How to Win the BSG

The BSG stresses a ton of students out every year. If you have the right know how when you begin the game it gives you a competitive advantage against the rest of the competition. This article will present 5 tips that will help you get ahead in the BSG!

It is important to buy plant upgrades early on. On the "Plant Capacity" screen you are given four options per plant that you can upgrade. Investing in these options early on yields a much more significant benefit than if you would add them later.

Next, under the "Branded Production" screen you will want to make TQM have a value of 2.50 as an input and set Best Practices at 5000. It is important to keep these values the same from the start of the game and until the end. TQM and Best Practices produce a cumulative effect on the savings per pair of shoes manufactured.

Do not be afraid to take out loans or to issue stock. It is important that you use the money that you make from issuing stock or taking out loans to build more plant capacity in existing plants as well as possibly a new plant in another geographic region. Once your company starts making more and more revenue every year, begin to pay off your loans and buy back stock.

Approximately 15 minutes after decisions are due, I would highly suggest buying excess capacity that others decide to sell. The number of excess capacity will be shown on the "Corporate Lobby" screen. As soon as the amounts are listed decide how many you want to buy quickly and purchase it before someone else does! When you buy excess capacity that others are selling, you are able to purchase it for 20% less than if you had built plant capacity on your own!

During year 1 (or year 2 at the latest) it is important that you win bids in the "Private Label" screen. Your company is able to produce private label shoes at a fraction of the cost. In addition, if you are able to secure these markets you force your competitors out of the private label competition. My advice is to produce at the lowest S/Q rating for private label competition and make your bid price low so that it beats out everyone else (but so that you make a profit of at least $6.00 per pair of shoes). Also, if at all possible it is great if you can produce enough pairs to supply 50% - 100% of the private market for the geographic regions in which you are bidding.