The document summarizes key learnings and takeaways from Outlander's participation in the Business Simulation course. It includes perspectives from the heads of R&D, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Finance departments. Some of the main lessons learned include the importance of listening to customers, continuous learning from mistakes, maintaining a long-term strategy, interdepartmental coordination, and focusing on the overall goal of increasing shareholder value. The simulation provided invaluable real-world insights into managing a company and making integrated decisions across different functions.

1. Presented by
Mayur Dharmendra
Chirag Lal
Chakshu Motta
Vatsal Rathore
Siddharth Sabu
Kshitij Saxena
Outlander
Business
Simulation
Review

2. Key Takeaway R&D- Siddharth Sabu
The Business Simulation course has truly been one of the most challenging, thought provoking, and insightful
endeavors I've had to take as a part of my academic coursework. I believe it has been one of the most profound and
realistic insights one could experience into the working of a a corporate. The entire process represented a very steep
learning curve, and gave me the opportunity to acquire a tremendous amount of knowledge and information having
real world implications. Throughout the process I was able to learn the importance of forming a well informed
knowledge base, taking decisions that are well integrated with an overall strategy, and forming a long term viewpoint
in order to maintain a goal oriented outlook.. One fact that was emphasized throughout this experience was the
value of team work which I feel we could have improved upon as a company in order to make decisions amongst
departments more holistic. Due to the unfortunate circumstances that surrounded our decision process for the year
2024 our company did not fare well, however the offline values suggest that our long term strategy would have
panned out successfully had we had the opportunity.

3. Strategic Outlook
The strategy adopted early on by the R&D department was to quickly roll out products across all market segments,
which was in line with our company focus of rapid expansion. Hence, I decided to put the racer segment of bikes into
development early on in 2017, followed by kids and leisure segment bikes in 2018, and finally the commuter bike in
2019. However 2020 onwards the firm observed a significant outflow of cash, and diminishing SHV and as a whole
had to concentrate on cutting down losses and shifted to a more optimal strategy. As opposed to rapid expansion. I
became aware of the fact that two of our products namely the adventure and racer segment bikes had significantly
deviated from their ideal perceptual map points. However, a lack of funds prevented any further product
modification immediately. The firms optimal operations strategy was successful in making us cash and profit positive
by 2021. The R&D department now had the funds to revamp the adventure and racer product offerings, with an
objective to make our product portfolio more consumer centric. By the end of 2021 Outlander had successfully
developed products across all segments.

4. Mistakes and Improvements
In the year 2017 with our first development project the Racer segment bike, I started out with the thought process of
bigger being better, I developed a racer bike which was superior in terms of values (style-21,tech-92) as compared to
the indicative ideal values (style-20.5,tech-86), however only achieved a success rating of 84%. The fact that a
technically superior product was considered inefficient threw me off and made me realize I was myopic and
neglected the importance of customer preferences. I understood that the perceptual map is not just a guide line, it’s
a rule book as it represents the ideal product from the customer viewpoint and any deviation from it creates a
negative consumer perception. Following this mistake I was extra cautious with all future development projects
sticking to the exact customer specifications and was eventually triumphant in achieving a 100% success rating for all
our products.

5. Key Learnings
One of the most important lessons to be learnt from the entire Business Simulation course as an R&D head was the
significance of listening to your customers. I realized the consumer perceptual map is a bible which should be
adhered to while making all development decisions, in order to create products that are in line with customer’s
preferences.
The significance of continuous learning was also reiterated throughout the journey. You may make decisions that are
well intended, but ill informed. The important point to take away would be to learn from your mistakes, and make
sure you improve in all facets when you have to make a similar decision at a later point in life. I tried to keep this in
mind after initially failing at a development task.
In 2021, while redeveloping some products I also learnt that patience is essential, you should take your time with
your decisions. I came close to making a very wrong decision of developing new bikes altogether. A careful
understanding of the software parameters led to the discovery that existing products can be tweaked and this saved
us a tremendous amount of wrongful expenditure.

