1. SimVenture Evolution Lesson 6 - Product www.simventure.co.uk
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2. Summary of Lesson 5 In this module we covered: Naming your company
Select your team| role| leader
Reflective Journal
The CBI skills you may have developed today are:
A positive attitude (readiness to take part, openness to new ideas and activities, desire to achieve)
Self-management – readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, time management, readiness to improve own performance
Problem solving- analysing facts and circumstances and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions.
Team working – respecting others, co-operating, negotiating/ persuading, contributing to discussion.
Communication and literacy-application of literacy, ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy, including listening and questioning.
Application of information technology-basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spread sheets, file management and the use of internet search engines.
Make sure in your journal that you provide evidence of where you have developed one or more of these skills.
Summary of Lesson 5
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3. Product Overview of what we’re going to cover today:
New Product Development
Create a new product identifying selling points
Reflective Journal
In this module learners will learn how use the Market Research reports to inform the decision to create a new product for the organisation or stay with its existing product.
Learners will continue with the reflective journal.
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4. Process to get to market
Research
Company
set-up
Product
Create new product
Selling points & pricing
Promotions
Sales Channels
Production
More research
Employability
Skills & Capabilities
Enterprise
Innovation
Entrepreneurship
In order to get the best out of running your virtual business we have given you a structure to work through called THE PROCESS TO GET TO MARKET.
This is the process model you should follow to get the business moving along.
For those of you who don’t like to work in a structured way please feel free to run the virtual business as you’d like to but this process works and could be a great starting point for you.
The basic process to get to market is to start with Research and in particular Market Research and we completed this section in a previous module.
So, today we’re going to look at the product your company is selling.
So, here is the process to get to market and where we are currently in the process.
This week we’re moving onto to DESIGNING A PRODUCT AND/OR CREATING A PRODUCT DESIGN sections.
The basic process to get to market…
Action - Gather and analyse all the market research reports. If there are no reports you’ll need to order them in the simulation.
Competition
Customer
Focus Group
Segment
Market overview
Why - To inform: Product Design / Promotions / Sales Channels
The Scenario Briefing & Research Reports provide market intelligence to inform your decisions.
* Evaluate an existing product [PRODUCT DESIGN]
Taking into consideration your research
A simple approach to start with is to ‘copycat’ the competition
* Create a new product [PRODUCT DESIGN]
The design process has 3 stages:
A concept or blueprint with no time or cost to generate (New Design)
A technical specification (requires hours assigned to the design process using the Change Strategy button). As quarters are run the designated hours are assigned to completing the design process.
A completed design containing the detail required for manufacture
Set Selling Points in line with your product design [BRANDING]
Choose a Primary Segment and select a Secondary Segment if you wish.
Set your Product Design ready for Production [PRICING]
Set the selling price (and discount if you wish).
Set Promotions [PROMOTIONS]
To generate awareness about your company and its products…
Set Sales Channels strategy [SALES CHANNELS]
To push your product through the channels.
Manufacture some Products [PRODUCTION]
So they are ready for display in the Sales Channel outlets.
Gather more research to keep your market intelligence up to date: [ALL MARKET RESEARCH REPORTS]
View detailed feedback on your product.
Identify the sub-segments / demographics your sales were drawn from in the last quarter.
Identify the Promotions which attracted Customer attention.
Identify changes as they occur (Competitor Designs & Market Share).
Demographic
Identify the potential reach of Promotions & Sales Channels for each demographic group.
A breakdown of the demographics and preferred Sales Channel for each Sub-segment.
From this point on you should be gaining traction in the market and the challenge is to manage cashflow expand your sales to begin to turn a regular profit.
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5. Product Design
In this module we’re going to analyse and evaluate whether our current product matches your customers expectations, or whether you need to design a new product.
A simple approach to start with is to ‘copycat’ the competition but to decide that you should now complete the case study on the next slide.
Once you have logged into your game complete the Product Case Study.
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6. Log in Open up a browser remembering not to use Internet Explorer.
Try Chrome or Firefox instead.
Go to - don’t forget to add the last forward slash.
Log in with your user name and password using the LOGIN button.
Open the activity that has been allocated to you.
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7. The Next Step
Once you’ve logged in you will see this page called MAIN MENU.
Go to the second section called OPEN ACTIVITY outlined in GREEN and CLICK.
Open the activity that has been allocated to you.

