You are vice-president of strategy for Ford in North America and part of a taskforce the chief executive has just instructed to devise a radical strategy. The urgent priority is to stop the slow decline in the company’s US market share and lift operations back into the black. And, by the way, you and your eight colleagues have just two hours to finalise your recommendations.

MBA veterans will recognise the conventions of the business school case study. In this instance, though, the aim is not to produce a beautiful strategic solution, but to highlight the participants’ negotiating skills. As representatives of the manufacturing, engineering, finance, marketing and sales arms of a fictional Ford, they must reconcile their conflicting priorities to produce a coherent plan.