Contents

Contents Page Number

Introduction 2

Content 3-7

Discussion 8-9

Conclusion 10

Recommendation 11-12

Reference 13

UBMM 1011 Sun Zi’s Art Of War and Business Strategies Page 1
Introduction

The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th
century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period. It composed of 13 chapters, each of
which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it is said to be the definitive work on military
strategies and tactics of its time, and still one of the basic texts.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy.
It has had an influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu
suggested the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by
objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive
actors in that environment. He thought that strategy was not planning in the sense of
working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate
responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a
changing environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

The book is even more fascinating than its background. Only reading it will one see
the principles are timeless and true, the words pragmatic and universally applicable to any
situation that requires absolute victory. Equally important, a person can learn to avoid
disasters.

In this assignment, we would like to describe a little bit more details on one of the
chapter which is chapter 8, variations and adaptability and another one which is chapter 10
terrain.

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Content

The concepts we adapt from the topics of Sun Zi Art of War are “variations and
adaptability” and “terrain”. The words of “enemy”, “battlefield” and “commander or
general” in the Sun Zi Art of War can be explained as the situation, business operations and
project leaders in business organizations.

Variations and Adaptability

This topic focuses on the need for flexibility in your responses. It explains how to
respond to shifting circumstances successfully. The strategic rules of this topic is to
consider tactical options, prepare adequate defenses and avoid the faults of leadership.

Sun Zi said: “In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects
his army and concentrates his forces.”It means that the way of how to manage your
employees to complete the task when you receive a task from your boss. Firstly, you must
gather your employees and discuss together, unite their power to complete the task. When in
difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join hands with
your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions. In hemmed-in situations, you
must resort to stratagem. In desperate position, you must fight. There are some routes and
paths that must not be taken; some armies and troops that must not be assaulted; some cities
that must not be attacked; some grounds that must not be contested; and some military
orders that need not be obeyed.

Thus, the general who knows how to vary and adapt to changing situations so as to
gain advantages is one who is skillful in applying the art of war.” However, if the general
who is familiar with the terrain but does not know how to vary and adapt to changing
situations will not be able to take advantage of what that terrain has to offer. As a leader,
you must know how to utilize the existing resources and adapt to the environment in order
to gain advantages among competitors. If a leader do not know how to implement the
business strategy and fully utilize their resources will lose the bargaining power with other
competitors.

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 In military command, if the general cannot master the art of variations and
adaptability, he will not be able to deploy his troops to maximum advantage despite
understanding the five strategic considerations. It means that in a company, if a leader
cannot make appropriate adaptations, he cannot maximize the profit of the company under
the inflexibility management.

If our expectation of advantage be tempered in this way, we may succeed in

accomplishing the essential part of our schemes. If, on the other hand, in the midst of
difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from
misfortune. When we conducting a business, despite of considering the disadvantages, we
also need to consider those advantages or beneficial factors in order to lead the projects or
works are going on smoothly. Instead, when you see the advantages that greatly benefit to
you, be sure not to forget to consider the disadvantages at that time because this can let you
avoid any undesirable things and misfortunes.

Hence, the general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany
variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops. In the general, who does not understand
these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able
to turn his knowledge to practical account. So, the student of war who is unversed in the art
of war of varying his plans, even though he is acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail
to make the best use of his men. Hence in the wise leader's plans, considerations of
advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together. If a person really understands the
variations of how to make adaptations can be consider success in handling his company. If
not, even he has abundant resources; he still cannot gain the profit from it. In this situation,
the potentialities of the company may not be fully stretched.

The Sun Zi Art of War teaches us “In the conduct of war, one must not rely on the
failure of the enemy to come, but on the readiness of oneself to engage him.”, “One must
not rely on the failure of the enemy to attack, but on the ability of oneself to build an
invincible defense.”When conducting business, people cannot bet on there were no any

UBMM 1011 Sun Zi’s Art Of War and Business Strategies Page 4
misfortunes happened or the evil plot or tricks from other competitors will not come to you.
You must get everything well prepared beforehand and believe that our impregnable
defense will not be defeated by others.

