New Book Competitive Success Helps Businesses Plan Strategy Through War Games

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Business consultant and college professor Arjan Singh shows business leaders how to prepare their companies for the unexpected through the use of war game scenarios in his new book Competitive Success: Building Strategies with Corporate War Games published by Forbes Books.

"It's not uncommon for organizations to be too inwardly focused when developing their strategies and tactics," Singh writes. "This isn't sustainable in the long term. War gaming is a powerful, effective tool for dealing with situations when a strategy might not work. And the only way you can find that out yourself is by testing it."

Competitive Success, published by Forbes Books, leads readers through such topics as "Identifying Your War Game Objectives," "Assessing the Field of Battle," and "Assessing Troop Strength, Morale, and Resources."

So what are "war games" in the business world, as opposed to the military? Singh explains:

"War games are structured role-playing workshops used to generate insights to help develop and refine strategy," he says. "War games aren't just dress rehearsals or strategy plans, but are simulations of your competitive market in a controlled, safe, internal environment where you can explore many different dimensions. Ultimately, you build strategies based on actual data points versus going out and spending millions of dollars and learning the hard way that a strategy's not going to work."

Singh has been running corporate war games for 20 years and has worked with more than 200 organizations worldwide. Throughout his book's pages, Singh draws on not only case studies from the corporate world but also from the war games he conducts with business students at Southern Methodist University, where he is an adjunct professor.

He explains how war gaming is different from traditional planning as most businesses in three key ways: It addresses the uncertainty of a changing market, invites input from all key stakeholders, and invites challenges to leadership's assumptions.

"War gaming is an ongoing, lifelong process," Singh says. "For it to be successful, it can't just be a one-off. Integrate it into your company as part of your culture, with an open, humble, and curious mind, and you will build winning strategies that lead to competitive success."

About Arjan Singh

Arjan Singh (www.corporatewargames.com), author of Competitive Success: Building Strategies with Corporate War Games, is an expert in helping companies develop data-driven strategies through war games, strategic and competitive analysis, scenario planning and building business early warning systems that deliver significant impact. He has advised 68 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 list in building winning strategies. Singh is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Global Consulting at Southern Methodist University (SMU) COX School of Business.

About Forbes Books

Forbes Books (www.books.forbes.com) is the exclusive book publisher of Forbes. Forbes Books identifies and selects authors who are game changers and thought leaders in their fields. They are people who recognize how publishing a book can elevate their message and inspire audiences to better themselves and the world around them. Since its launch in 2016, Forbes Books has grown into the premier independent business book publisher.

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SOURCE Forbes Books