Business Wargames

It is unlikely in the foreseeable future that the world will return to a period of sustained non-inflationary growth, and companies must therefore face the fact that survival and growth is now largely dependent on taking markets away from competitors, protecting business from competitive aggression, and deterring an assault on their markets. Business has always been competitive, but now more than ever companies require strategies which truly reflect the combative nature of the market-place. The closest analogy to current market conditions is war. Despite differences in degree and in kind between business and military conflict, there are remarkable similarities between the two sets of precepts. Companies and armies share common strategic manoeuvres in terms of deterrence, offence, defence and alliance. They are similar in the way in which they are organized and structured. They use equivalent systems and procedures and rely on the same functions - intelligence, weaponry, logistics and communications - to provide a combat edge. The resemblance between the two forms of conflict is not surprising since both companies and armies are organizationally designed for one purpose - to fight, whether in the market or on the battlefield. More...