At the beginning of the simulation, your team faces an unusual business situation - all companies and products are identical to each other. In the real world, this situation rarely exists, if ever occurs. The closest analog might be a highly regulated industry. Looking into the future, the simulated industry will rapidly differentiate. Nothing you can do will stop it. Given time, the industry will evolve into a state where competitors occupy defendable strategic positions. There are two important questions. "How long will the process take?" "Will two or more competitors attempt to occupy the same position?" Let's use an analogy. Picture a flat landscape. Now imagine several hills placed on the landscape. Each of the hills represents a strategy. Your success depends upon how quickly you can identify a hill, and how high you can climb it. Your hope is that you will choose a hill that nobody else picks and that you can defend it against competitors. Complicating this is the fact that some hills are more attractive than others. Further, the more companies try to climb a particular hill, the more difficult it is for each of them to successfully climb it. Are there methods and techniques that will help you identify and select these strategic hills? Yes, the general topic is widely discussed. They are the most commonly referenced, Michael Porter's "Generic Strategies". With this as background, explain generic strategies. Select or develop a strategy you would like your team to pursue. Prepare and post an argument for your strategy. The argument should address these issues: 1. Segments. Which segments matter to you? How many shares of those segments must you achieve to be an "average competitor" in the overall industry? For example, if you choose to play only in Traditional and Low End, you would have to command a higher share of those segments to achieve "average industry sales". 2. Profit potential. 3. The speed at which you can create a defendable position. For example, new products typically take two years to bring to market. Significant productivity improvements could take several years. 4. Priorities. Which products are most important to you? Which are least important?