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Saturday, 19 May 2012

Tag » Business Strategy and Transformation

Art of War in Business : Swift Victory

Waging Business Warfare means planning for Swift Victory. Companies that do not Marshall Adequate Resources will find themselves bogged down; something which good tactics cannot solve and good strategy should avoid.

Art of War in Business : Chapter Two from The Art of War : Waging War.

“Therefore, in war, swift victory is valued, prolongation is devalued.“as Translated by Victor H Mair*1.

In Chapter One from The Art of War : Initial Assessment (strategies) we learned that you must start with a strategy.  Now we say Swift Victory?!  Read more »

Art of War in Business : Victoriousness of Strategy

Research has shown that poor Strategy leads to greater failures than poor execution! Sun Tzu's lessons on Initial Assessments are very valuable Strategic Planning tips.

Art of War in Business : Chapter One from The Art of War : Initial Assessments (Strategy).

“Warfare is a great affair of the state.  The field of life and death, the way or preservation and extinction.  It cannot be left unexamined” as Translated by Victor H Mair*1. Read more »

Art of War in Business Series Announced

Business is Warfare and you will best succeed by acting like a Warlord. Learn from the master, Sun Tzu and The Art of War.

Sun Tzu or Sun Zi (depending on translator) was the author of what is now called The Art of War written between 345 and 272 BC.  I love this book.  If you study it and understand the principles they can be applied to almost any endeavor.  Over the course of my life I’ve used the principles in The Art of War for playing chess, football, trail running, competitive orienteering, Texas Hold Em and all manner of business.  Business is a form of warfare.

To me this is so basic.  A foundation which all other thoughts about Business Strategy and Tactics originate from.  Many people are using aspects of The Art of War without knowing it!   They do not understand the basics of the the strategies they employ.  This means that you can defeat them in business with superior strategy and tactics.   Over the next few months we will articulate how and why.

Please feel free to join the conversation.  Add your thoughts, ask questions, dispute examples.  I defy you to prove that The Art of War does not apply to modern business.

To paraphrase Sun Tzu: “A CEO must be informed about all five of these factors*, but only he who truly understand them will be victorious, while those who fail to understand them will be defeated.”

In modern business terms the five factors are a type of SWOT model or PEST analysis.

  1. Moral Influence = Organizational Moral and belief in Mission
  2. Weather = “Outside Forces” as found in a PEST Analysis
  3. Terrain = Marketplace, think of the 4 Ps.
  4. Commander = Management structure / leadership
  5. Doctrine = Principles

In our next installment we will expand on these concepts and also introduce the basic format that we shall be following.

Does Social Media Literally pay off?

Text 244326 with PhxStrat to play in this Social Medial Experiment. Love a local business gives small business owners and interesting Social Media Marketing tool.

Ok, Social Experiment.  I stumbled across Love a Local Business late in the game!  This is a great marketing tool from Intuit (Quickbooks).  Local businesses register and compete for grants up to $30,000.  They use Social Media to promote themselves and solicit  feedback as to why people love them!

It’s fun with  payoff!  :-)   Being a slightly competitive type I decided to enter the fray even though I have no realistic chance of winning because of time constraints.  There are a couple of different ways to vote.  First is through a Map Interface (click through box below) where you find and click on a Business local to you to vote.  The interface is a bit clumsy and awkward.  I was going to vote for a great local business that I visit traveling but the map brought me to my own backyard (scary).

Next is the SMS interface. Pretty simple. You text PhxStrat to 244326 — they ask you for your name, any ole name will do; and then why you love the business! Try it! If you read my posts you already know how fun, creative, inciteful, oops, insightful I am :-) Or read the excerpt of my One Pager (below) for some ideas. You can keep it short. Read more »