Are you prepared for a corporate site selection project?

Last week I participated in a war game produced by the American Enterprise Institute. The game revolved a crisis on the Korean peninsula, with teams representing China, South Korea, North Korea, and the United States. Each person was given a character to play and two briefing books, one public and one private. The public book, which everyone had a copy of, provided situational background, location and size of military assets in the region, and broad information on each country. The second book included detailed information on your character, including your political ambitions, personal and country alliances, and assets at your disposal.

Twenty “civilians” participated, with five AEI experts managing. I was on the North Korean team, playing Chang Sung-Taek, regent and political advisor to Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-Un. Three hours later the world was safe, but only after much drama, including in no particular order;

• China stopped buying U.S. treasury debt
• Nuclear missiles prepared for launch on civilian targets
• Large scale military invasion
• A foreign leader died, another was assassinated
• Much politicking

It was great fun, and quite educational. The game was setup with great distrust amongst the North Korean team, similar to real life apparently. Dan Blumenthal, representing a key Chinese official, later related that no one could negotiate with the North Korea team as we were busy conspiring to save ourselves from other North Koreans.

War games exist to help develop and improve planned responses to potential crisis. Communities seeking corporate investment should war game a site selection project, grade their response, and make improvements. This is especially true for newly aggressive communities, or those without recent site selection experience. Understanding the site selection process will;

• Educate participants on the process, requirements, and community response
• Make it appear you’ve done this before
• Identify areas for improvement  

Not a minor undertaking, but worth the time and effort.