EXECUTIVE GAMES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30231, 9 September 1963, Page 3

EXECUTIVE GAMES

Estimate Of Markets

(Special Crspdt. N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, September 7

Games to be “played" by executives in their spare time, and widely used in the United States since the war, have been introduced to Britain on a limited scale. They are based on a system of hypothetical tactical situations which were used to train aspirants for high command in war years. Until now they have needed the assistance of an expensive computer but a company has introduced a series of oomputerless games that are more economical. Groups of executives compete against each other in assessing a situation when opening up a new market. They are given written information on which they have to base their decisions. The decisions are fed into a computer which gives the results. If they are wide of the mark the “market” fluctuates wildly and the flrm may find itself in the red by hundreds of thousands of pounds. By this means production executives are said to be able to obtain knowledge of market research for a big industrial organisation. The market researcher, in his turn, is able to learn something about production costs.

The company has evolved a series of manual exercises in which a computer is not necessary. It aims to provide a library of games at a low cost in which up to 20 persons can participate.