Gamesmanship, a drillmaster’s viewpoint

In AIM’s Master in Entrepreneurship program, drillmasters are important partners of the guru. Being MBA holders, they are technically equipped to support the learning objectives of the student-entrepreneurs. Their task is to drill the latter in the key processes that lead to ME: Self mastery, situation mastery, and enterprise mastery.

Let me share the interesting insights of one of our drillmasters, Dennis Allan Ang, who gave us the go-signal to feature an essay entitled, "Of Game Boards and Game Plans." that he wrote not too long ago.

There is a tendency for the entrepreneurial idea to box itself and look at the same entrepreneurial opportunity over and over again. Somehow, year after year, the same entrepreneurial opportunity cannot be translated into profits. Besides the problem of implementation, there is also the other critical problem of analysis. There is a tendency for the enterprise to lock itself into one specific opportunity while there co-exist other opportunities that are easier to access.

One of the important things that the ME program teaches is how one can become the master of the situation. In situational mastery, one becomes adept at scanning the environment for other entrepreneurial opportunities. In the process of analyzing the entrepreneurial environment, one of the tools that helps in spotting entrepreneurial opportunities is referred to as the game board.

Simply put, the game board is where the game is played. For chess, it is the chessboard. For baseball, it is the baseball field. For basketball, it is the basketball court. If the enterprise is the game, then the game board is a visual representation of the enterprise’s environment. It can show the entrepreneur all the opportunities represented in one picture.

In winning any game, the analysis of the game board is a must. It shows two important elements: the areas to be conquered and the areas where the players are found. In the process of analysis, student-entrepreneurs discover that they play in just one small part of the game board and that their enterprises have yet to expand into its other areas.

First, as in any sport, one must ask–What are the other desirable areas to be conquered, defended, avoided, or skipped? What trends are affecting the face of the game board? These very same questions must be asked when the game board is the enterprise’s environment.

Take the case of a student-entrepreneur who owns a grocery store and noted a trend in the business–the number of sari-sari stores were on the rise. He discovered that he was not just selling to consumers but to resellers as well. Upon closer study of his game board, he discovered that the resellers market was an area that was neglected and was, therefore, an area to be conquered.

Second, the game board shows you where the other players are and how they are moving. This points to areas to be avoided, given the threatening presence especially of superior players. Where are the players moving? How are they playing? Why do they move in such a way?

Case in point, one of our student-entrepreneurs who owns a large chain of skin, slimming, and spa stores has observed a trend in the growth of competitors in this line of business. Instead of trying to be in all the areas of the game board and spreading herself thin, a major consideration for her would be to focus efforts only on her strength, which happens to be the areas of skin and slimming.

By analyzing the game board and the players’ moves, the student-entrepreneur is asking a fundamental question: What does it take to become a superior player?

After knowing this, the next step is planning how one will move in the game board. This means choosing areas to be conquered, defended, skipped, or completely avoided–and when. This series of selected moves on how to win the game is the game plan. In winning the game, it is not a matter of conquering all the areas but of conquering only those areas that will allow the players to finally win.

As in chess, this means putting only enough pieces to check the opponent’s king so as not to allow it to move and to, therefore, win the game–checkmate. Here, strategy comes into definition. The fewest number of moves translated into the enterprise’s setting is really the limited number of one’s resources, whether this be money, time, machine, or human resources.

In other games, it is not just positioning the pieces that is important but also strengthening them such that a piece is able to attack and defend the specific territory. In the end, strategy is the combination of knowing how to develop specific pieces and putting them in specific areas in the least possible moves so that the player is nearer to the desired goal. This is what makes a game plan.

The ultimate test of having done a great game plan is when the strategy is clearly supported by the game board. Take the case of one of our student-entrepreneurs whose enterprise is involved in interior construction. If he first constructed his game board based on the segmentation of products and competitors, he would know where the competitors were and what services they were offering. But as yet, there is no clear strategy.

Although the study of the players was there, the construction of the game board was not enough to show opportunities that could be translated into profits. The problem was that the game board did not show the underlying need of the market. The underlying need must be brought to the surface and consciously understood.

The first construction of the game board left out the most important discovery of all–the area that was willing to pay a premium for the speed of construction. Now, his game board is composed of several different areas representing markets with the following needs: quality, speed, and cost. In developing his enterprise’s ability in rapidly developing interior finishes (and seeing the large area needing speed), his game plan was quite obvious. He moves only in the areas that require speed of delivery.

Therefore, he concentrates limited time and resources and develops methodology in attacking, conquering and defending that area. He no longer competes with other players that play on the areas of relationship and price. He also skips territories that would only take too much time and effort. With his game board and game plan, he no longer courts customers who always ask for the lowest price. Now, he is the one being courted.

Seeing the enterprise as a game, the enterprise as a game board, the competitors are players, the enterprise plan as a game plan, this creative and innovative endeavor allows the entrepreneur to become the master of his/her situation by propelling the enterprise into unlocking and making the most out of more easily accessible opportunities.

(Alejandrino J. Ferreria is the dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management. For further comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at http//:www.aim.edu.ph).