revenue. The team beating us is
SMOBILE. This is due to their strong investment early on in the App store which was a preferred
psychograph of massima, whom has the largest market due to it having all 6 companies in its
territory. We have made significant gains over the last two periods on this company. They are
also the only other Android operating system in our industry.
3.4 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE/BARRIERS TO ENTRY
By relying on our technology and an activity-based costing system, rather than a time-based
system, we will be able to maintain competitive prices and sustain high profitability. Our
technology and systematic efficiencies will allow us to have advantages in cost, speed and
design capability. Ultimately, these advantages will quickly come to define Sirius Cells INC. as
an industry leader. We also took a loan in order to branch out to Appleonia next quarter in which
SMOBILE does not have a present yet. This means we will be the only Android manufacturer in
that territory and have a chance to build equity there as well! Our speed benchmarked to
SMOBILE, our main competitors, is at 100% where they are at 37%, our battery life is 100%,
compared to their 20%, and our app store is at 100% compared to their 88%. However, their
brand in googisle and massima is 100%, compared to our 70%, and 98% resepectively. Our
productivity is at 99% compared to SMOBILEs 47%, and our morale is at 89% compared to
theirs of 76%. We also have a lower turnover rate. Our benefits score is at 100% compared to
theirs at 45%. So in the long run our workers are happier and more efficient, while theirs will
begin to leave at a higher rate if they dont make some adjustments.

3.5 DEVELOPMENT
As our company grows, we plan to expand our facility and manufacture more smart phones at
an efficient rate. We have had little turnover with our employees and our morale is up. If we
make the jump of branching into a third territory this can generate new revenue, which gives
leadway to develop a larger manufacturing facility and a larger target market. If our profitability
continues to grow we will then grow our research & development team and increase our App.
store and speed of our devices.

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Case Narrative
4.1 MARKET SIZE
The competitive market size includes 6 teams expanded over 3 regions. In Massima we hold
25% of the market share by revenue, we are the leaders, in googisle we hold 47% of the market
share by revenue, also the leader. We have not branched into Appleonia yet. We also hold the
market share in both these territories by units sold. Overall SMOBILE does hold the market
share by revenue and units sold for massima, while we hold this title for googisle. This is why i
feel that whichever one of us branches out to appleonia first will take over the industry.
4.2 TARGET CUSTOMER
Our target consumer has been in the Googisle territory since they are more speed aware. We
found this out through a psychograph analysis. We have put more money in advertising in these
territories and it has paid out. We hope to branch into appleonia, however, because wed be the
only android phone in that industry and they are less price aware.
4.3 TRENDS
We have consistently sold about 300,000 units per period, so we tend to stick around this
number for production. This is all depending on whether we are giving a sale promotion in the
period or not as well.
4.4 SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Fastest phone in the industry
Best app store in the industry
highest morale in the industry
Longest lasting battery in the industry
Ethical
Quality/Price is fair
Brand name popular!
One of two android phones available in the industry

Weaknesses
Are not the leaders in Massima, who have the largest consumer base
Not the leaders in brand equity in Massima
Need capital to merge into Appleonia and become the only android phone in territory
Opportunities

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Case Narrative
Advance our speed more
Advance our App store
Become the only android phone in Appleonia, also SMOBILE will not be in this territory

Threats
SMOBILE also branched into Appleonia in the same period
Take out loan to branch into Appleonia and dont make the sales forecasted...
5.0 STRATEGY & IMPLEMENTATION
Initially we made sure to adjust our advertisement according to what was most efficient. we
made the jump into Googisle right away even though it costed money up front. We also adjusted
the battery life to medium to give us a long run advantage. We produced around 270k units the
first period and missed out on sales, but this was due to lack of money to produce more phones.
We made sure to invest almost the max amount of money into battery life, speed, and the app
store in hopes to get an advantage. We have put tons of money into speed over the four periods
being that our slogan is Connecting the world, so we need speed to abide by this. In the second
period i bought the media research report,which just boosted our advertising effectiveness. We
came out on top being in first for cumulative profit. we also issued out the max amount of stocks
this period, which ultimately generated 10 million in equity for our company. We decided to
make the move to the longest lasting battery this period. This would set us back in the short run.
But give us an advantage being the only company with this level of battery length in the industry
in the long run. We have made significant jumps both periods on our number one competitors
SMOBILE. We have cut our profit deficit in half and are currently the number one revenue
leader.
5.1 PHILOSOPHY
Sirius Cells INC.s philosophy is to connect the world through providing quality phones at
competing prices. We are ethical and take care of our workers, even in outsourced
manufacturing plants. We continue to pour money into our research and development in battery
efficiency, app. store, and speed. Speed in particular because you need to be able to function at
high capacities when you are communicating with people thousands of miles away.
5.2 INTERNET STRATEGY
We have developed a website that exploits our goals and processes. It also shows picture of the
four owners of this company, as well as the device itself and has a nice video representation of
our process and future goal of connect the world as a whole.
5.3 MARKETING STRATEGY

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Case Narrative
Our marketing plan is to implement more online advertising. We obviously adjust according to
each territory. Certain areas are not as technologically advanced and we must reach them via
mail and radio. However, in the long run everything will be virtual so we must be ready to
pounce on this opportunity when it arises.

