Business = War

As mentioned, I am going to write some thoughts on Sun Zi Art of War Application on Business. Please feel free to give me any comments and opinion that you have!

In the first part of Chapter 1 of Sun Zi Art of War, it was mentioned that going to war is of vital importance to the state, because it can determine whether it survives or not and also whether it will prosper or be destroyed. There is no in between. Since the stakes are high, initial planning and assessment are critical.

So which area should the ruler look at before deciding to go to war? Sun Zi proposed these five main areas and they are broken down into seven sub areas.

We can see from the writings that Sun Zi is a very meticulous person because he broke the five points down to the dimensions that one should look out for. For example, he broke down the terrain into whether it is high or low, near or far, wide plains or narrow paths, treacherous or accessible or the weather is broke down into cold or hot, night or day and which season it is in.

The 5 areas and 7 sub- areas are:

故经之已五，校之以计，而索其情: 一曰道，二曰天，三曰地，四曰将，五曰法。

1) Political leadership of the Ruler (道)
2) The weather where the battle is taking place (天)
3) The terrain where the battle is taking place （地）
4) Generalship, the person commanding the battle （将）
5) Army organization structure and systems （法）

7 Sub areas

a) Moral influence of a Ruler （主孰有道?)
b) Capability of General (将孰有能?)
c) Advantage of provided by Weather and Terrain (天地孰得?)
d) Effective and Efficient Execution of Orders (法令孰行?)
e) Equipped level and numerical strength of army (兵众孰强？)
f) Training level of army (士卒孰练？)
g) Administration of rewards and punishment (赏罚孰明？)

Relating to business aspect, these are important factors that determine the successful implementation of a company’s strategy. The key here is to relate these factors to business. There should not be much difficulty in relating these factors from military to business.

a) Employer or top management ability to unite the company or department behind a vision or to achieve certain goals
b) Capability of Manager or Team Leader
c) Different Aspects of Market like the culture of people, government set rules and regulation
d) Business Systems like inventory management, delivery system and others
e) Technology available to staff
f) Skill set and knowledge level of staff
g) Administration of rewards and punishment

In the next blog, I will talk more about the first three sub-areas and its application on business strategy assessment.