High Finance in the Senior Squad!
High Finance in the Senior Squad!
November 26, 2018 at 1:43 PM
With dollars traded for ‘Kents’ – a mix of specially designed paper money and ‘minted’ clay coins–The Boys’ School Senior School quad was abuzz this morning as the Year 7 boys manned their stalls and got trading underway at their Market Day; the culmination of a term-long Social Studies unit on ‘Enterprise: Building and Running a Small Business.’
Bring your ‘People’ together, develop a ‘Product,’ decide a ‘Purpose,’ determine a ‘Price,’ devise a ‘Promotion’ and work on earning a ‘Profit’ – the six ‘P’s of marketing were put to the test in fine style!
Working in small groups, which included a nominated CEO, accountant, marketer and designer, they were responsible for the launch of their business from product conception to retail. Each group was required to develop a detailed business plan that included market research to determine the purpose and viability of their product, development of a prototype, the working out of a suitable marketing plan, ensuring they were on budget, fine-tuning mass production and finally preparing to sell their goods to fellow students and parents.
In the build-up, a virtual economy was used with ‘Kents’ as the currency. Each group was given a weekly wage from which deductions were made for services such as using the printer, advertising costs per poster displayed, ‘import duties’ on such things as electrical equipment or plastic bags required on the day, a music license if required and a ‘mobility’ license for those who chose to ‘wander and sell.’ So there was no unfair advantage from stall positioning, an auction was held to pre-purchase each team’s location.
And so it was down to trading, the students had two hours to tout their wares to the younger students and parents. Hot on the heels of Black Friday trading, young purchasers were not shy of asking for ‘special pricing’ whilst vendors soon realised there was benefit to making some on-the-spot offers!
Some tied their offerings into the impending festive season and had a range of suitable gifts, others offered miniature games, bath bombs, tee-shirts and pillows. Each year there are some amazing ideas and usually one that rises to the top. The ‘Teacher Trump’ card game caught the eye of many with its slick, well-researched product – with a teacher on every card with points assigned for cleverness, sense of humour, amount of homework, strictness and quality of jokes! A perfect holiday pastime!
To ‘People, Product, Purpose, Price, Promotion and Profit,’another two P’s could be added – the Power of Persuasion! Those who engaged with their customers found sales were brisk – until the rain started to bucket down resulting in a hasty retreat undercover!
When trading finished, the students had learnt how to operate a budget, considered the economics of how to allocate their time and ‘Kents,’ had developed their communication skills and applied all of these into a cohesive business plan!