6. Key Takeaway Marketing - Chirag Lal
The business simulation course has arguably been the most ‘hands-on’ course I have had the pleasure of undertaking
in my time as a student in the MBATech program. It has provided me with a great insight into the workings of a
corporate. It has exposed me to a 360°- learning of the interrelated functions of the various departments in an
organisation as well as granting me the opportunity to learn, monitor and react to the behaviour of the various other
competing firms in the marketplace. The various intricacies in regard to the ripple effects of seemingly small
decisions intrigued me and sparked a want to learn and experiment with the ‘behind the scenes’ working of my
department(Marketing) and observe how my actions impact my company(Outlanders) in an eco-system of
companies competing for the biggest piece of the pie. Working towards a common organisational goal in tandem
with my team members heading the other essential departments has been delightful as well as an extremely
valuable learning experience. Despite our setbacks, we were on an upward trajectory till the unfortunate
circumstances for the year 2024 transpired. However, our offline values suggest that our strategy had a long-term
viability.

7. Strategic Outlook
Keeping in line with our strategy of rapid expansion, I invested heavily in branding as I believed that in order to
branch out rapidly in an alien market segment, a firm backbone of brand awareness is vital. However as they years
rolled by, I had to modify my approach. In years 2017, 2018 and 2019, our company was the leader in brand
awareness with values of 37%, 62% and 76%. At the beginning of 2020, our company’s SHV had effectively
halved(16.19 to 8.03). Therefore, our initial strategy of rapid expansion was out of the question and we opted for a
more optimized and balanced strategy in order to improve the long-term financial health of our company. Branding
costs were reduced, and advertising costs of Adventure, Racer and Leisure were reduced to a tune of $ 5,00,000,
$5,50,000 and $1,50,000, respectively. Quite predictably, our brand awareness decreased by 4%. For 2021, we
continued with the optimized strategy since within a year of its implementation, it had brought our profit as well as
cash reserves into positive figures. In 2022-2023, our strategy revolved around minimizing losses, increasing profits
as well as SHV(we aimed to double it in 2023) through the implementation of an optimized line up with the NEO
series.

8. Mistakes and Improvements
Owing to our favourable performance in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, I am inclined to say that that my marketing
efforts were on point and hence, satisfactory. However, in hindsight, I have to admit that instead of increasing our
branding budget but such great increments(from $1 Million to $2 Million and then straight to $3 Million), we would
have performed similarly well had I just ‘tested the water’ with smaller increments. Over the next couple of years, I
did decrease the marketing spending in order to cut losses. In the years 2020 and 2021, I learned the value of an
optimized product that adheres well to the perceptual map- i.e. no amount of branding will result in the favourable
sales of a product that is way off the consumes’ perception. In 2022, I expected the NEO series to sell extremely well
because they were highly optimised products- unfortunately, to my surprise, the faired poorly because I did not
invest adequately in their budgeting(since we were trying to cut our losses). Going back to the point of smaller
increments- through our stellar sales in the year 2023, we inferred that there exists an optimum compromise
between the branding budget and a satisfactory brand awareness.

9. Key Learnings
In 2017, investing heavily in branding was an excellent idea because this seemingly simple step resulted in an
industry leading brand awareness which in turn maximized our brand value and positioned our company firmly in
the minds of the consumers. In 2018, our exceptional brand awareness inculcated a great degree of confidence in
our arguably bold decision of investing such a hefty sum in branding. Our gamble paid off and we were well on our
way to diversifying our product portfolio. In 2019, in the case of Adventure, although the marketing functions were
carried out adequately, our forecasted sales were way off the actual sales. Judging by our performance in 2020-2021,
we concurred that adhering to the perceptual map is crucial in every facet of functioning. In 2022, I was reminded of
the reminded of the crucial role that marketing department plays in the holistic development and sale of a product.
Through the constant variance in our company’s brand awareness, we noticed a trend: as long as our company’s
brand awareness is higher than the majority of other company’s, our company can still produce a favorable economic
outcome- despite our brand awareness dropping, our profits and cash reserves increased. Therefore, we inferred
that there exists an optimum compromise between the branding budget and a satisfactory brand awareness.

