Hello

Welcome to the blog for group 3 in MGMT 490. I've made some initial observations after spanding some time in the Marketplace simulation.

Here's the situation, copied pretty much directly from the sim:
-Microcomputer business in introductory stage of product life cycle. All competitors begin with same market knowledge and resources.
-No history, no competitors in the market.
-Selling to business customers through corporate-owned sales offices in New York, Toronto, Paris, and Tokyo and via the web.
-Marketing strategy focused on direct sales to customers using a sales force and also through a web site.
-Three market segments include :
*Workhorse( largest segment - lowest price, easy to use basic computers)
*Traveler( higher price than Workhorse for comparable performance but with added mobility)
*Mercedes( highest price, smallest segment - high-performance machines for highly skilled, demanding users)
-We need to focus on two of these segments.

For quarter 1, here are the decisions we need to make:
1. Come up with a name.
2. Decide on roles/responsibiities for group members.
3. Invest the $2 million we have for the quarter.
4. Research the market.
5. Establish corporate goals and strategix direction.
6. Design the two brands for the segments we've identified.
7. Open a sales office and/or web center.
8. Build the plant.
9. Make sure to leave at least $1000 in the bank.

I think we should hold off on a company name until we have had more insight into our corporate direction. I would like to volunteer to be part of the market research task.

There is a practice feature that allows us to make decisions and see their effects without actually doing the sim "for real". I think it is a good place to start.

Quarter 1 is due February 2 at 2pm.