The Art of War

I’ve actually read this book, The Art of War by Sun Tzu a few times over now. Business is war, and if you want to dominate your competitors, realize there’s more than brute force. Every time I read this book or parts of it, I begin to understand why certain companies in their markets do so well, while their competition is kept at bay.

Take Google and Yahoo for example. For many years, Yahoo has been trying to fight with Google head-on, and the result, well, Yahoo’s implosion speaks for itself. Or why Coke has managed to dominate various markets by adapting their taste to local preferences. It is said that the taste of Coke is different depending on which country you are in - haven’t tasted it myself, but I’m sure that’s true. Even McDonald’s introduces new menus depending on region. Now that’s adapting to the “battlegrounds.”

One of the more interesting ideas I got from this book is the concept of winning without engaging in battle. Now for most companies, the natural tendency is to increase marketing budget and create bigger, flashier and forceful ads. Or lower prices and increase discounts. Take AMD and Intel - the legendary battle of processor chips. Intel is the 800lbs gorilla, while AMD has been trying to inch away at Intel’s marketshare for years! I believe AMD got it right at first, but then decided brute force was the way to go - huge blunder! The thought of going up against Intel in its own game is just mind-boggling and poor strategy, at best. But they chose that route - and have to deal with the consequences.

If your company is going up against your 800lbs gorilla, what are you doing about it? Well, one principle from the “Art of War” states that always pick the path of least resistance, know your enemy, study the landscape and understand your battlegrounds. Do all this before engaging. How prudent is that?

So in times of such uncertainties, here are some things I think companies should be doing:

• Study and evaluate your landscape.
• Spend time searching for the path of least resistance
• Fulfill needs your competitors chose to ignore
• Understand your strengths and amplify it
• Avoid head-on challenges to preserve resources (Do not get sucked into “who has a deeper pocket” battle - ever!)

If you have any other ideas you’d like to add, please do so - we can all learn from each others’ experiences.

If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it as one of the “Must read” books in your lifetime. I do absolutely no justice to its content