BSG Guide

 

BSG Guide

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Overview

So I bet you are in a business class, and your Professor tells you about this strategy game that you and your classmates will be involved in.  Well I am here to help you understand how the game operates and how you can gain the advantage on your competition through understanding all of the decisions you are going to make.

We are going to cover the major pages you will see once you open up the decision making screen.

• Corporate Citizenship
• Sales Forecast
• Plant Capacity
• Branded Production
• Branded Distribution
• Internet Marketing
• Wholesale Marketing
• Celebrities Bids
• Private-Label Operations
• Finance & Cash Flow

 As an industry champion, I have been through the game and won using special strategies. For a comprehensive review of your game or help developing winning strategies e-mail me at bsghero@gmail.com.

Corporate Citizenship

Corporate Citizenship

Corporate Citizenship affects image rating because if you spend money on various social responsibility initiatives customers will view your brand higher. It takes several years of SR to start seeing a large effect on your image rating, however you should see a couple extra points added in Year 11. CC & SR are completely optional and you do not have to participate. It will not hurt your image rating by not investing in CC &SR, however there is a award starting in year 14 for the company that spends the most in CSR.

Below you will find a screenshot of the default corporate citizenship page you will find when you first launch the decision entries screen in Year 11.

You can see that you have several decisions to make in terms of how much you want to budget on corporate citizenship.

My recommendations starting from the top.

Use of "Green" footwear materials - No don't do it. It costs a lot  of money and the benefits don't outweigh the costs of producing.

Use of Recycled Boxing/ Packaging - Once again don't use, like the "green" footwear materials the costs heavily outweigh the benefits.

Energy Efficiency Initiatives - I would recommend using this as it boosts your Assets and is depreciated every year. 

Charitable Contributions - Never, unless you really want that CSR award, it has not really any other benefit

Ethics Training/ Enforcement - Always use this for "All Employees" as it provides the best bang for your buck. Every year this amount will go down and you will start seeing the effects right away.

Workforce Diversity Program - Always use this along with Ethics Training as the two in combination are the cheapest investments you can make in CSR.

In closing, use ethics training for "all employees" and workforce diversity program every year and the cost per pair will drop each year making it more valuable as time progresses.

Understanding the Sales Forecast Screen

Understanding the Sales Forecast Screen

This screen is a very important tool in BSG, that when used properly can guide you in making your decisions for the year.

Internet Sales Considerations

• Internet Price, 
• Models Offered
• Free Shipping

Wholesale Considerations

• Wholesale Price by Region
• S/Q Rating 
• Models Available
• Rebate Offer
• Retail Outlets Utilized
• Retailer Support
• Delivery Time
• Celebrity Appeal
• Number of Companies competing in Region

Through this screen you can make guesstimates as to what your competitors will do in the upcoming year and base those results as to how your company should react.

Internet Considerations

This section allows you to forecast what your internet sales will be based on price, models offered and free shipping. You can also make guesstimates on what your competitors will do based on previous years data or by making a reasonable guess. All of these considerations will be covered in detail in the Internet Marketing page.

 Wholesale Considerations

This section covers things you would normally find in the wholesale marketing pages and let's you make judgements on what you think your competitors will do. At the top of each region, you can click on the little graph icon and quickly change estimates based on your competition being more or less competitive in the upcoming year. You can quickly change sq ratings of competitors to see how it affects your sales. You can also change how many competitors are going to compete in each region, so if you know one team will stay out of EA you can reduce that number by 1 and get better estimates of market share and sales for the region.