This week, with computers at the ready, the classroom became the battleground for Markstrat, a competitive simulation that mimics the real-life situations of companies fighting it out for increases in market share, profitable growth and rising share prices over the course of eight years.
It was a great opportunity for us to put all we’ve learnt so far at EADA into practice and see the wider company implications of our marketing choices in the long-term. We used our skills in market research, strategic marketing and product policy, to develop and launch new products or to re-launch or withdraw those brands that were struggling and had little profitable future. Valuable lessons were learnt about efficient resource allocation with varying levels of budget (often beginning in the red!), as well as the need for accurate forecasting as our companies: Royal, T-rex, Super5, Mapple and LOL, learnt to survive and grow profitably in the Markstrat market.
Our time management and team organizational skills were also put to the test as Rock, Tomaya!, Soft, Move and Lolita (to name but a few of our brands) fought to best fulfil the ever-changing needs of the target consumers and to position themselves as the market leaders for different segments.
Over the course of the challenging yet enjoyable eight Markstrat years we have hopefully grown (not aged!) to become wiser about the wider and multiple implications of any marketing decisions we make in the future.
Written by Libby Graham, International Master in Marketing 2015
