Business problem:
Insights
Serious games used:
Custom-designed business wargame
Sometimes the success is about the crisis foreseen and averted. Pan-Europa Bank (a fictionalized name for reasons of confidentiality) wanted to test its performance in a series of disrupted environments, including some worst-case possibilities.
Accordingly, the teams of top executives were led through a number of steadily worsening crises, which included erupting Middle East tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, terrorist attacks and assassination attempts on political leaders in key countries where the bank operated, and threats of nationalization.
Initially, the bank executives took these stresses pretty much in stride, with expressed confidence in their systemic integrity and contingency planning. Then, as can happen in the real world, things got worse. Threats linked to Al Qaeda were made against top bank personnel and key IT facilities, the bank’s woes were publicly covered by the Wall Street Journal, and the company’s stock price plunged. There are fears customer accounts have been penetrated, with the goal of identity theft, and anti-terrorism authorities recommend an evacuation of the bank’s headquarters.
Pan-Europa players gained some critical insights. For example, getting government help earlier, rather than trying to solve their own problems, would have made an important difference. Overall, the exercise helped the bank identify threats and options that they might have otherwise overlooked.
For more information…
Wargaming For Leaders, which provides more information about the Caterpillar case study.
