At Your Library Business As War Game: A Report from the Battlefront, by Raymond W. Smith, with reporter associate Joe McGowan, Fortune, September 30, 1996, Vol. 134, No. 6, page 190+. The CEO of Bell Atlantic shares his insights into the value of using game theory for better planning and decision making. Several strategies and techniques are discussed: Making decisions that have the resiliency to be correct over a wide range of outcomes. Assigning managers with no previous vested interest to independently review corporate priorities to see if there are any flaws in them. Anticipating competitors through such techniques as games where players act as competitors to plot strategies for defeating the company. Changing the rules of the game to favor the company, such as expanding the definition of the company's business in order to enter other profitable markets that play on the company's strengths. Question: Can you identify companies, products and/or industries that would especially benefit from this decision-making approach? Why? How Levi's Trashed a Great American Brand by Nina Munk, Fortune, April 12, 1999, Vol. 139, No. 7, page 82+. Divided into four parts, this article summarizes the decisions of its current CEO, Bob Haas, in charting the overall direction of Levi's. Questions: What major decisions has the CEO made and what appear to be the reasons behind those decisions? Do you agree with those decisions? Why or why not? If you were the CEO of Levi's, what decisions would you make with regard to the products offered and the way operations are conducted? In explaining the reasons for your decisions, explain the advantages and disadvantages of several alternatives you considered before making each decision.

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