Part - I

The word "strategy" is originally from a Greek word meaning "military thinking." A war situation is like a battlefield that holds strategies much like most business situations demand. Great generals like Sun Tzu, Mao Tse-tung, Napoleon, Carl Von Clausewitz, etc., have put forward the various strategies that could be adopted to steer the army to success. Strategies are the rules and guidelines by which the mission, objectives, etc., may be achieved. Business strategies for the organization as a whole include matters as diversification, organic growth, or acquisition plans, or relates to primary matters in key functional areas. The article is drawing teachings of the various generals and their respective equivalent business theories.

Sun Tzu, the great Chinese General, identifies five primary factors that should be familiar to every general. An able leader takes the following five parameters into account in his deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field: -

• The Moral Law
• Heaven
• Earth
• The Commander
• Method and discipline

As applied to the current business situations, The Moral Law imposes upon the employees to be in complete accord with their leader, so that they will follow him unfazed by any situation.

Earth and Heaven are the terrains, the times and the enemy’s position. The terrain in a marketing battle signifies tricky, virtual battlefront with unexplored territories and deep pitfalls. This battle is fought in the mind. One way to comprehend this ‘mind’ is through Market Research.

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* Contributed by: -
Minu Batish,
PGP 2003-05,
TAPMI, Manipal,
Published in Bi-annual Journal of TAPMI - 'Amartya'.