Win a Battle without Fighting at All

             

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Win a Battle without Fighting at All

 

        An ancient Chinese military strategist named Sun Tzu wrote a very influential book entitled “Art of War” which comprises 13 chapters, each covering a different battle strategy. The book outlines the fundamental ideas and offers the leaders of the military a guidance on when and how to engage in a fight. This book's author employed a variety of techniques to communicate his in-depth grasp and understanding of the war, which has helped warring states from earlier times and has also long been applied to numerous disciplines other than the military to gain strategic advancement. In the business field, warfare doesn’t involve armies, weapons or even conquering kingdoms or other civilizations; rather, it revolves around the various business tactics and strategies that could increase the chances of gaining competitive advantages. 

        This book initially confused me a little, but once I started reading it, I was able to get what Sun Tzu was trying to communicate about the things to prepare and the variable that needs to think ahead in a battle. Upon reading and analyzing the book, what really caught my attention was the chapter 3 that talks about “Attack by Stratagem'' with a notable line, “To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting”. We know that warfare is risky, we might win but sometimes resources (armies and weapons) will also be negatively affected. Sun Tzu has indicated in his book that the best leaders and tacticians are those who overcome enemies without even fighting. The actual physical battle or attacking the enemies is the last resort when there is no alternative or when it is highly needed. As much as possible, he advises to use nonphysical means first or settle by diplomacy, respect or other means that could avoid any unnecessary sacrifice of resources to win and make their enemies fear them. I could illustrate this to the business environment, as there are companies that strive and become successful through differentiation approaches rather than direct competition. Taking the lead and being the first to innovate, Apple has always been very quick to incorporate the most recent technological discoveries into the line of its products, the corporation has benefited from having a number of patent monopolies, which instantly puts competing rivals at a disadvantage (some brands are behind apple and would not even dare to compete). Another example is during the pandemic in 2021, most of the businesses that opened in the town of Janiuay were milk tea shops. When they see that there are many shops operating and a lot of customers are purchasing the specific product, they would also copy the products of those businesses and build their own shops exactly like others to compete because they think that they can profit from the trend. In the end, only a few shops survive in Janiuay, most of them have closed their business as owners can’t maintain the cost (rent, ingredients, electricity/ventilation, aesthetics and labor) and customers were not pouring in their shops obviously because buyers have a lot of choices. Avoid competing head on and dedicating resources directly to compete with competitors. If you want to have profit and to continue existing in the market, do careful planning and invent unique innovative products, processes, occupy new territory or be the first to secure the marketplace. For instance, in strategy, to achieve a victory, we would construct a vision, develop a strategy based on that vision, set goals, establish a plan of action, gather resources and information, and carry out the plan. The chapter also relates to personal life, we are likely able to achieve victory if we make our own job opportunities or take the path that is least taken and where we are good at rather than we follow the normal career paths of others. Improving ourselves or developing a combination of skills that nobody has, using that knowledge and skills to construct viable paths forward to build a better future, instead of comparing ourselves with anyone, surely we can win life without going through competition.