There are 3 different types of Business War Games, according to Mr. Gilad:
1. War games using computer simulations. These are expensive and lack realism.
2. War games using game theory models. These also include high priced consultants and computer models, but lack realism because of their emphasis on achieving equilibrium, which markets are anything but.
3. War games using analytical and behavioral models. This is what the author advocates and focuses on. This type of war game is cheaper and more realistic.
A typical business war game lasts between one and one and a half days, with 12-48 company personnel broken out to teams numbering no more than 6, and with 3-8 members per team. There is a host team who presents the current company plan, and various other teams representing competitors who play devil's advocate. The process relies heavily on competitive intelligence, and through role playing attempts to simulate reactions of competitors to the company plan.
The dismissive effort of Mr. Gilad of the first two models using computer simulation is easy to swallow. Much of the psychological factor of markets and humans is ignored or ill utilized by computer simulation models - Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (New in Paper)
Mr. Gilad's behavioral model accounts for the importance of psychology and emotion, which is the basis of most decision making in business, albeit most business literature would have us believe otherwise.
There are, however, a couple of glaring critiques of Mr. Gilad's behavioral model:
Mr. Gilad's objective is to "teach you step-by-step how to organize, prepare, and run your war game with your team at a fraction of the cost of the big consultants." p. 14
There is next to no chance of anyone successfully organizing a war game based on the material in this book alone. An effort as involved as this would surely need a trained consultant such as Mr. Gilad to set up the game and act as a moderator.
To a lesser extent, Mr. Gilad's version of war games is also largely dependent on corporate cultures that operate objectively, transparently, and are open to critique of their planning. Most companies lack in one or more of these areas, thereby further necessitating the need for a highly credentialed and experienced expert such as Mr. Gilad to run the war game.
In short, Mr. Gilad's war games method is cheaper and more realistic without the need for an army of expensive consultants but one.
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