Imagine managing eight years of business decisions in just one week. During the International MBA at EADA, that's exactly what we experienced through Business Simulation Week - an intensive exercise designed to test our strategic thinking, teamwork, and decision-making under pressure.
Business Simulation Week Begins
After two trimesters of several subjects and assignments, we were challenged to put everything we had learned into practice. The Business simulation recreated a competitive business environment where we had to make decisions across marketing, R&D, supply chain, sales, and finance.
For this experience, we used a software called “Markstrat," a world-renowned business simulation platform to teach marketing strategy and strategic decision-making. We were divided into 7 teams, each representing a company that started with two products already on the market. In my team’s case, one product was performing well in terms of sales, while the other was struggling.
Our goal was to win the simulation by increasing profitability and market share. We had many opportunities to do that such as improving existing products, launching new products in the same market or entering new markets. And so, the game began.
Building Our Strategy
From the beginning, my group assigned each person responsibility for a specific business area. Since I have a background in marketing and product development, I was in charge of analyzing market trends and product positioning. My teammates focused on estimating demand, setting pricing, forecasting production, and defining the sales and commercial strategy. This structure helped us a lot, and we always made the final decisions together.
One of our smartest early decisions was purchasing all available market research. This helped us better understand the market trends, consumer behavior, and competitor activity. It was a very strong move, as it allowed us to launch a new product that precisely matched customer needs and quickly became the leader in its segment. Our strongest existing product also continued to grow through consistent strategy in pricing, clear positioning, and maintaining product quality. This made us one of the top players in that segment.
However, not everything went according to plan. In the early years, we underestimated demand, causing stock shortages and missed sales opportunities because we were too conservative. After recognizing that mistake, we increased our production forecast and improved our market performance.
From Year 3 onward, our strategy was paying off and we started winning the competition. Our market share increased due to our successful efforts in launching new products that met specific customer needs and strengthening one of our core products. We also managed to reposition one of our weaker products, improving its performance over time. In some cases, we even were able to influence consumer behavior by competing in areas where competition was limited, which made consumers willing to pay more for our product.
When Success Turned into Overconfidence
As the simulation progressed, a new market began to emerge. Looking back, we reacted too slowly to launch a new product in that space.
At the same time, we also tried to launch a product into a new segment within our existing market. So we ended up with four products in the same market. We spreaded our efforts too thin by launching products across too many segments, instead of strengthening our core portfolio.
Everything changed in Year 6, as we began to experience the consequences of our earlier decisions. The launch of too many products caused our efforts to become overly dispersed. We lost focus on a consistent long-term strategy and started reacting more to competitors. Rather than maintaining our positioning strategy, we adjusted our pricing simply to protect our market share. We also overproduced, to avoid the stock shortages we had experienced in the early years, which significantly increased our costs - excess inventory, financial pressure, and lower margins.
In addition, we spent too much time trying to rescue products that were no longer competitive. Instead of continuing to invest in underperforming products, we should have focused on strengthening our successful products and generating greater demand for them, rather than trying to satisfy every segment.
We could clearly see these decisions reflected in the results on the simulation platform. After every round, the professor presented the results and the company’s performance, allowing us to analyse what had happened and discuss how our strategic decisions influenced long-term outcomes.
Our overall journey showed the full picture: During the first two years, we were in a relatively weak position. From Year 3 to Year 6, we became one of the top-performing companies. From Year 7 to Year 8, our growth stalled, we started losing market share and our competitors gradually overtook us. It was very interesting to observe this 8-year business journey unfold in just one week, as it clearly demonstrated how today's decisions often shape tomorrow's results.
The Biggest Lessons I Took Away
Just like in real business, I learned that companies should first focus on understanding customer needs in order to develop and deliver a strong product. They should also focus on strengthening the positioning and quality of their products. It is important not to waste time and resources on every opportunity, but instead to be intentional about where to compete.
Sometimes, being among the first to enter a market creates a significant competitive advantage allowing companies to innovate, learn faster, and establish their position before others. However, speed without focus can be just as risky as being too conservative. Waiting too long can also lead to missed opportunities and lost sales.
I could also relate this business simulation experience to my previous role as a marketing specialist in a pharmaceutical company, as many of the challenges we faced also appeared earlier in my professional life. In both cases, I learned how important it is for a business to first understand customer needs, and how important collaboration and communication are when making business decisions.
Author
Aline Costa Octavio
Participant - International MBA 2025-2026