5.4 SALES STRATEGY


Our employees have stock in our company as an incentive program. We have health insurance,
dental, and vision insurance. We take care of our employees and as we generate revenue we
will put money back into the lower tier people of our company who are making this happen for
everyone. This should keep our sales efficient and high. The phones sell themselves.
5.5 STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
We plan to begin outsourcing internationally and need to develop some relationships. This could
reach a whole new consumer market. However, we have to do some research and see which is
the least costly as well as our target market. We should try to go after areas that prefer what we
already have going for us, rather than branching into emerging markets we are not familiar with.
We must also understand how other phone companies are doing in these areas currently, and
what their comparative advantages are. This could be done by surveys, online research, and
investigation.
5.6 OPERATIONS
Management
Facility
Machines
5.7 GOALS
The following is a list of business goals and milestones we wish to accomplish within the next
three years.
Secure necessary funds.
Penetrate Appleonia.
Become the most profitable manufacturer in the market.
Establish a solid reputation as an industry leader.

5.8 EXIT STRATEGY


Should management or our investors seek a business exit, there are several options we would
be willing to pursue. Our company could most likely be sold to a manufacturing company that

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Case Narrative
does already manufactures smartphones. Possibly a competitor. Our inventory and equipment
at the very least can be simply liquidated.

6.0 FINANCIAL PLAN


Aside from applying for a loan for next quarter, we are confident that we will garner enough
capital through sales that, along with the loan should give us enough capital to effectively
penetrate the remaining market and introduce the Android operating system to Appleonia. The
loan will act as a safety net in case our sales fall short of our ability to meet our production
numbers.

6.1 USE OF FUNDS


Our first loan was used to help us ease the transition into Googleisle as well as produce more
units to be sold to two markets. The second loan will be used in the same manner. We plan on
expanding into Appleonia and tighten our grip around SMOBILEs neck.

6.2 CASH FLOWS/INCOME STATEMENT & BALANCE SHEET


While our cash flows remain positive, we are gearing up for a push into a new sales territory.
We have been issuing stock and taking out loans to add to our growing sales numbers to
increase inventory over the long run while keeping up with the latest technology. We plan on
using most of the loan money (7 million) to secure the capital necessary to cover the initial cost
of going into a new market ($ 2 million plus $3.00/unit production costs, 2.3 million total with
450k units forecast to be produced). The leftover ($) capital from the loan will be used for the
added production costs.
6.3 FORECAST OF SALES
For the first four years our units sold range from a high, in year 3, of 372,802 to a low, in year 1,
of 200,000. The first year we just didnt have enough capital due to initial investment of
branching into googisle and early investments in research and development. Overall 4 periods
our avg. units sold is right around 300,000. Our sales is also correlated to our price at the time.
The first period our price was the highest, but the market was just being penetrated so we
actually missed out on sales, but so did everyone else due to lack of capital and start up costs
which caused a lack of inventory. The second year we lowered our price to 300 through a sales
promotion of 30%, but we did make a transition here to a longer battery life, which upped our
cost per unit of production from 15$ to 30$. This was a long run goal and is no playing out. We
ended up taking a loss this period of about ($6.5) million. The first period we profited $10.5
million, the third period $20.8 million, and the fourth period $28.2 million. I predicted a 5% sales
growth this period, which would bump our units sold to about 315,000 and with the recent news
of a market economic crisis coming and economy shifts...weve decided to drop our price to

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Case Narrative
$300 per phone hoping those that do buy phones will go with us since our brand equity and
qualities are still top tier. So with a lower price and a predicted sales growth to 315,000 we
would make approximately 22,055,000. This is if we predicted a growth. However, this is the first
financial crisis we are facing so there could be a large deficit all the way across the industry
affecting all competitors. The cost of leftover inventory is very expensive. Hopefully, our brand
equity and top speed, battery life, and app store combatted with our advertising/marketing
effectiveness can surmount the economic crisis and we can get those customers that have
prepared for risks in life and still have disposable income to buy phones and choose Sirius
Cells.

6.3 ASSUMPTIONS
We will beat SMOBILE in penetrating into Appleonia. We are assuming that they are building up
capital to make a push just as we are, we are just hoping to beat them to it. We have to assume
that if and when they do chose to break into that market, we need to be ready to battle them for
sales. As the only two companies running on the Android operating system, the opportunity to
be the only direct competition to the Apple operating system in Appleonia.

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