Sacrificial Bait
In Chess, it is best to always keep the opponent on the move. When you effectively attack, you can threaten opponents continually and that will keep your opponent from developing their own attack against you. If you are able to get them in a defensive posture, it is only a matter of time before you win.
This is also true of battles. If you keep the opponent on the move, they will become weary, they will play defense, and they are easier to conquer.
Once the opponent is in a defensive posture, you will need to lure them out. In Chess, you may sacrifice a pawn or a knight to get the opponent to come out and fight you. You know you are in a superior position to fight and thus, they get slaughtered. In warfare, you might send a small group of fast moving soldiers to appear weak and get the opponent to chase them into a real ambush.
In business, the same idea can be used. There is always the market leader. For example, in mp3 players it is Apple. They have a secret design team in California that always come up with designs that are better than anyone else. This strategy has kept them on top of that market for years. Apple, is getting everyone else to run after them. Other companies try to follow Apples designs and yet they are always one step behind. Why? They aren't as good at design and so they sit back and try to copy.
What Apple could do is to come out with a new inferior product. If they did it well, they could get many firms to follow the sacrificial bait. Other firms would copy the device and ramp up production lines. All the while, Apple could have their real design completely ramped up and ready for production. Just after all the firms ramp up their copycat designs Apple then comes out with the real item. The other firms will have a difficult time changing gears quickly and Apple may hope to put many competitors out of business.
Here is how Sun Tzu said it, “Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act. He sacrifices something, that the enemy may snatch at it. By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.”
| |
