The Practice Company
Examples of past events

Developing a multifunctional view of business issues

Challenge:
A multinational consumer goods company was looking for a way to integrate the 5 learning streams (Finance, Production, Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing, Individual & Team Performance) of their quarterly, 2 week long management seminar aimed at functional managers with at least 5 years of management experience.

Solution Overview:
We designed a 4 day long "Management Practice Event" built on a customized computer based simulation. The event was fully integrated into the 2 week long seminar and built on the learnings of the previous 10 days to provide participants the opportunity of practicing them so that they:

  • understood the respective roles, issues and resulting business trade-off of the company's main functions
  • internalized the road to Value Creation through understanding and applying the value drivers
  • were able to maximize individual and team performances in relations with other functions and acquired management skills in line with the company's leadership principles

Detailed Schedule:
The "Management Practice Event" consisted of 4 periods representing 1 business year in which every team needs to make a number of decisions (product pricing, product development, hiring of employees, production planning, etc.). At the beginning of each period, teams received the financial statements of their companies as well as market research reports and news dispatches. At the end of each period every team's decisions were fed into the simulation engine which worked out the consequences of those decisions in the context of a competitive marketplace.

(please click here for the timetable - pdf (-100K))

Key activities for each period:

Period 1:
Participants familiarize themselves with their new company and business environment.
Specifically they:
Analyze their own company and competition (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Develop a strategic plan (where are you going and how will you get there)
Organize their team, activities and decision process
Make their first set of detailed yearly business decisions
Period 2:
Participants are starting to understand the dynamics of the marketplace and are tightening their strategic approach.
Specifically they:
Focus more on consumer needs and segments
Identify new market opportunities
Decide on new product characteristics and put them into R&D
Period 3:
The competition heats up dramatically with a flurry of new product introductions and product repositionings.
Key activities include:
In-depth competitive analysis
Analysis of operational costs and capacity management
Clear understanding of value creation process and value drivers
Period 4:
Participants' reflect on what worked and what didn't. Do we need to adjust our strategy or just the execution?
Participants focus now turns to:
In depth market testing
Keeping a keen eye on financial measures
Management of the product portfolio

The "Management Practice Event" then concludes with presentations by each team to the coaches and representatives of the client's senior management. Participants reflect on their own effectiveness in strategy formulation and execution, the key business trade-offs between functions and their team performance. Finally they relate their learnings of the value creation process back to their own industry / company and rework their real-life "To Do" list for improved business results when they get back to their job.

Facilities:
We made use of the company's own training facilities including an auditorium and 6 study rooms equipped with 2 computers, a printer and white board. Meals were provided on location and accommodation was arranged in a close-by hotel.

Top of page

International leadership in globalizing markets

It is a stand-alone 5 day event designed for a multinational client and built on the TOPSIM® Global simulation. This event was targeted at senior functional managers.
(please click here for a detailed schedule - pdf (-100K))

Top of page

Strategic and operative marketing in action

A 3 day event built on the TOPSIM® Marketing simulation targeted at junior managers.
(please click here for a detailed schedule - pdf (-100K))

Top of page

Successful business creation

An intensive 2 day event built on the TOPSIM® easyStart-up simulation for young, aspiring entrepreneurs.
(please click here for a detailed schedule - pdf (-100K))

We have many more examples and are looking forward to designing a "Management Practice Event" that fits your needs, so please do not hesitate to contact us for a non-binding discussion.

Top of page

 

MPE