BUSINESS WAR GAMING (BWG) – Prepare for the unexpected! 

War Gaming  is a powerful, risk-free process for thinking about the future, a role-played simulation of a business situation. It allows companies to test strategies in a dynamic environment and see what happens, it saves time, money and grief as it allows to prepare for the “unforeseen”. Creating imaginative and credible scenarios, and testing them against smart opponents who are eager to find holes and counter your strategy, Business War Gaming allows you to discover and learn in the security of the conference room rather than learning the hard way when you go live.

What War Gaming can do – Business War Games Themes powered by ICSS

  The following list is not exhaustive, the most important applications are:

• Strategy formulation and strategy testing (Corporate, Business Unit, Marketing, HR, M&A, etc.)
• Change management; Developing foresight; Increase your organisation’s ability to anticipate and adapt for the future.
• Market campaigns; Product Development or Product Launching; Innovation
• Crisis response preparation; Reputation management; Strategic early warning systems
• Teambuilding; training and recruiting;

There is nothing harder to do than to come up with a list of all the things you have not thought about

There is nothing harder to do than to come up with a list of all the things you have not thought about: Your product launch was not the success you hoped for? There were aspects you could not predict. That concept you thought it would be a genius idea proved to be an epic fail? The market did not have the expected answer? Your competition outsmarted you? How best can we enter a market? Should we make use of a given technology (and if so, how)? Does a partnership or acquisition make sense? What will happen if some of the basis of current regulation changes? What if your main suppliers goes bankrupt? What will be the impact on our current business? You can avoid all these!

Business War Gaming shows you things you haven’t thought about before!!

Origins/History: WarGaming was initially the concept and tool of the military, where it was used to develop and test strategies, shake down new concepts for their feasibility, and anticipate a rival’s moves. Nowadays, war gaming is successfully used in business. Instead of enemy armies, a company faces competitors; instead of territory, companies battle over customers, market share and profits; instead of weapon systems, companies use people, finance, facilities, raw materials, know-how, marketing tools, production processes, and innovation, just to name a few of the resources; and in the place of a referee judging military actions, the market will be the ultimate judge of the success or failure of your company offerings.

Benefits? War Games can be a real eye-opening experience!

• War Gaming provides a dynamic simulation, helping you to understand the present and future behaviour of your competitors and customers;
• You can test the strategic plan for its robustness under close to real-life conditions and thus significantly improve the outcome and reliability – pinpoint weaknesses in your original plan and better address otherwise underserved customer segments; generating contingency plans for unexpected events, uncovering blindspots; it eliminates the potential cost of a (wrong) decision made too quickly and without exploring the full impact of a strategic plan;
• Business war gaming is a form of accelerated learning! You can actively involve the participants, foster organisational learning and challenge the mental models of those involved. Multiple perspectives are included and multiple ways of learning, as more realistic dynamic is created;
• Players gain trust into the strategic plan, it increases ownership and accountability;
• War Gaming generates new knowledge and it systematises it – through the social interaction of its participants who are exposed to creatively thinking about the future while multiple perspectives are included;
• It has team-building effects and it is an excellent method in managing resistance to change;
• War gaming is a fun exercise. When the players realise that they’re free to act as competitors, their competitive energy take over, and the output of the process can be pretty incredible;
• It has long-term positive impact on the organisation overall, it generates growth.

After the War Game you will receive a REPORT with all results and conclusions:

• the After Action Report – it answers the questions representing the objective of the whole WarGame
• the soft deliverables that are reflected in changes in the “hearts and minds” of the participants, such as new insights, knowledge, and skills developed from war game role-playing, critical lessons learned, lessons that significantly improve the way companies think about their market, their competitors and ultimately themselves.

Business War Gaming is not …

• A business school game with a finite number of lessons to be learned
• A computer simulation with answers built into the system
• An off-the-shelf product, which is modified for each client and sold over and over again

Do you prefer to take the opportunity of testing your strategy on the market instead of failing on the market? Get an appointment with our War Gaming Specialists! We will get you through the whole process!

Contact: Amira Radulescu

Institute of Business Competitive Intelligence
+40 721 764 305; +40 213 146 556
office@ibci.ro ; www.ibci.ro;