8. Next This is the next screen you will see.
From here navigate to the left hand side of the screen to R & D and CLICK

9. Product Design
Once you have CLICKED into PRODUCT DESIGN you will see the screen above.
Your current product is called StreetSmart.
DOUBLE CLICK on STREETSMART (outlined in green) and a new screen will pop up (next slide)

10. View Design
In the VIEW DESIGN tab you can see the Attributes, Components, Design Time (hrs), Production (hrs), Tech Level and your product’s overall score.
You need to have this information available to complete the PRODUCT CASE STUDY coming up next.

11. Product Case Study
TASK: Read the notes under this slide first and then answer these questions:
Scrutinize the focus group research report(s) in the simulation and consider:
-What is the feedback customers are giving the company regarding the existing product(s)?
-What product attributes are important to your target market?
-How significant are competitors in the same market place?
-Does the feedback suggest that refinements to existing/new products is needed? Explain.
-Go to R & D-Product Design-View Design to find your current product attributes (USP’s)
Student Notes
Ref: Product Design Page 1 of 1 Ref: DL-SCS-105-ProductDesign-SN
Title: Product Design
Scenario: Driving Lesson Format: Static Case Study
Green Spokes is a bicycle manufacturing business that has been running for a few years.
The company has invested heavily and is developing a strong presence within the Road Bikes segment.
Sales figures are good. Green Spokes currently offers one product.
For further in-depth information please also read the scenario briefing in the simulation.
The company is continually reviewing its product(s) to remain competitive and regularly analyses and evaluates its current and future product designs.
Part of the analysis and evaluation will include a review of:
• The feedback customers are giving the company regarding its current product(s)
• The attributes that are important to the target market (speed, off-road, comfort, weight and practicality)
• What competitors are offering to the same target market
TASK:
Scrutinize the focus group research report(s) in the simulation and consider:
-What is the feedback customers are giving the company regarding the existing product(s)?
-What product attributes are important to your target market?
-How significant are competitors in the same market place?
-Does the feedback suggest that refinements to existing/new products is needed? Explain.
-Go to R & D-Product Design-View Design to find your current product attributes (USP’s) – see previous slide.
After completing the Product Case Study you can decide whether you want to keep the existing product as it is, or create a new design.
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12. What was your decision? Existing product New Product
After completing the Product Case Study you can decide whether you want to keep the existing product as it is, or create a new design.
What did you decide to you, e.g. stay with your existing product| copy the competition| design a new product?
Implement your decision in the simulation?
What impact did this decision have on the R & D department and the company?
If you didn’t like the outcome of your decision why not rewind the simulation and try a different decision.
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13. Which CBI skills were developed today?
As we outlined in a previous module.
Along with the skills outlined by the QAA at the beginning of this program of studies we’re also going to explore the Chamber of British Industry’s (CBI) definition of employability.
This is because these are the skills that are specifically needed by employers along with the skills identified in the QAA documentation.
This module will help you to become more aware of what employability skills are and how you can develop them.
To do this you’ll be taking part in an evaluation of your skills both before and after the program for a number of reasons:
Part of your assessment will then reflect on the development of these skills.
You will be able to see how your skills have developed and add them to your CV with evidence of how you’ve developed them.
If you haven’t already, please download and read the PDF document you can find here:
Think about which employability skills you have developed in this module.
Whilst you might think you already have all these skills if I asked you show some evidence from this module would you be able to do that?
If not, then you have some further development to do for this module.
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14. Journal
Finding the Journal – go to LEFT HAND SIDE OF SCREEN – ON BLUE TABS YOU WILL SEE JOURNAL.
Click the tab called Journal and you should see a screen like this.

15. Add Journal Entry
Write up a summary of what you’ve learnt in this module and which employability skills you’ve developed in preparation for your assessed work.
Give the entry a TITLE
CATEGORY
AREA
MESSAGE - Write up your summary which you can use in your assessment. Keep it short and bullet pointed as happens in the real business world.
Remember to press SUBMIT to save the entry.
Well done.
Go back into the journal to check that your notes are there.

16. Summary In this module we covered: New Product Development
Create a new product identifying selling points
Reflective Journal
The CBI skills you will have developed today are:
A positive attitude (readiness to take part, openness to new ideas and activities, desire to achieve
Self-management – readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, time management, readiness to improve own performance
Team working – respecting others, co-operating, negotiating/ persuading, contributing to discussion (if you are working in a group).
Business and customer awareness- basic understanding of the key drivers for business success and the need to provide customer satisfaction.
Problem solving- analysing facts and circumstances and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions.
Application of numeracy-manipulation of numbers, general mathematical awareness and its application in practical contexts.
Application of information technology-basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spread sheets, file management and the use of internet search engines.
Summary
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