This past Wed & Thurs the entire first-year class descended on the auto industry.  Each learning team group was assigned to take charge of an auto manufacturer’s financial, operational, and marketing strategies for the next seven years.  We were tasked with evaluating the current position of each company in respect to overall economic conditions, the different market segments for automobiles, and its competitors.  All of the major auto manufacturers participated in letting us run their companies—from the large market leaders with vast dealer coverage and successful models, to the innovative niche players, to the luxury manufacturers.  I guess the government thought that they had nothing to lose?

Well, luckily for us (and possibly the auto manufacturers) the “government” I speak of was actually the StratSim World HQ (conveniently located in classroom 130 on the Darden campus) and not the United States federal government.  The auto manufacturers, of course, are not the GM’s, Ford’s, BMW’s, etc. that you might be familiar with, but the ever so famous—in the world of StratSim at least—Amazing Cars, BMW (Best Motor Works), Driven Motors, and others.  While many of us would jump at the chance to try and turn-around some of the troubled automakers (especially my classmates in the Darden Turnaround & Restructuring Club) I doubt that really any of us could say at this point that we would feel completely comfortable with all of the responsibility that would come along with such an opportunity… maybe after we finish second-year though.

This simulation was very entertaining and educational.  It was fun to work together with my learning team as we strategized how to finance our desired growth, which prototypes to bring to market, which markets to target, how determine and reach our desired customer base, and how to best return value to our shareholders.  Overall, it was a great simulation and we learned about many different aspects of managing corporate strategy.  Our company Best Motor Works (BMW) was the leader of the economy car segment and had players in the family and truck segments.  While we inherited a poor financial situation, we were able to successfully recapitalize the business and push forward with planned expansion.  In the end we were able to generate $6.5B in net cumulative income and dramatically increase the market capitalization of our company by upgrading and repositioning our models so that they reflected the needs of their respective market segments.