Jump the Curve — Helvetia Instruments AG

A senior-executive strategy simulation set at Helvetia Instruments AG, a CHF 1.9bn Zürich maker of precision laboratory and diagnostic instruments sitting at the top of a mature S-curve. A venture-backed challenger, Lumea, has just launched a cloud-native diagnostic platform and won a marquee pharma account, and the board has handed the CEO a fixed capital pool of CHF 300m over three years with one question: are we riding a dying curve, and what will we do about it? Across four rounds you diagnose where the firm sits on its current curve and how close the next curve is to crossover using the Future Readiness Indicator; decide when and how hard to jump under genuine uncertainty (the window closes before proof arrives); reallocate a fixed pool from the cash-rich-but-mature core to fund a software/analytics capability without breaking the funding bridge; choose build, partner, or acquire for the new capability; and place a cultural-relevance bet that actually forces the organisation onto the new curve rather than merely announcing it. The model makes the classic incumbent errors underperform: complacent deferral collapses the Future Readiness Indicator, over-committing and gutting core R&D craters core cash flow, an even 50/50 split wins on neither curve, and building the new capability inside the core culture with no autonomy starves the capability build. You learn to read top-of-curve health as a danger signal, time a leap without proof, and resource a two-speed transition. Currency is CHF throughout.