Experience in Simulation

 Pharmasim Periods 3-7

Throughout the completion of Pharmasim periods 3-7, my team partner and I have come across several learning experiences. Before we even started these 5 periods, we were licky enough to have done some ddep analysis into a mini marketing plan. Though at times this process was tiring and time consuming, it did give us a better idea of what to look for in our simulation. It certainly preared us for what was to come.

Entering into period 3, we had a plan in terms of what our marketing strategy would be, what decisions we would make in terms of advertising, promotion, sales force, pricing/price strategy, line extension as well as a timeline we would look at in making specific decisions for our product. For the most part, our predicted timeline has aligned well with the actual simulation processes. Our decisions to increase our advertising and promotion in order to increase brand awareness and sales have worked. Our allocation of sales force also seem to have correlate into greater retailer support, thus more sales. Our pricing has always been higher, which we were worried about, but up to this point we have a good gross margin and our customers see the price at a good tradeoff value.

We have come across some unexpected situations in these periods however. With forecasting, you can never make exact assumptions. No matter what happens, your numbers will not be exact and there's always room for unexpected influences. One of the challenges we have faced is the unpredictability of certain changes. For example, we did not plan for any of the "special" problems that Allround faces. However, we have made good decisions that have worked out for us. With more planning on these decisions, we would have better understanding of how they might affect Allstar. However, the strategic analysis and market planning has enabled us to know our company and product very well, thus allowing us to make on the spot decisions. These situations cover everything from social media, product tampering, and price/discount discrimination.

Another problem we have been having is with our sales force allocation. We have been following our plan well and our products are improving the Allstar Brand. However, even with growth in sales and constant analysis and change in our sales force, we seem to always get a message to consider revising allocation. This message even popped up a lot when I was in practice simulation before we started. It seems that even after analyzing our sales report, the market sales force, channel sales, and other areas, our allocation in sales force for both the Allround and Allround + products are being identified by the simulation.

The last tricky situation we have faced in these periods have to do with our capacity utilization. There will be some periods where we are a certain percentage over utilization, and then other periods where it is of no concern. With an unpredictable budget every period along with different factors such as retail growth and promotional/advertising needs, it is difficult to understand how these factors will indicate demand and retail sales for each period. The fact that we are not over on some periods shows that our decisions do get better and allow the company to stay under utilization, but then there will be the random periods where we are over. We are having trouble identifying how to keep utilization down for all periods.

Periods 3-7 have taugth me that preparation is key. Understanding your product, the market, the competitors, and the consumers is essential if you want to increase brand awareness, increase profit, increase stock price; whatever the company goals are. Making sure that you plan out these goals and steps to take ahead of time make the marketing process easier and allows the marketers to understand the product and the influential factors that can make success.