Course Title: Financial Planning - Business Strategy

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Financial Planning - Business Strategy

Credit Points: 12


Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

BAFI2109

City Campus

Undergraduate

625H Economics, Finance & Marketing

Face-to-Face


Course Coordinator: Paul Rubens

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 5619

Course Coordinator Email:paul.rubens@rmit.edu.au


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Eligibility for “Supervised Professional Practice” as specified by the school in which students are enrolled
Co-requisites: Students must also enrol in
037143 FinPlan Learning Portfolio
037144 FinPlan Industry Based Project


Course Description

The Business Strategy or Business Policy Game (BPG) is a computer-based simulation of the operations of a manufacturing firm with domestic and international subsidiaries. Students compete with each other as members of a management team of simulated companies producing and selling a consumer durable product. The computer model used is an interactive one so that marketing, financing and production decisions have an influence on competitors performance as well as that of the decision making form.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

You will develop teamwork skills and an understanding of the range of outcomes of the interaction between company divisions. You will apply knowledge and skills from your previous course work (e.g. accounting, marketing, finance etc) in a simulated environment and be exposed to the varied other business skills used by your team members and their competitors.
At the conclusion of this course you should be able to:
• Develop and understand a how to produce a Business Plan.
• Develop an understanding of the business planning processes.
• Apply knowledge and models to validate and inform decision-making in a simulated business.
• Understand how businesses are affected by external influences.
• Apply your best efforts and business knowledge (marketing, finance, accounting, logistic etc.) as well as your developing skills in communication and leadership when solving problems in your team.



Overview of Learning Activities

Students work in teams and compete in operating a business that manufactures and markets a consumer durable product. The course is instruction and application focused. After 3 weeks of intensive orientation and learning, the student management teams meet at “Board Meetings” in class every week. Extra curricular meetings are necessary and need to be organised by the teams themselves. A team Business Plan, including team and individual input is required before the first decisions are made. This requires participants to define and articulate their corporate missions, set objectives, develop strategies to realise the objectives and create operating policies to ensure that operating decisions support the strategies. Constant analyses by the teams of actual performance against expected outcomes. Participants are responsible for making quarterly operating decisions for each of the functional areas of finance, marketing and production and to integrate those decisions for the purpose of meeting the firm’s overall goals and aspirations. Following every decision set, reports reflecting the performance of the teams are generated. The reports are assessed and commented upon by the facilitator, as well as the team members themselves. The reports reflect the performances, and the analyses of the variances provide direction for improvements.


Overview of Learning Resources

Resources will include
• Textbook
• Access to simulation software
• Chaired regular board meetings
• Support of an academic mentor


Overview of Assessment

Assessment will be continuous throughout semester. There will be individual and group assessment including a business plan, business report and an in-class test.