Therefore, there are five dangers that will plague any general which are
recklessness, cowardice, hasty temper, sensitive to honour and over-solicitude. If he is
reckless, he can be killed; if he is cowardly and desperate to live, he can be captured; if he is
quick-tempered and easily angered, he can be provoked; if he is sensitive to honour, he can
be insulted; if he is overly compassionate to people, he can be disturbed and harassed. Each
leader has five fatal weaknesses. If he uses a hard tactic toward his opponent, it can lead
him to the destruction which means a person who lacks thought and empathy. If he always
shrinks back when it comes to the point, he will be captured by others. It also refers to
“analysis from desk” which stinks of the hypothetical and assumption. If he has a bad
tempered, he is easily to be provoked by his opponents and this can make him blinds his
good sense. A hasty temper demonstrates frustration or rejection of critique that exposes
chinks in the armour. If he is too preserve to his moral integrity and concern about his face-
saving, he may not be able to bear the insult from others and the conflicts occurred. If he is
caring about people, he can't stand the opponent's disturbing action rather than to take the
appropriate action against the opponent. Overly compassionate to people also means that
too much care detail and have to beware ‘analysis paralysis’ quicksand.

These five characteristics are the greatest pitfalls and mistakes of a general and the
cause of disasters in any military operation. The destruction of an army and the deaths of
generals are caused by the five dangers mentioned above. Thus, they must be studied and
examined thoroughly. Those five weaknesses mentioned above are the main causes that can
lead the leaders making mistakes and bring the misfortunes to the employees. As a result,
people must be aware of these five weaknesses in order to prevent the undesirable
happened.

In conclusion, when you work in a company you must change tactics whenever
possible and always have plans and solutions ready for a sudden change of situation. The
attitude and approach of the manager, CEO and etc certainly influences the productivity of
employee.

UBMM 1011 Sun Zi’s Art Of War and Business Strategies Page 5
Terrain

Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical dimension of land surface. Terrain is used as a
general term in physical geography, referring to the lie of the land. This is usually expressed
in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain is a similar term,
used more to describe the land itself than the study of it. "Relief" is often used to refer to the
third dimension of a map whether in actuality (as in a "raised relief" map, or drawn, as with
contours, hachures or shading) or the territory it describes relates to the description of places
rather than broad regions, in topographic surveys.

We may distinguish six kinds of terrain which is accessible ground, entangling

ground, temporizing ground, precipitous heights and positions at a great distance from the
enemy. From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and
defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then,
return being impossible, disaster will ensue. When the position is such that either side will
gain by making the first move, it is called temporizing ground.

The terrain of a region largely determines its suitability for human settlement. In
terms environmental quality, agricultural, and hydrology, understanding the terrain of an
area enables the understanding of watershed boundaries, drainage characteristics, water
movement, and impacts on water quality. Understanding terrain also supports on soil
conservation, especially in agriculture. Contour plowing is an established practice enabling
sustainable agriculture on sloping land, it is the practice of plowing along lines of equal
elevation instead of up and down a slope. On the other hand, terrain also important in
determine the weather patterns. Two areas geographically close to each other may differ
radically in precipitation levels or timing because of elevation differences or a "rain
shadow" effect.

Besides, there are six several calamities of enemy, not arising from natural causes,
but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are flight, insubordination,
collapse, ruin, disorganization and rout.

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 Terrain is militarily critical because it determines the ability of armed forces to take
and hold areas, and move troops and material into and through areas. An understanding of
terrain is basic to both defensive and offensive strategy. Since terrain comes in vast
varieties, certain features can be specific according to one type terrain, but also other
features can be specific to multiple types of terrain. Basically, different terrains can both
share the same features as well as have their own unique features.

