Thousands of pharmaceutical and health care industry professionals have participated in Bernard Associates’ competitive simulations. The firm surveys participants from every Bernard Simulation™ (War Game 2.0). Here are the key findings:
Below are categories of actual client quotes/feedback from participants in previous Bernard Simulations™:
It felt like the real world and not simulated. I learned a tremendous amount and think that action items will be addressed and executed to put us in a more competitive position moving forward. It was fun!
Often there are no clear outcomes for war games or nothing new is learned. We finally were able to develop action items that will help deliver a winning strategy for our brand.
The methodology and process helped identify issues/opportunities and led the team to develop concrete action steps to build differentiation in the market.
This war game was very engaging, interactive, and well-run. It provided a real world opportunity to dissect the information, consider strategy, and alternative plans.
I believe this Simulation was an extremely helpful for what we need to do to prepare effectively for changes in the marketplace. It was very valuable in terms of highlighting our gaps and what we need to do to succeed.
The structure that guided the teams in their thinking/presentations was very well thought out. The organized format brought out the best in the simulation as well as the participants.
It was great to get in the heads of competitors. I have never been part of an exercise that has done this effectively.
This was a very good experience which helped us move out of our corporate mentality–focused space to consider how competitors can threaten us in the marketplace.
We went beyond the product focus to play/act like the companies and corporate cultures behind the products. We were being truly competitive in the sense that we had to think and behave as a competitor rather than only analyze them.
The Simulation was excellent. I like the active discussions where everyone participated and shared thoughts and ideas freely.
The scope of the event touched many topics/key stakeholders and forced cross-functional teams to address/prioritize issues and generate solutions. It engaged a very large team. All were involved, active, and passionate.
The Simulation was very well organized and built skills to a crescendo through engagement of the teams and sub-teams. It really challenged people to think out of the box and not to think about the most obvious solutions.
The simulation was designed to simulate inventive and new thinking. It built to a fitting conclusion with new ideas and reinforcement of some old ones. Helped us to think “out of the box” and be “brave.”
Great idea-generating exercise! I loved the out-of-the-box thinking to aggressively position our products for success.
The Bernard Simulation forced people to think differently. The ideas that came through were novel and directly related to strategy enhancements.
Stan did a great job customizing to our needs and offering the right balance of solutions and challenging questions when developing the exercises.
Stan combines theory and best practices from the industry on the one hand and execution on the other. He really focuses teams on key concepts and challenged us to think more competitively/ more tangibly perhaps than they are used to.
Stan exceeded expectations as a facilitator. His knowledge and insight into both marketing and our market was very impressive. We were able to accomplish a lot in the short period of time.