Sun Tzu and the Art of War - Essay Example

If the enemy chooses not to surrender, the overwhelming advantage that one side possesses by means of military advantage would soon close off the one remaining outlet. If the foe is “desperate”, the goal is to encourage surrender without engaging in further unnecessary bloodshed.Giles further elaborated on what Tzu meant by this excerpt when he stated that the object is to make the enemy realize that there is at least one road to safety. This prevents “his fighting with the courage of despair”.

He next adds: “After that, you may crush him.” (Giles 72).We can see a similarity is regarded as a business strategy. Leaders of companies have often fought hard to get to the market position that they currently hold. They naturally feel that their company, product, or service is the best, and usually have an intense dislike of competitors for obvious reasons. If a company feels overly threatened without letup, they may engage in irrational behaviors by expending vast amounts of scarce resources to somehow beat the odds to prevail over the competitor in one particular “battle”.

However, if the company with the upper hand does not press unnecessarily hard due to the circumstances, the disadvantaged competitor may come to reason that they need to back off of the current plan and regroup with a new plan.This saves resources for all sides, since the outcome of the particular strategic business battle is inevitable at that point, barring some very remote and unforeseen occurrence. Companies should keep in mind that a battle is different than war. Companies will be at war for the length of their business operations in most cases, and to pursue a win of one battle at great expense or just to save pride or reputation is usually not wise.

This idea could also be used for a future career path. To be known as a ruthless person is not always a good trait. Employees like to work for leaders that want to be an industry leader, but having common sense morals and a social obligation to promote goodwill in the business community is also important. If, as a future leader, a person is seen as overbearing and very extreme in ways of competing, it could affect lower-level employees’ ability to use ethically based and sound business decisions.

No top-level executive or leader wants to have a rival win but being a reasonable person given circumstances enhances the reputation of the leader, while still achieving effective results.