Competitive Simulation
One of the key exercises THRIVE uses to help clients successfully navigate product launches and identify potential competitive responses, are competitive simulations. These exercises have been a staple military exercise for decades, and for good reason. THRIVE’s experience with competitive simulations has allows clients to test the effectiveness of different tactics without real world consequences. Ultimately, this helps clients prepare to make the tough decisions once their are real world stakes.
Situation Overview
Client is the CMO of a fast growing pharma company in Asia. The company recently acquired rights to market a cardiovascular (CV) drug across its 12 markets. The company as an organization has no expertise commercializing CV drugs and has less than 6 months to prepare for the launch in the first critical market.
CMO and THRIVE discussed how to best jump-start the launch preparation process and decided to conduct a “war game” with ~60 cross-functional participants.
The Challenge
Use a war game to accomplish the following:
1. ENERGY: introduce client organization to [drug X] and its importance for the organization; develop a sense of urgency and ownership for [drug X]
2. KNOWLEDGE: common understanding of [drug X] and the market and competitive dynamics
3. FOCUS: shared understanding of key success factors for launch
4. ACTION: specific plans for how to incorporate what was learned during the game into tactical and strategic plans in each and all countries
What we did
Designed War Game & Developed Fact-Base and Pre-Read
» War Game Design
- Identified and made key decisions on competitors to be simulated, timeframe, geographic reach, etc.
- Made key procedural design decisions: duration, number of rounds, number of teams, etc.
- Identified desired outcomes and designed facilitation materials to guide team discussions
» Fact-Base & Pre-Read
- Collected internal data and conducted research and expert interviews to establish a fact-base
- Created pre-read with in-depth information on disease area and drug class, market and competitive landscape, market access, future launches and trends, etc.
Facilitated War Game & Synthesized Learnings
» War Game Facilitation
- Briefed client team captains and judging panel
- Provided instructions, guidance and “real-time” content updates to inject new information and address questions arising during the war game
- Facilitated 5-member judging panel (incl. CEO) and a Medical Advisory Board providing real-time answers to participants’’ clinical questions
» Concise Summary Key Learnings
- Key threats and opportunities arising from competitive and market environment
- Most critical actions to pre-empt threats & capitalize on opportunities (imperatives for commercial strategy, clinical strategy, field execution, lifecycle management, etc.)