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Discussion

Based on the findings, six factors of the tourism image for these highlands as
perceived by the tourists were identified namely; 1) “service and infrastructure”, 2) “local
attractions and facilities”, 3) “general mood and vacation atmosphere”, 4) “leisure and
recreational activities”, 5) “natural surroundings”, and 6) “nature and family-oriented”.
Genting Highlands strong points are “services and infrastructures” and “leisure and
recreational activities” factors.

Since Genting Highlands is a main tourism in Malaysia, it must know how to vary
and adapt to changing situations so as to gain advantages. As we know, they realize the
importance of changing and variations, they had added some new facilities and games to
attract more visitors. For example, they added Thrills and Chills, and Pirate Ship in the
Theme Park. Besides that, Snow World has been added in the First World and it was a
successful plan to attract new visitors and has fulfilled the existing visitors’ satisfaction.

Furthermore, they do have a lot of promotions throughout the year especially during
the school holidays and peak seasons. In addition, while there are some events held in the
Arena of Stars, visitors will get a lot of benefits because Genting Group will launch some
worthy packages which include breakfast, entrance ticket and one night stay. Genting World
Card brings a lot of benefits to the member by earning the points. The members can get
discount by exchanging the points collected when they going for Star Cruise, redeem the
points for foods and beverages, entertainments, hotel stay and so on.

Sun Zi said: the wise strategist will always weigh and consider the favourable and
unfavourable factors in his deliberations. By factoring the favourable factors, the mission
can accomplished with confidence. By factoring the unfavourable factors, disasters and
crises can be averted. So, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong have the confidence to develop the
mountain that he believe it will become one of the tourist attractions in Malaysia one day.

Genting Highland is built on hill top so the cool weather became one of the
attractions for visiting. It is located at an altitude of 1800 meters, temperatures staying in the
15-25 °C range. As Malaysia is located at the torrid zone, so the cool weather of Genting
Highland is one of the attractive points. As mentioned in the Sun Zi Art of War, the general

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who is familiar with the terrain but also know how to vary and adapt to changing situations
will be able to take advantages of what that terrain has offered.

Genting Group has also build some new tourist attractions nearby such as Chin Swee
Caves Temple, Cradle Rock, Genting Sempah Welcome Arch, Genting Strawberry Farm,
Kilometre 7 Nursery, Highlands Mushroom Farm, Highlands Vegetable Farm, Highlands
Daylily Farm, and The Visitors' Galleria. We can see that Genting Group fully utilize the
strategic location and they got the competitive advantages compare to other tourism such as
Cameron Highlands and Fraser Hill.

Sun Zi said: know the weather, know the terrain, and your victories will be limitless
and if one do not know that the terrain is not favourable for the conduct of such an assault,
then the chance of victory is only half. Genting Group can be so successful today is because
they know how to take advantage of the location, weather, variations and adaptability. This
will lead Genting Group to bring more profit to the corporate.

Variations and adaptability must always in process due to the terrain that it own, so
that Genting Highlands can become more and more famous and attracts more and more
tourists and foreigners come and visit Genting Highlands and let it become internationally
tourism in Malaysia.

UBMM 1011 Sun Zi’s Art Of War and Business Strategies Page 9
Conclusion

Through this project, we deeply understand that Sun Zi’s Art of War is playing an
important role not only in military but also in business field. This report is about the use of
these two tactics that implemented in business. Through the tactic of variation and
adaptability, Genting group collects data of competitors before they enter this industry. This
is because they need to know the competitors’ strengths and weaknesses so that they can
make improvements of their own weaknesses. Besides, Genting group always do market
research to know those visitors expectations and preferences so that they offer services that
other competitors do not provide. Genting group can make the right decision by considering
advantages and disadvantages to them in order to gain competitive advantage in the
industry.

