A Game of Chess

It was a warm early morning of October. The year was 2003. I set out to play my first tournament of Chess in high school. My opponent was a scholar, the topper of the batch! And here I was, a rookie in the world of chess. Or so he thought. 3^rd move of the game, I delivered the knock-out punch, I took his queen! The expression on his face told the story. It was of utter disbelief! He was using the “Scholar’s Mate” move on me. He was supposed to win the game in the next move! How the hell did this happen? His expression slowly changed to surrender and in another 45 mins, I had won the game. This experience gave me my first major learning in chess and in life alike…

Having sat through multiple sessions on “Strategy” during my B-School days, I was always intrigued by the fabulous moves played by businesses around the world. Acquisitions, advertising, promotions, product launches, so on and so forth always threw multiple lessons in business strategy to be amazed by. One question remained unanswered – It’s okay for us to retrospectively analyze the moves but when these businesses are actually into these situations, how do they come up with these masterstrokes?

Some claim it is experience accumulated over the years. Some say it is having ‘expert analysts’ on their side which works. Some claim it is ‘compare and contrast’ with other businesses that have been there and done that. But if all that had to be true, wouldn’t it be applicable to both sides of the table? Wouldn’t both competing businesses have access to the same information and have services of equally smart analysts? How then, would one side ever emerge victorious?

Having spent some time in the corporate world, I see a different side to this hype of “business strategy”. Can we consider it like playing a game of chess? And the business moves we make, inspired by the moves in chess? Let’s dig further in to this. Each company has different business units called verticals. Each of these units has different capabilities, different set of objectives. Each of them competes with a similar business unit of another company. Just like the pieces on a chess board. However individualistic, these pieces are working towards a common purpose – To get the opposition king, to achieve the overall company goal.

The game of chess has numerous teachings to offer which can be applied to a business scenario. For one, chess is a game where you keep your cards close to your heart. Play one move at a time without giving the opponent a hint of your larger game plan. Else, you could get drawn in and beaten at your own game! Think of TATA Steel’s acquisition of Corus where TATA went head on for it and a silent Brazilian firm CSN played smart and made TATA Steel pay so much more than it would have otherwise paid.

How often in a game of chess that we sacrifice a pawn for a queen. Or rather use a piece to serve a larger purpose in the game. Then think of what P&G did by introducing Luvs Diaper in the market. To serve the larger purpose in a fight between Pampers and Huggies, Luvs was “sacrificed”. On the other hand, when P&G was to make an entry into the market with Oral B, Colgate flooded the market and occupied all available rack space. Just like sometimes, how we position our pieces to occupy strategic squares on a chess board, not to attack the opponent but just to restrict their movement.

The importance of the king is well emphasized in Chess, just like it needs to be in business. If your king falls, the empire, however large, will collapse! (Ramalinga Raju and Satyam?) In chess, the pieces fight while the king does not come into the fray until the very end when the knock-out punch needs to be delivered. He is protected from all sides and exposed just when needed to check-mate the opposition. Just like business, where your highest authority will not be exposed until the very end, so that the power associated with the highest authority does not get diluted. Think of the letter written by Sachin Bansal to buyers after the Big Billion Day disaster. Would it have gotten the respect that it did had Sachin Bansal been exposed too much before? Think of how major companies associate their brand name only with certain products at a certain stage. Protection of the ultimate power center you would think?

There is so much more in a game of chess that can be related to businesses. Think of giving the opposition a “check”, a threat with an intention to make them play a certain move which they were not willing to. Then think of Google’s move of acquiring Motorola to threaten Samsung thus getting the desired usage restrictions on Android. Think of a head-on battle between the queens in chess. Reminds you of Sprite vs Dew or even the current e-commerce scenario in India? A good player of chess can always think 3 moves ahead of his opponent and then the opponent just follows terms dictated by the leader. Think of Apple and its products? A weaker player sometimes plays the slow game waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and then pounce on them. Like years ago when No. 2 Pepsi pounced on market leader Coca-Cola after they changed their formulation and it went wrong (“They changed my coke” campaign). The game plan in chess needs to evolve with time. You cannot always win a game with a plan you started with. Think of Kodak and Nokia who failed to evolve their game plan. A game of chess always gives you an opportunity to make a come-back if you play the right moves. Think of how Cadbury roped in Mr. Amitabh Bachchan to endorse it after the insects’ disaster.

Today, we see how a new Fogg deodorant beat heavyweights like Axe to become the market leader. Or how a Patanjali group by Baba Ramdev is threatening the likes of HUL, ITC and P&G in India! Or how a small brand like Micromax has captured market share like no one imagined. This brings me to the most important learning from a game of chess that any business can take. A lesson my opponent, the scholar, learnt on that October 2003 morning in high school. Never underestimate your opposition, else 1 wrong move, can be the game-ender for you! Brings me to this intriguing thought that may be, just may be businesses look at strategy like playing chess. Simulation of your business situation on a chess board might just give you the right move that you need to make to emerge victorious!