10 fields of strategy covered by Sun Tzu's principles, glossed by author in order to show their relation to modern business strategy.

1. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War
Beyond the great fad
by Miroslav Šebek
May 2013
Most actual and most relevant to business strategy
From the ancient text on war strategy
Explained and glossed
The paragraphs

2. How to read this presentation:
Chapter&paragraph
in The Art of War in
Roman numerals
English text of the paragraph in translation of
Lionel Giles (which is now English standard of The
Art of The War)
Text from author of this presentation : glosses, historic examples, parallels
to business strategy etc.

3. This is true essence of strategy for me that you never have resources satisfying all your
needs, so you MUST make decisions on allocation of your resources, exploit your
weaknesses as baits and your strenghts as jaw for your beast, and grab initiative !
VI.17 For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear;
should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he
strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen
his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements
everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
Who will win ? Really 50:50 ?

4. • This is about the whole of the army! By contrast, leader MUST be ignorant about
(1),(2) or (3) concerning a unit of the army if such regards endanger whole army!
• In 1917 British general Douglas Haig broke morale of his army by futile and
senseless offensives in Paschendale battle.
• On opposite, in November of 1941 commander of Western front G.K.Zhukov
categoricaly refused request of his subordinate general K.K.Rokossovsky for a
minor retreat of his 16th army to better defendable position. The result was
major damage inflicted on 16th army but morale of Western front remained
undamaged; important few days before first Russian major offensive.
III.12 There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon
his army:—
III.13 (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being
ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling
the army.
III.14 (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he
administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which
obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
III.15 (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination,
through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to
circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.

5. How many business leaders afraids battle with equally strong opponent ! They say
instead ‘ I employ Blue ocean strategy – battles are not necessary for me ’. Really?
I’ve read the famous book from Kim and Mauborgne and seen some presentations
on the topic – and there was nothing about shrinking of company and decline in
incomes. This is more typical for companies which have fled a market battle than for
that ones which have developed uncontested marketspace...
III.9 If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in
numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way,
we can flee from him.

6. This is not about leaders skillful in fleeing battle without any fighting, with their
forces intact and without losing a man! Sun Tzu should have highlight more that his
rules are intended for average generals seeking mastery, not for zero level strategists
in top positions seeking an alibi. Some people have really perverted these two
articles from ‘The Art of the War’ into ‘Sun Tzu urged us avoid battle for any price’ !
III.6 Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without
any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them;
he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the
field.
III.7 With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire,
and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.
This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

7. • General may be strong and with authority but his orders still may be unclear...
• Job of a commander-in-chief is to convert Scarcity of resources, Uncertainty
about future and Complexity of environment into Clear, Unambiguous and
Attainable orders for his subordinates. There is no exception and no excuse for
not doing so!
• If he tries to avoid the decision making, his subordinates become commanders-
in-chief at their own – they have to deal with Scarcity, Uncertainty and
Complexity in his stead. Very common situation in many western corporations!
X.18 When the general is weak and without authority; when his
orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties
assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a
slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.
I think it must be slightly reworded in order to see the point(s):
X.18 When the general is weak and without authority OR when his
orders are not clear and distinct OR when there are no fixed
duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in
a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

8. That’s why western companies seek decisive, dynamic, strong and persitent
managers – they have to run from one attacked point to another through all wilds at
will of their smart eastern adversaries.
Never attack directly what is dear to YOU – it’s predictable and you’ll crash into well
prepared defence (like Wehrmacht in Kursk battle). Instead lure opponent’s forces
away to defend objectives which are dear to HIM/HER and subsequently reap your
unprotected objective.
VI.5 Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march
swiftly to places where you are not expected.
XI.18 If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly
array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say:
“Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear;
then he will be amenable to your will.”
XI.66 Forestall your opponent by seizing what he holds dear, and subtly
contrive to time his arrival on the ground.

9. • It looks very naturally that some potential objectives must be ignored, but really
isn’t. E.g. medieval obsession with fortresses is still alive in many military brains.
In a similar way, business minds are frequenly obsessed with diversification, no
matter that in their case it may be harmful. No custom, no fad, no tool, no great
leader of the past can absolve a strategic leader from his/her basic duty – to
assess current strategic situation !
• To disobey sovereign (or company owner) is definitely the utmost measure in
relation between the sovereign and his/her commander-in-chief. However, in
some extreme cases it must be introduced (e.g. panicked or insane sovereign).
• More frequently, appointed commander-in-chief doesn’t do decisions on
resource allocation and factual strategic decisions are made by middle officers or
managers facing impossible to fulfil tasks. They may be desperate enough to
disobey inept commander-in-chief and sovereign too, usually in a very noisy way.
VIII.3 There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must
be not attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions
which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which
must not be obeyed.
X.23 If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even
though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then
you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.

10. Some commanders, some cultures and some nations are obsessed with idea of single
all-out decisive head-to-head battle with main body of enemy army. On example,
ancient Romans.
Here is well known story of consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator
from second Puny war (following text is copied from Wikipedia):
“Fabius was well aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians, and so Fabius refused to
meet Hannibal in a pitched battle. Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal, hoping to
exhaust him in a long war of attrition. Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginian foraging
parties, limiting Hannibal's ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force.
The delaying tactics involved a pincer of not directly engaging Hannibal while also exercising a
"scorched earth" practice to prevent Hannibal's forces from obtaining grain and other resources.
The Romans were unimpressed with this defensive strategy and at first gave Fabius his epithet
Cunctator (=Indecisive) as an insult. “
Ultimately, Romans sacked Fabius and appointed ‘decisive’ consuls Varro and Paullus
who immediatelly led Roman legions towards long-desired decisive battle with
Hannibal. The result of the battle was epic debacle near Cannae where Romans lost
in one day more than 50000 soldiers including ‘decisive’ consul Paullus.
VI.30 So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what
is weak.

11. Sun Tzu says : PLACE...! You, you have to place your army ...!
Sun Tzu doesn’t say: LET YOUR foe to place your army in desperate straits...!
That’s the difference, that’s the wit : even in straits, you have initiative. This is why
Alexander defeated much more stronger Dareios in battle of Gaugamela, this is why
Sun Tzu defeated stronger army of Chu kingdom, using himself as bait.
XI.24 Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there
is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile
country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it,
they will fight hard.
XI.58 Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into
desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.

12. True. Nothing to add. If somebody wants to carry out honest war, I wish him/her
great success. The same to people who believe that business needs no battles.
I.18 All warfare is based on deception.

13. All my presentations on strategy and
corporate culture
Personal planning of strategist http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/personnal-planning-of-
strategist
My glosses to famous Sun Tzu’s The Art of War http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/the-art-of-war-glosses
Surprising roots of bad organizational culture http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/roots-of-badculture
Surprising roots of bad organizational culture – shortened version http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/roots-of-bad-culture-
shortened-version
Strategic management as group of human beings http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/strategic-management-
as-group-of-human-beings
Enlargement of a small power plant http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/enlargement-of-a-
small-power-plant-project-and-strategy

14. Thank you for your attention!
Looking forward to your feedback, you can use my e-mail
miroslav.sebek@seznam.cz
or send me message at LinkedIn