10. Key Takeaway Sales – Vatsal Rathore
While it is often said that a college will give you all the knowledge they have from the past and present, only the real
world will teach you about the future. This statement itself highlights the importance of real-world dynamics of
markets.
The Business Simulation course was a godsend in that it created an atmosphere of thinking on one’s feet and making
the best out of the worst of situations. While a lot depended on what and how we thought about the way to go, the
course also educated us about how to be worthy of having a voice. The corporate guidelines and code of conduct
really provided a sense of how a company functions in the corporate jungle and how you need to present yourself so
that you can make yourself heard.
Finally, it provided a sense of how different departments need to operate in tandem to achieve targets and that how
a team must work together to get to wherever they wish to reach.

11. Strategic Outlook
The strategy adopted early on by the Sales department was to achieve an equitable share of the market which was
around 12%. Therefore, sales forecasting was done accordingly for ongoing product Adv6 to ensure appropriate
production levels. Moreover successful launches followed with large market shares (12% - 20%) in each segment.
Distribution channel partners were reeled in with large retailer margins (45% -50%)
However, midway down the road, we shifted to an optimal operations strategy in order to minimize losses. Hence,
retailer margins were reduced (35%) leading to larger chunks of sales coming in.

12. Mistakes
Extra Support was increased by amounts up to $200,000 to provide incentives to sales channel partners to stock up
on our bikes. High retailer margin for large part of the run led to a loss of a lot of resources that could have been
easily saved.
Did not follow a proper system of setting targets for Y-O-Y sales and focused on covering a large market share
through sellers rather than using appropriate pricing techniques to build a strong market presence.

13. Key Learnings
A proper and efficient sales forecast can lead to efficient communication of production targets for a company. A
proper understanding of forecasting is highly crucial in sales. Realistic targets need to be appropriately set in order to
facilitate production.
Distribution channel partners react directly to the retail margin they are provided. A proper balance of RM and extra
support needs to be established

14. Key Takeaway Operations – Mayur Dharme
While most of the subjects provides us theory knowledge. Online Business Simulation gave me real time
experience by giving me an opportunity to run my own company managing all key decision of the operations
department of the firm.
It gave me real time experience to behave as an operation manager in a firm, interact with other department to
make optimum decisions which developed team management skills, verify and approval of CEO, as well as facing
questions of clients gave me an opportunity to be confident and understand the problem and situation from each
and every angle.
It provided me a sense of how the company functions, what problems do each and every department face within an
organization and how to tackle it. It also gave me an opportunity to always have numerical and accurate goals, make
up with a strategy, take decisions with regards to strategy, wait for the results and learn from mistakes.

15. Strategic Outlook
For the first three year Outlander’s focus was rapid extension, hence strategy followed by operation was to produce
as many SCU’s to achieve production and to invest more on Quality and batch size by keeping objective of 40000
SCU’s and achieving production efficiency above 80%.
When there was decline in cash flow and SHV Outlander’s focus was applying optimal strategy by minimizing
necessary cost of production, hence strategy was to decrease production for the old bikes which had minimum share
in market to clear inventory and focus on production of new bikes. Strategy was followed by maintaining objective
effective SCU of 55000 and reduce idle time to zero by clearing old inventory and maintaining production efficiency
of above 80%
When debt reduced to zero and SHV increased, I again followed expansion strategy by investing more money on
Quality and Maintainance.
.

16. Mistakes and Improvement
Everything was going well till we had improvement in sales and SHV, when one product failed to achieve market
share, I still purchased SHV by predicting rise of market share in the upcoming years. When it was too late I sold SHV
as per sales forecast which happened to reduce idle time to zero.
When we were following optimal strategy, investment for quality and maintenance were kept low which lead to
increase in breakdown, which was later reduced to 6% when huge investment was done on maintenance, quality and
supplier relations..

