Instructions for Journal Entries
As part of your individual preparation, there is a required journal for quarters 2-6. Prior to each
team meeting, each team member should make their own assessment of the team’s overall
performance (reported on the balanced score card starting after the first few quarters) and then assess
the specific information for all aspects of the marketing mix (the product ratings or marketing
communications effectiveness, for instance). Although the first few quarters do not report the balanced
score card, you can still explain why you did what you did and then strategize based on that. Specifically,
for each quarter you should formulate your recommendations ahead of the team meeting and post your
analysis and conclusions in the journal. The journals serve as the team’s collective information site
(when preparing the final presentations) and replaces having to write a paper. I do not want a straight
restatement of information from the simulation. I want you to tell me what you think the information
means. What does your balanced scorecard result indicate? What were the significant driving factors to
those results? What aspects of your product, price, promotion, and distribution worked and didn’t and
why. Provide specific results and recommendations. Looking at past results is only part of the analysis
(the easy part in fact), you need to recommend forward actions for the next quarter’s moves.
At the team meeting, the decisions for the quarter should be finalized. After each team meeting,
each team member should defend their recommendations for the quarter’s decisions. If the team
agrees with your suggestions, you can note that as part of the next week’s journal. If the team
disagreed, explain the decision and rationale. If the team decides to adjust or change strategy, then
there should be a posting explaining the change. If I look at your team’s standings, I should be able to
get an idea of what the team was doing and why from the journals. The final presentation will have a
separate description handed out later which will utilize the journal information.