Customer Reviews

Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers

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Sun Tzu's, The Art of War, has been favorite reading of mine for 30 years. I was pleasantly surprised by the new and improved understanding I obtained of that book from reading this one.

Most military strategists agree that Sun Tzu's The Art of War (circa 400 B.C.) is essential reading. Since around 1960, many business strategists have felt the same way, through seeing his discussion of war as a metaphor for business competition. Since Sun Tzu did not write about business directly, this has made The Art of War a little less than fully accessible to many business people. This book presents a very successful rewriting of Sun Tzu's classic to make it more "about business" while keeping a military connection. This book also contains a full translation of The Art of War by Samuel B. Griffith so you can compare this reinterpreted material to the original. I found that comparison especially useful.

The author has developed six principles for managers from Sun Tzu's concepts:

(1) Capture your market without destroying it or its profitability.

(2) Attack competitors where and when they least expect it and are most vulnerable.

(3) Make the best use of market information to develop advantages.

(4) Move faster than your competitor to create maximum confusion and delay in response.

(5) Pick strategies that will encourage your competitors to respond in ways favorable to you.

(6) Emphasize leadership built upon good character.

The author then goes a step further and proposes six implementation steps for employing these principles. I thought that these steps were especially valuable because some of them expand upon the principles in new ways that make them more business related:

(1) "Prioritize markets and determine competitor focus"

(2) "Develop attacks against competitor's weaknesses"

(3) "War game and plan for surprises"

(4) "Integrate best attacks to unbalance your competitor"

(5) "Ready your attacks and release them"

(6) "Reinforce success, starve failure"

The book is greatly improved by the many examples in it. The best military ones relate to Operation Desert Storm (discussed in much interesting detail) and the two world wars. The business examples are also good, but not as good as the military ones. The business examples seem to lack a full understanding, and some chapters are noticeably lacking in successful business examples (such as chapter 1). The business examples were best in chapters 2 (Wal-mart, CNN, MTV, and Southwest Airlines), 4 (Southwest Airlines), 5 (Hewlett-Packard's patents and FedEx's magazine for office assistants), and 6 (Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines). Southwest Airlines is the obvious role model in this book for what a company should be doing.

I thought that chapters 6 (on character-based leadership) and 5 (on shaping your opponent) were outstanding.

The author has some places where his writing is outstanding, as well. For example in chapter 1 he says, "In business, you should follow the philosophy of Go rather than chess. You should seek to control the most market territory with the smallest investment, not to destroy your competitor and your company with endless fighting." In chapter 6, he shows this same quality in a list of leadership characteristics such as "Build your character, not just your image," "Lead with actions, not just words," "Motivate emotionally, not just materially," and "Share employee's trials, not just their triumphs."

I reread Sun Tzu's original material after reading the reinterpreation, and found that the new examples and analogies in this book added richness to my understanding of that original text. I strongly encourage you to do the same, whether or not you have ever read Sun Tzu before.

After you have finished enjoying this fine book and applying its lessons, I suggest that you consider this same perspective in terms of accomplishing something for a nonprofit organization that you volunteer for. You may be able to accomplish much more good as a result.

Look for the unguarded way to find more health, happiness, peace, and prosperity!

In recent years, a great deal of nonsense has been published concerning similarities between the military battlefield and the business world. Authors frequently invoke military terms such as "attack", "ambush", "pre-emptive strike", "blitzkrieg" (or "blitz"), "no man's land", "chain of command", "firepower", "guerrilla", "kamikazi", "overkill", and "scorched-earth policy." Amidst all the other books in which forced comparisons are made, Mark McNeilly has written Sun Tzu and the Art of Business. He includes in his book the original (and superb) translation of The Art of War by Samuel B. Griffith.

Time and again, McNeilly stresses (as does Sun Tzu) the absolute importance of personal character. Respect and trust are earned, not conferred by title or decree. It remains for leaders to formulate the correct strategies as well as those tactics needed to implement them. It remains for leaders to allocate resources only where they will achieve the greatest possible success at the lowest acceptable cost. Whether the competition is on a battlefield or in a marketplace, the six principles discussed by McNeilly are appropriate to whatever strategy or strategies may be needed. Historically, the most successful armies and the most successful companies have shared much in common: meticulous preparation, superb timing, speed, maximum use of resources where they will have the greatest impact, sufficient intelligence on opponents, mobility, flexibility, and (above all) resolve.

In Sun Tzu and the Art of Business , McNeilly provides a brilliant analysis of six specific principles (first set to writing almost 2,500 years ago) which, he correctly suggests, will enable all manner of organizations to formulate appropriate strategies for the New Millennium. This is a solid, eloquent, sharply-focused book. Unlike so many other authors who force analogies between war and business, McNeilly respects the basic (indeed obvious) differences between them while explaining how certain principles are relevant to both.

