Business War Games: How Large,
Small, and New Companies Can
Vastly Improve Their Strategies and
Outmaneuver the Competition by
Benjamin Gilad
The Best "How To" For Business Competition
In a global, complex, and competitive world, developing a plan without
testing it against market reaction is like walking blind into a minefield.
War gaming is a metal detector for a company. Yet war games run by the
large consulting firms are kept secret and cost millions. For the first time,
this book makes them accessible to every product and brand manager,

every project leader, every marketing professional, and every planner, no
matter how small or large the company.
Business War Games will show you in steps and practical detail:
* How to decide if war gaming is right for you
* Which decisions call for war gaming
* How to prepare, organize, and run a realistic and inexpensive war game
* How to predict competitor moves with accuracy and little information
* Why you do not need computers, consultants, software, or a PhD in
math to do it well
This book is your bible of how to stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Do not leave home without it.
Personal Review: Business War Games: How Large, Small, and
New Companies Can Vastly Improve Their Strategies and
Outmaneuver the Competition by Benjamin Gilad
'Business War Games; How Large, Small & New Companies Can Vastly
Improve Their Strategies & Outmaneuver the Competition',
by Benjamin Gilad;
Very interestingly, I realise that a lot of fancy stuff is churning inside my
head as I ponder over my impending review of CI (competitive intelligence)
guru Benjamin Gilad's latest book:
'Business War Games: How Large, Small, & New Companies Can Vastly
Improve Their Strategies & Outmaneuver the Competition'
I have in fact perused the author's two earlier works, namely,
- 'Business Blindspots: Replacing Myths, Beliefs & Assumptions with
Market Realities' in the nineties, followed by
- 'Early Warning: Using Competitive Intelligence to Anticipate Market
Shifts, Control Risks & Create Powerful Strategies' several years ago.
The first thing that crosses my mind is the flash memory of attending a
two-day workshop on 'Marketing Warfare' during the early eighties, based
on Al Ries & Jack Trout's books, as well as Huge Davidson's two books on
'Offensive Marketing '.

The second thing is remembering that I had enjoyed watching the sci-fi
movie, 'War Games', during the mid-eighties.
It was about a young computer hacker who had unwittingly found a
backdoor into a military defence computer, nicknamed 'Joshua'.
It was based on some sort of a war simulation with complete control over
the US nuclear arsenal.
His misdemeanour almost resulted in bringing two powerful countries into
a devastating & yet futile 'Global Thermo-Nuclear War'.
The third thing that comes to my mind is Oliver Stone's epic movie, 'Wall
Street', starring Michael Douglas as the ruthless corporate raider, Gordon
Gekko, in the late eighties.
In the movie, Gordon Gekko taught a rookie investor, Bud (played by
Charlie Sheen), some harsh realities about the marketplace, especially
when he advised him to: "Read Sun Tzu's Art of War. Every war is won
before it is ever fought. Thrive about it . . . It's trench warfare out there,
pal."
In a nutshell, that was a quick roundup of my early introduction to business
in the new economy as a civilised version of war.
The book under review is essentially an operating manual for planning &
executing a business simulation, using real-world intelligence & realistic
role playing by stakeholders within the confines of the boardroom.
The proper terminoloy is apparently "business wargaming".
To me, the book reads like an intellectual extension of the author's two
earlier works.
The first book, 'Business Blindspots', now a cult classic, has touched on
the myriad of "corporate myths, beliefs & assumptions", which, if left
unchecked, can often derail stakeholders' perspectives of the marketplace.
The author has designated them as "blindspots" [acquired blindspots, in
contrast to the natural blindspots inherently built in our eyes] & stresses on
the importance of removing our blinkers & truly understanding the market
realities. [Futurist Joel Arthur Barker calls them "paradigms" in his book,
'Future Edge.]
Interestingly, in the current book under review, the author has also singled
out the importance of discovering the "blindspots" of your competitors.
The second book, 'Early Warning', has built on the first book, by sharing
strategies & ideas on how to avoid been blind-sided, & by highlighting

rigorous frameworks necessary for the development of an early warning
system to anticipate & react to early signals of potential trouble in the
marketplace.
In my view, the third & current book under review, now culminating into
what I would even call a trilogy, more or less amalgamates all the author's
earlier thoughtwares to constitute a systematic methodology for conducting
a real business case simulation, with realistic role-playing by stakeholders
to understand the competition & the market more accurately.
As I have read, the crux of business wargaming is to answer two key
questions:
- what will be my competitor's likely response?
- what then is my best option?
The author's principal premise stands as such: your market performance is
always relative i.e. your business success will always be affected by what
your competitors do, or rather, by their likely responses, as opposed to
obvious responses.
I must compliment the author for making the fine distinctions here.
He cautions though, business wargaming will not guarantee your success -
nothing will - but it will increase your odds.
Frankly, I have actually approached the current book under review with the
notion of exploring whether business wargaming could be used &/or
adapted to help one in making a life decision, say ten years down the road.
After all, a life decision also involves other important stakeholders -
parents, spouses, children, siblings, colleagues, friends & others. Besides
goals, there are apparently roles & dynamics to consider too. Sad to say,
competition will also come in many forms, human, technological as well as
the changing nature of work.
I haven't yet figured out all the requisite mechanics in a personal
application, but I have certainly enjoyed reading 'Business War Games'.
As a management professor, & also a prior stint as an Israeli police
intelligence operative, the author writes very well - clear, concise &
succinct.
The book, packed with relevant case studies, is organised in four parts:
- Part I: From Sand Table to Boardroom;
- Part II: Competitors as Characters;
- Part III: Step-by-Step Instructions;

- Part IV: Running a Business War Game;
What I like most about the book is the author's emphasis on the strategic
thinking, real out-thinking the competition in the real world, instead of
relying too much on imaginary modeling, computer algorithms & fancy
MBA's.
Chapter 3 is my personal favourite, in which I reckon his answer to the
question, "Can you accurately predict competitors' moves?" is great &
candid!
To sum up my review, & also to further substantiate why I think the current
book forms a trilogy with the author's two earlier books, I like to paraphrase
the author from his book:
"There are several factors behind a success of a game: good intelligence,
rigorous frameworks, & naturally, the quality of the (stakeholder) teams."
Well, intelligence analysis requires the understanding & appreciation of
blindspots, yours as well as the competitors. This is beautifully detailed in
the first book.
Developing rapid response capabilities requires rigorous frameworks. In
my view, this is more detailed in the second book.
From my perspective, & to reiterate, bringing it all together is seemingly the
focus of the current book under review.
I leave it to readers to decide whether they want to acquire all the three
wonderful books. For me, they are definitely worth the investment.
[Reviewed by Lee Say Keng, Knowledge Adventurer & Technology
Explorer, December 2008]
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