17. Learnings Outlook
Being in operations department I learnt that how this department is more dependent on following company’s
strategy and Sales forecast to purchase as many SCU’s for the required production. Then investing in maintenance,
quality and supplier relationship by getting information from research and development and finance.
I also learnt to take right decision when there is more idle time left, low production efficiency or more closing
stocks are left and also to follow company’s strategy and make decisions in operation accordingly. When we followed
rapid expansion more focus was on purchasing required SCU’s and investing in Quality but when strategy changed to
Optimal strategy, I learnt that to reduce production with maintaining same investment on quality and maintenance
was the optimum choice.
.

18. Key Takeaways Finance Kshitij Saxena
Business simulation as a whole has been a very intuitive course giving various dimensions about what happens in real
world when there are many competitors for your product and you have to sustain in all aspects to increase the SHV.
Finance department is the backbone of any firm. As department head, I monitored expenditures and targets across other
departments of the firm – Sales, Marketing, Operations, R & D. Besides this, decisions regarding financial activities – share
buyback, share repurchase, raising debt, debt repayment were made keeping in mind the ultimate goal of increasing
Share Holder Value (SHV).
Apart from that inter departmental budget allocation based on their predictions and capabilities was one of the main
takeaways which highlighted that overspending or underspending will always have grave consequences on the sales of the
firm and ultimately the SHV.

19. Strategic Outlook
• First of all the strategy was to maximize SHV by any possible way using various methods.
• In the starting years the strategy was to have rapid targets across markets on all the fronts.
• In the years starting from 2020 it was more of a balanced adjustment and budget allocation considering financial
instability of the firm and constantly decreasing SHV.
• In the year 2022 to 2024 strategy was to turn cash and profits to positive while increasing the market share and
hence improving SHV.
.

20. Mistakes and Improvement
• Lack of mission and overall strategy of the firm throughout.
• Improper budgeting be it over or under.
• Forgot the ultimate goal of increasing SHV.
• Trying to play with numbers without having a proper strategy.
• Each department looking out for themselves and lack of coordination.
• Blame game across departments.
• Randomly adapting competition’s strategy for the firm without checking its viability.
.

21. Learnings Outlook
Business simulation as a whole has been a very intuitive course giving various dimensions about what happens in real
world when there are many competitors for your product and you have to sustain in all aspects to increase the SHV.
Finance department is the backbone of any firm. As department head, I monitored expenditures and targets across
other departments of the firm – Sales, Marketing, Operations, R & D. Besides this, decisions regarding financial
activities – share buyback, share repurchase, raising debt, debt repayment were made keeping in mind the ultimate
goal of increasing Share Holder Value (SHV).
Apart from that inter departmental budget allocation based on their predictions and capabilities was one of the main
takeaways which highlighted that overspending or underspending will always have grave consequences on the sales
of the firm and ultimately the SHV..

22. Key Takeaway CEO – Chakshu Motta
I never thought of a marketing subject to be as intuitive and interesting as this one. Apart from
the theoretical knowledge, the hands on experience gained here was remarkable. I thought that
while handling any project in real life, communication is at The Forefront Of Project Success
Miscommunication can sink a project quickly. Communication is Job One for the project manager.
Poor or lacking communication leads to misinterpreted requirements, re-work, and poor decision
making. All of these can cause projects to fail. As a CEO handling each and every department and
to have knowledge about every aspect of the business was an amazing experience.

