Take the Country Whole
Sun Tzu thought that taking a country whole was a lot better than breaking it to pieces and then taking it. He also thought that the enemy army was better to be captured and used rather than to be destroyed.
The highest excellence is to break down the enemy without fighting them. Sun Tzu said, “ Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.”
In business these practices are also put into play. Some billionaires have become very rich through hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts. These hostile techniques allow the individual to take over the company while it is fully intact. Rather than competing and fighting in the market for years and years, a leveraged buyout or hostile takeover ends the war quickly. This technique is a good way to capture everything while it is still whole.
In some industries, there are four or five major players. A great general would keep some of the top competitors from joining forces. If a business leader finds out about competitors plans that aren't beneficial, they might come up with ways to prevent the plans from coming to fruition. From this, you can see that business has a certain element of defense build into it and isn't all offense.
You can see from Sun Tzu that the least casualties is the way to go. You only fight after you know it is one of your last options and you think you are in a position to win. You should never try and take control of a losing battle like besieging a city.
In business, you should not go into a fight that looks like a losing battle. You should try to first control as much as you can with as few people as possible. You bring in a lot of employees to help you fight only after you see it is the only way to win. You never compete by using way more employees than the competitors.
| |
