But, “change” is not what it used to be. It is no longer gradual, slow or predictable. Change is now fast, disruptive and unpredictable. These situations are difficult because they all possess one common characteristic: the factors at play and their associated outcomes are uncertain. Increasingly then, entrepreneurs, owners and managers must make effective decisions when faced with change that is difficult to fully grasp or understand and make reasonable guesses as to what the scope of its outcomes might be. Making good decisions requires judgments about change – about its risks and uncertainties. Increasingly then, entrepreneurship and management is about making the best decisions under uncertainty.
Modern and contemporary conditions in businesses’ external environment duress decision-making, leaving entrepreneurs, owners and managers with a fundamental problem: How can SMEs make superior and more effective strategic decisions under conditions of uncertainty?
After winning an Enterprise Promotion Grant, members of the CCEI developed and prototyped a Lego-based board game providing managers and entrepreneurs with a scalable, systematic approach to business decision making. This board game was accompanied by a unique half-day workshop and both represented the aggregation of over 15 years of our academic research. Each factor in the board game was informed by our body of research, but with customizable tiles made available to the ‘players’ so that unique circumstances relevant to their business and situation could be accounted for too. With over 50 factors (from an initial list of nearly 200), categorized into internal and external environment themes, the game takes the ‘player’ on a journey from decision-making to execution, unwrapping and revealing key drivers and key obstacles to enable entrepreneurs and managers to visualize the pathway to their desired outcome.
An online is now in prototype stages.