WARGAMING
COMPETITORS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM
One customer once asked me if not all strategic thinking is wargaming. I tend to agree with this thought for most cases. After all there is always competition and your moves will likely trigger your opponent’s counter moves.
This is essentially what wargaming is about. My STRATEGY EXPLORATION approach is much about anticipating which moves you can make and what new situations could arise through the counter moves of your opponents.
A typical project includes the following steps.
1. Decision Architecture
Definition of your problem, your goals and how we achieve them. This step also includes the project reporting frame work.

2. Next Neighbor Cube
Understanding who your competitors are. Future competition can come from different angles and out of “foreign” industries. Clayton Christenson theory of disruptive innovations is a great example how competition can easily be underestimated when comparing yourself to others within the usual categories. Can a chemical company be a (future) competitor of an automobile company? I would say yes, if the underlying technology such as hydrogen fuel cells are going to be the new standard for motorization of cars. With the help of comparisons beyond these usual categories you will uncover lurking risks much quicker. The NEXT NEIGHBOR CUBE can do this for you by integrating dozens of categories into a 3 dimensional graphic.

3. Decipher your opponents
Deception, confusion, distraction, false information, emotionalizing are ancient strategic principles. Discrepencies between messages and actions, analyzing hard facts, assessing real consequences and managing oneself are key to see behind the fassade.

4. Logic tree and scenario analysis
Your move will trigger your opponent to counter-move. Which again will force you to react to that counter-move. Thinking through these rounds of actions and reactions is a must when fundamentally different outcomes are possible. Thinking backwards from the desired and undesired outcomes helps to see where irreversible moves happen.