This book takes the metaphor, "business is war" as far is it can possibly go - and then pushes it a little bit farther. The writer, an amateur military historian, draws many examples of strategy and tactics from battlefield applications - none of them Chinese, interestingly enough, considering the inspiration for the book. He establishes indisputably that Sun Tzu's observations in China, circa 400 BC, would have been equally valid in Imperial Rome or World War II. He falters somewhat when he attempts to apply these principles to business. The author struggles to make the connection and occasionally succeeds, most effectively when discussing price wars and hostile takeovers. If the premise that business is like war is questionable, the idea of using a Chinese military handbook as a business text is unusual enough to be stimulating. We [...] recommend this intriguing book to business strategists and managers.

I read Sun Tzu twice a year at least to remind myself of the principles found in this ancient work. This book contains a very good translation of the original book as an addendum. The six principles and true-life business stories allow the reader to more clearly see the business application of Sun Tzu. The author has done a great service to the business world. I recommend it to my associates and never mention to my competitiors.

Mr. McNeilly book on Sunzi (Sun Tzu)is one of my favorite books on practical strategic application. ...

As a sftwr developer-prjct mgmt consultant, found his ["Six Strategic Principles"] to be pragmatically effective in any strategic challenges. ...

Also, technically abstract enough where the reader(-implementer of the ["Six Strategic Principles"]) can devise their own spin to their own strategic challenges. ...

The examples that are introduced were efficient enough for me to understand. ...

Have successfully utilized [McNeilly's Six Principles] for different strategic scenarios (i.e., market research, product development, close quarters negotiation, etc.).

McNeilly's book is one of those few books that's worth re-reading once a year for a mental refresher course. ... (Yes! This Cardinal does re-read this book once per yr.)

Have recommend this book to my assoc(s). Also, given away many copies of this book to those who are interested in Sunzi Strategic Principles.

Overall, I find his writing to be extremely sharp; his ability to explain how to apply Sunzi (Sun Tzu) principles to military conflict and business is nothing short of extraordinary.

Recommend this book to anyone who is serious about strategy.

McNeilly's book is a terrific introduction on how to apply the principles taught by this classic book on strategy.

As a marketing representative for my company, I use these principles everyday, in order to win business, and frustrate my competitors.

I always recommend McNeilly's books as a starting point to anyone wanting to learn about strategy.

I'd searched a number of books regarding Sun Tzu and his strategic principles. Most are interesting but difficult to grasp and to aplly to real life situations. Mr. McNeilly does an outstanding job of not only presenting the principles, but also of showing the reader through a wide variety of examples, how these principles have been applied. It's a definte must read for anyone who wishes to understand and apply these concepts to business situations.

This book doesn't seem to be too detailed in it's examples and explanations. The basic principles are given, but there is not enough about the actual successful applications of these principles. I felt frustrated throughout the book when he would continually make references to a brief overview of a military event to prove his point or when he mentions "a well known company." The "well known companies," he would use these as support for his arguments/theories on how to apply them in business. He would say how the companies did this and that, and brought about certain results. I was left so frustrated because I wanted DETAILS! I wanted to know who these companies were and see for myself what happened and what significance it had to the company. Sadly, he hardly gives you any of this.
You are better off reading books written by Executives(active or retired). They will give you a perspective that is more pragmatic and more 'ordinary' if you will. And don't make shortcuts, actually read 'The Art of War' if you care about this topic.

I was fortunate to hear the author of this excellent book speak to a meeting in Raleigh, NC a few months ago and his inspired yet entertaining talk motivated me to go out and purchase this book.

It seems to me that this book is one of a select few which form a theme, the best exemplar of which, IMHO, is the Living CompanyThe Living Company. At the heart of this theme is the notion that long term success for businesses does not come from short term measures aimed at profit maximisation through minimising costs and selling at the highest possible price in the marketplace. While such tactics predominate in many areas of the American economy where corporate power and marketing have limited consumer choice to poor products sold at a high price providing high salaries and big bonuses for top executives for a relatively short period of time before they have succumbed to the storms unleashed through globalisation and domestic monetary and banking policies.

Instead, the approach on offer here is based on sound principles rather than get rich schemes favoured by Madoff and his Ponzi accolytes, or the latest management fads which generate short-term results before being shown to be the fakes that they are.The principles ennuciated within are based on Sun Tzu's Art of War, which is a collection of anecdotes, and pointers to miltary success. The author relates the principles therein to buinesses and provides contemporary case-study examples to support his thesis. In doing so he points the way to a different type of business enterprise to the command and control, micromanaging, CYA type which has been so common in America but, truth be told, is to be found wanting in the new global competitve markets.

What is being advocated is the type of networked business model which has proved to be so successful elsewhere, surviving the squalls which have beset the world economy in recent years. The trouble is that a transition to these types of business will come at a heavy price for those who have managed to become very wealthy through the short-termist type of tactics that have predominated in the past. Perhaps the current depression will prove to be the fulcrum which tips the scales in favour of the new type of business which is promoted in this book.

Change management is often advocated by those who are most resistant to change themselves, often in challenged companies who are fighting for their very existance. Executives should take the opportunity to establish long term strategies for the future and go on to build a better mousetrap or whatever and set about winning the war which is going on on a global scale and not just in America. This is just the book to help them.

This is an excellent book and very well written. I keep it on my bookshelf at work for reference. Sun Tzu was definitely insightful, and Mark McNeilly takes his insights further by translating them into business applications.