1. To test plans and prepare continuity teams as final preparation before activation and deployment.

2. To test ability to manage a blended threat with flu pandemic combining with recession to cause further shocks to markets and financial systems.  
 

One day game based on a flexible scenario using key variables for clinical attack rate, mortality and absenteeism decided in conjunction with clients.

 

In 2006 Simulstrat developed a methodology to test the response of the NHS, pharmaceutical and biotech industries and health supply chain to pandemic flu. This wargame was played in private by leading figures under Chatham House. With the outbreak of the current flu crisis, the Government and the World Health Organisation are advising companies and organizations to test their business continuity and resilience plans. Simulstrat’s close links to leading academic figures at King’s College London makes it ideally placed to provide external validation and advice to guarantee the robustness of your planning.

Scenario
An example of a scenario that could underpin the game is shown below.  The key variables in the model can be quickly adapted to specific customers' wishes.  The game is specifically designed to test the ability to cope with the additional pressures caused by a combined threat (flu pandemic and market shock).

 

 

 

Managing a campaign on two fronts is a severe test of management and leadership that should be rehearsed.  Having well developed plans is obviously important but most plans are generic and often break down during live implementation. As the military strategist von Moltke observed – ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy’. As a potential crisis develops, therefore, it is essential to test the robustness of the plan and ensure it is aimed at the specific target being faced, not some generic threat. Moreover, even with the most robust of plans, success is dependent on individuals putting the plan into operation and making the right decisions at the right time. Establishing effective team working and crisis decision making can only be done through testing and rehearsal. A relatively small investment at this stage of the flu crisis to test your plan could prevent major losses and difficulties if the crisis escalates. Using an independent specialist company like Simulstrat provides important external validation to key stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, insurers, shareholders, regulators) that every possible step has been taken to minimise the impact of the flu pandemic.    

Simulstrat will provide a bespoke business wargame customised to your organisation that will test the robustness of your contingency plans for business continuity both during and after a pandemic of swine flu.  

 

This will ensure that your organisation is able to maintain its operations and systems in the face of a global flu pandemic and also be able to make a rapid and sustainable recovery after the event – a critical phase often neglected in planning.

 

The game is based on proven wargaming methodology and a scenario that has already been successfully used in a high level planning meeting on pandemic flu.

 

The game will be played in one day and will be based on testing the organisation’s existing Flu Pandemic Contingency Plan. Key staff will play the roles identified in the organisation’s plan and also the roles of external suppliers, shareholders, customers and others who affect the organisation’s business.

 

Key stress points to be tested in the pandemic phase will include responses to minimise absenteeism, effects of breakdowns in external infrastructure, the importance of effective communications and the need for regulatory relief. In the post- pandemic recovery phase the scenario will enable organisations to explore issues such as the consequences of the pandemic on staff morale, retaining staff and operating in the new economic and financial context.

Simulstrat will provide:

When should this be played?
At WHO level 5 or 6.  Clinical experts are also advising that preparations should be made for second and third waves which would emerge in the Autumn.

Who should play this wargame?

The model for this wargame is relevant for private and public sector organisations to test and validate their pandemic flu plans. Simulstrat’s methodology enables key managers and decision makers in your business to test and rehearse their skills in a dynamic wargame environment.

 

Our management team comes with the strongest credentials for this task:-

 

Air Vice Marshal Steve Chisnall formerly worked in the MOD and Cabinet Office, and is familiar with contingency planning at national and international levels.

 

Dr. Sara Ulrich joined Simulstrat from Harvard Law School where she was lecturing in Crisis Management. Her report on the emergency response from EU & NATO countries to Hurricane Katrina highlighted statutory obstacles that prevented European medical teams working in the US and resulted in the embargo on UK MOD rations due to concerns about BSE.

 

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Department of War Studies and Vice Principal, King’s College London is a world recognised academic and a trusted source on strategic issues to UK government.

 

Professor Michael Clarke, is the first Director of the Royal United Services Institute to come from an academic rather than a military background. Professor Clarke is also a world recognised figure in the field of war studies and has extensive experience as a lecturer at the Ministry of Defence Joint Services Command Staff College.

 

Simulstrat was established at King’s College London to supply strategic wargames and simulations to global business, government and international agencies. 
 

CEO: Ken Charman

 

Tel: 0870 880 2424

Web: www.simulstrat.com