23. Mistakes
• The major mistake was to operate the company without the entire knowledge of the software, the
decisions and their outcomes in each and every way.
• One of the biggest mistake was that of not remembering the company’s mission and vision at every
moment, while taking every decision and while formulation every strategy and all points of time.
• Nurturing an overachieving attitude of obtaining all the benefits all at once such as high sales,
highest prices, strongest distribution etc rather than following a clear strategy and believing in it
and achieving targets step by step.
• One of the mistakes that I made is considering every individuals input in every decision of the firm
rather than just of their own departments thus leading to chaos and uncertainty of the decided
strategy
• Another mistake was to trust the competitors as friends with careless handling of sensitive
information such a passwords, internal decisions and data.

24. Key Learnings
• ‘Half Knowledge is a dangerous thing’ was the biggest learning for me which I have experienced
through this course. Taking decisions after completing knowing and understanding the situation and
the outcome is the prime reason for one company’s success and the other company’s failure
• Always having a target and an attainable goal at every point of business and also knowing the
direction in which the company should be going is very important for the long run.
• "Jack of all trades, master of none“, the importance of this figure of speech is realized by me and is a
great learning for me and everyone in my team. Having a master and a specialist at the particular job
can help a task get accomplished much smoother and more efficiently then otherwise.
• One of the biggest learning I would like to post which might seem inappropriate is that There are no
friends when it comes to business, everyone is just a competitor and would sort to whatever means of
tactics to gain over the competition. So, In a firm ensuring that the sensitive data such as strategies,
passwords, etc remain confidential to a very limited number of people.

25. Executive note to the Chairman
• With years of prevalence in the industry, I am ready to share the executive note as your CEO for our
firm ‘Outlander’
• The stable increment of our gross margin, and a continuous growth in brand awareness faced its first
fall after the third rollover. Post which we faced several mismatches and errors in decisions on the
manufacturing and demand forecasting upfront. Also we faced lack of potential in the area of
distribution. We had experienced a rollercoaster ride post the third rollover where our major focus
was to gain maximum sales and make and retain a decent amount of profit so that we can focus just
on improving SHV in the later upcoming years which we were successful on getting in the 2013.
• On the whole, I think we can safely assume we’ve weathered the current storm. However, the past
years did hold many challenges for our company we can all be grateful for the recent signs of an
upturn in our performance and will ensure the graph will always point upwards.
• Like many companies these days, we have a workforce that remains fragile after surviving rounds of
layoffs thus gaining meaningful experience. We operate in an industry that still has decidedly a good
capacity and potential for the future.

26. Comments on department heads
• R&D head Siddharth Sabu – Initially had a lack of information about the software and also lack of
efforts but as the rollovers proceeded he did spend time and effort in learning the software
throughout and was always available for work effectively.
• Marketing head Chirag Lal – Was unaware about the market and the marketing spends of our firm
and the difference in the spends from the competitors. Lacked strategy in deciding the marketing
decisions and not self motivated. Though was always available for the assigned task and attended
every meeting.
• Sales head Vatsal Rathore – Actively participated in decision making and also was self motivated for
working though was not able to figure out why the distribution for our firm was very weak until a
major part of the course was over.

27. Comments on department heads
• Operations head Mayur Dharme – Was aware about all the rules and regulations also had the
knowledge about the software though lacked knowledge about the market and strategy and the ways
and means to improve quality which was either matching or was superior to the competitors until too
late.
• Finance head Kshitij Saxena - Was not self motivated and not a self learner. Lacked knowledge about
the financials as too how much finance to be approved to which department for the largest gain in
SHV and profit. Though he did learn and developed a good strategy to gain the firm a good profit and
double the SHV in 2023

28. Next rollover Target
• Amidst the current situation of chaotic past data our targets for next rollover might not seem
optimum but our current strategy aims at reducing the debt and getting back on track (coming
cash positive) in 2-3 rollovers.
Sales – Average Market share to grow from 4.5% to 8%
Sales Revenue to grow from10M to 45M
Operations - expected quality rating to be maintained above 0.8
Production capacity to be reduced to nearly 30%
SHV to increase from 2.19 $ by at least 0.2$
From a profit of -193M to a profit of –75M and coming profit positive in 2-3 rollovers.