Secrets to War-Gaming Success
At the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals 2011 European Summit, held earlier this month in Vienna, Austria, Outward Insights President Ken Sawka led an interactive breakout session focused on ways to improve business war-gaming. Conventional wisdom holds that the success or failure of a war-game rests on the quality and quantity of information and intelligence collected on the competitors and market players a company chooses to simulate in the war-game. To be sure, good intelligence is a necessary ingredient for a successful war-game; without it, participants simply behave as their own organization would in the guise of a competitor, supplier, or customer.
However, what does “good intelligence” look like? For many companies, it’s hard to know without a strong war-game design. Any good war-game design must address two critical factors:
- How will the war-game simulation proceed? Organizations must determine the focus and objective of the war-game, and then design independent but related “rounds” of competitive simulation that help participants get to the defined objective. Options for the various “rounds” of the game can include specific stimuli to which war-game participants react — such as a new product launch, new competitor entry, and the like — as well as market disruptors including regulatory or technology developments, in addition to the basic strategy formulation that characterizes most war-games. There is no “rote” formula for a good war-game, and each needs to be designed with your unique set of objectives in mind.
- Who should participate? Which functional departments — marketing, competitive intelligence, strategic planning, product development, R&D, etc. — should be included? What role should senior managers play? Should we invite outside participants such as advertising agencies or market research firms? Again, there are no textbook answers to these questions; each game should include a unique set of participants, thoughtfully considered given the game’s objectives.
Only after addressing these war-game factors does it become clear what intelligence is required ahead of conducting the game. Knowing the answers to these questions will make your intelligence gathering more focused and relevant for those who are participating.