Genting group set goals and plans to facilitate employees’ identification with the
organization and help motivate them by reducing uncertainty and clarifying what they
should accomplish. Employees will focus attention on specific target in order to achieve
desired outcomes. Their employees will have the sense of belonging to the company.
Genting group built trusting relationship with its employees in order to prevent unexpected
events. Genting group’s employees will work hard for the company. So when occur
unexpected events, their staffs will help to solve the circumstances together. Genting group
also provide reward and welfare to staffs when they have well performance. This also can
be used as a motivation for employees.

The most attractive point of Genting Highland is built on hill top which is terrain in
the Sunzi’s art of war. Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong is good in foresight and he had first occupy
the land of Genting and develop it becomes a landmark of Malaysia. He knows that those
visitors prefer colder place than warm and hot place. So he develops Genting by integrating
world standard entertainment facilities, hotels, shopping outlets and business convention
facilities.

Genting also provide transportation services to allow more people to travel to

Genting and easier for those who have no transport. The transportation services include
Skyway Cable Cars, Limousine, luxury coach, express bus, shuttle service car and taxi.

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Recommendation

We know that Genting plays an important role in the tourism of Malaysia because it
is a landmark of Malaysia. Besides that, it also attracting many foreign come forward for
travelling. However, Genting still need to utilize the existing facilities and adapt to the
environment in order to gain competitive advantage. Therefore, Genting group will be more
successful and lead them become the market leader in the industry.

Genting Highland has the hi-tech and comfortable entertainment venues which are
suitable for hosting these events such as Arena of Stars, Genting International Showroom,
Genting International Convention Centre and Pavilion Hall. Therefore, we strongly
recommend that Genting group can held more events at Genting such as concert sporting
event and dance performance, magic show and so on by invite more international stars,
renowned instrumental artist or circus to perform their artistic skills or bringing more
entertainment in order to attract more tourists come forward Genting.

Besides, Genting group need to make some improvement, such as improve their
facilities attraction. Since we know that Genting group have much of interesting games in
the theme park, it’s bring a lot of fun for children and also adults. In order to satisfy their
tourists and also attracting more new customers, Genting group can increase more kinds of
games in Genting Theme Park whenever outdoor or indoor. For example, Genting should
add more games that similar with Jet Scream, Psyclone, Riptide and Sledge Hammer which
are famous in Canada’s Wonderland. By carrying some of the improvement in the theme
park, the visitors will have new experience which is more fun and also enjoy very well
compare to the existing games.

Genting Highland is built on hill top so the cool weather became one of the
attractions for visiting. Genting outdoor water park becomes unpopular due to the cool
weather. So we recommend that Genting should have one additional facility like artificial
hot spring. This facility will become another attraction of Genting Highland since it is
seldom in Malaysia. Because that will be a very special experience that can get at Genting
but can enjoy the feel which is enjoying the hot spring at a cool place.

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 Lastly, Genting group should offer a high quality services in order to create
sustained and long-lasting relationship with customer by meeting customers’ expectation
and satisfy them as well as possible. This will help to stabilize their market place in this
industry. Genting group can provides more management trainee programs to improve the
quality of their staffs. Through these programs, the behavior of employees will improve and
visitors will satisfy with their services.

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References

1. The Art of War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2009, November). Retrieved
November 6, 2009, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

2. Understanding Sun Tzu on the Art of War. (2009, April 28). Retrieved November 6,
2009, from Understanding Sun Tzu on the Art of War:

http://www.artofwarsuntzu.com./

3. Genting Highlands – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2010, July 9). Retrieved July
9, 2010, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genting_Highlands

4. Terrain – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2010, June 4). Retrieved June 4, 2010,
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrain
5. Tourism Image of Highland Destinations In Pahang. (2009, January). Retrieved July
14, 2010, from Tourism Image of Highland Destinations In Pahang:

http://psasir.upm.edu.my/7130/1/FH_2009_2a.pdf
6. Genting Highlands – Wikitravel. (2010, July 14). Retrieved July 14, 2010, from
Wikitravel :

http://wikitravel.org/en/Genting_Highlands

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