Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Discuss the relevance and principles of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” in strategic
management.
Sun Tzu was a military strategist, general in ancient China around 5th century BC. He is
traditionally considered as author of “The Art of War”. The book is considered as a guide to
Strategy and tactics in the military academy. The book mentions about the importance of
leadership, understanding the opponent, understanding the terrain where the battle is fought to
Strategies and tactics in business are often inspired by military strategies, even though words are
not taken literally, but it’s considered as inspiration and generate relevant thoughts that is
Below are my thoughts on the relevance of some of the chapters from “The Art of War” on the
strategies and tactics for Products. The book is applicable to Product strategies as much as in the
Products fails because of no clarity on the market, customer’s problem, competitors, own
capabilities.
Sun Tzu says that the leader should have the grasp of 5 important factors:
The Moral of the team: How strongly the team believes and accepts the vision.
Leadership: Who are leading the team. As the quote from Alexander III, “I am not afraid
The principle that guides, the methods, process and discipline that are followed by the
organization. The doctrines becomes key factors helping to make decision to achieve the
common goals.
A leader who wins makes exhaustive planning before the execution, the one who loses
2. Waging War :
Limitation of resource and funds is basically a common factor for any strategy
irrespective of war or a business. To succeed, you must have adequate resources and
funds.
Look for quick wins which becomes interim success and stepping stone to achieve the
final vision. The quick wins are necessary to boost the spirit of the team to move forward.
But this depends on the prioritization of to have the quick wins but without losing the
Quick wins should be Easy and Fast to implement, economical and reversible. Effort-
3. Attack by Stratagem :
“To capture the opponent’s state is best policy and better than to ruin it” – Sun Tzu.
The acquisitions in the corporate world is a good metaphor for the statement or the other
way around. But acquisitions doesn’t always promise a win. Vodafone was forced to
write off billions of dollars in the following years, after their $180.9Billion acquisition of
German telecom giant Mannesmann AG. At the other end, Walt Disney Co’s $7.4Billion
acquisition of Pixar has seen tremendous success by providing Walt Disney an access to
4. Tactical Disposition :
The statement – “In war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has
been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for
victory”. I was able to correlate this statement by Sun Tzu to the evaluating the product
before venturing out in the execution of the product idea. VRIO model could be used to
Valuable – How valuable is the product to the customers? Identify the competitive
disadvantage.
advantage.
Organized – How well company organized to realize the product which is valuable, rare
Evaluating and positioning the product provides opportunity to build flawless path to the
“Skillful warriors first made themselves invincible and then awaited the enemy’s moment
himself. It follows that those skilled can make themselves invincible but cannot cause an
opponent to be certainly vulnerable. So, it can be said that, one may know how to win,
5. Posture of Army :
It’s the importance of the organization and team. “The management of a large force is the
numbers”. Tactically organize the available team that they become extreme energy to
“He who occupies the field of battle first and awaits his opponent is at the ease, and the
who comes later to the scene and rushes into the fight is weary. So, those skilled in war
bring the opponent to the field of battle and not brought there by him”.
First-Movers-advantage: The advantage gained by the company that first introduces the
product to the market. It enables the company to establish strong brand recognition and
The company has the ground to increase the entry barrier so that new entrants find it
7. Maneuvering :
“Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the
different elements thereof. After that, comes tactical maneuvering, than which there is
The statement by Sun Tzu perfectly fits in case of Product development as well, where
the limited available team are not maneuvered directly, but utilized as per the road map
and circumstances.
8. Variation in Tactics :
Strategy defines how one achieves the long term goals, whereas tactics are the short term
plans on the way of achieving what is set out by the strategy. Sun Tzu suggests certain
“When in difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join the
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”.
Tactics are used based on the situation and circumstances to finally achieve the product
strategy. The one with a good product strategy is useless, if the product leader is unaware
about the usage of his knowledge to overcome the odd situations and finally lead to the
product success.
9. On the March :
When you are ready to face the market and competition, ensure the timing and trends to
launch it in the market place. Understanding customer buying behavior. Experiment and
test the product with targeted customers and just not the early adoptors before proceeding
the launch in order avoid face-off and failure, in terms of falling in to the Chasm between
As Sun Tzu says ” We come now to the questions of encamping the army and observing
the signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over the mountains and keep in the neighborhood of
valleys”.
Conclusion:
The principles and thoughts from military strategy is an inspiration to build a product
market place needs a relevant and well calculated strategy with a guiding principles and
Finally, a well developed strategy can help a company to come up with ideas to win
without fighting.
References:
Sumukha KV 23th November 2021 The Art of War" by Sun Tzu & it's relevance to
Product
https://www.productleadership.com/the-art-of-war%E2%80%8B-by-sun-tzu-its-
relevance-to-product-strategy/.