Editorial Learning from the military strategists

In this issue there is an article by Professor Chow Hou Wee about the management lessons that can be learned from the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu. Part of this editorial is written by Professor Wee and provides a setting for his article. As an introduction, I thought readers might like to be reminded of some of the other works that draw on military strategy.

Caplan (1965) took the US Army Field Manual and compared this with the management principles set out by Koontz. This comparison is an appendix inside Anthony’s book, and may not be known to all readers of this journal. The modern military idea was followed by James (1984) who used British army strategy concepts to examine competitive strategies of business.

Professor Wee’s article references some other studies, and the work of the famous German strategist von Clausewitz, and I will not repeat these here. Although not a military book, perhaps I may be allowed to mention Niccolb Machiavelli whose 11 Principe, published in 1532, 5 years after his death, inspired Anthony Jay’s Management and Machiavelli, in the 1960s. Unfortunately I do not have the full reference to this. Although Machiavelli deals with political leadership, the principle of applying the thinking of the past to the problems of today is the same.

Not all famous generals left their memoirs. Attila the Hun has a reputation, perhaps helped by the modern film industry, for rape and pillage rather than reading and writing. Yet in his Italian campaign in 452 AD he did not sack Rome, although this was more likely to have been a political or military decision rather than a reluctance to burn libraries. This lack of literary output on Attila’s part has not prevented him from being used as a source of modern management lessons. Roberts (1993) wrote about the leadership and victory secrets of Attila, based on his studies of the man and modern management.

I await the lessons from Chinggis Khan, who according to one opinion quoted in the introduction to a new translation by Urgunge Onon (1993) of a traditional anonymous text was the greatest strategist of all time. The translator argues that the East has produced three truly great men, whom he names as Sakyamuni, who became the Buddha; Confucius; and Chinggis Khan. Professor Wee argues very strongly for at least one more, who predates all of them.

D. E. Hussey

I86 D. E. Hussey

References

Caplan, R. H. (1965). Relationships between principles of military strategy and principles of business planning. In R. N. Anthony, Planning and Control Systems: A Framework for Analysis, Harvard, Boston, Massachusetts.

James, B. G. (1984). Business Wargumes, Abacus Press (my edition 1985, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK).

Roberts, W. (1993). Victory Secrets ofdttilu the Hun, Bantam Books, London.

Urgunge Onon (1993). Chinggis Khan, Folio Society, London.

Managing change: perspectives from Sun Tzu’s Art of War

Sun Tzu’s Art of War is a Chinese military classic written around 400 to 320Bc, about 100 years after Confucius and Lao Tze. Today, it is a ‘must read’ text in many leading military schools. Many translations of the classic have also been made over the years. For example, it was introduced to Japan around 635 to 716 AD. The first Western translation, however, did not appear until 1000 years later. The French published a translated version of Sun Tzu’s works around 1772. The first English translation did not appear until 1905. It was done by a British military oficer, Captain E. F. Calthrop, when he was studying in Japan! Today, there are many other translations of this text. However, Japanese translations still dominate.

The value of Sun Tzu’s Art of Wur in influencing military thought and strategy has seldom been questioned. Japanese military strategists during the Second World War, for example, were known to be inspired by the works of Sun Tzu. In the 1991 Gulf War, military analysts also attributed the use of deception and psychological warfare by Saddam Hussein and the Allied Forces to Sun Tzu.

What is less expounded, however, is the value of Sun Tzu’s works to strategic management and thinking. Indeed, the analogy between the world of business and that of the battleground is definitely not novel. In fact, the term ‘war’ has been used repeatedly in various business settings, including international

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trade and marketing. However, despite various analogies drawn between war and business, few writers have so far acknowledged the works of Sun Tzu. Yet, the Japanese have been the most studious followers of Sun Tzu, and their business practices mirror many of his war-like strategies. To some extent, the Koreans are using similar type strategies in their businesses.

It is said that almost every Japanese CEO would read the Book of Five Rings, written by samurai Miyamoto Musashi in 1645 AD for inspirations to business practices. However, the careful scholar will discover that Musashi, in all probability, derived his writings from Sun Tzu. The paper in this issue hopes to inspire every CEO and senior manager to equally appreciate the value of applying Sun Tzu’s thinking into business practices and strategies.

Chow Hou Wee National University of Singapore

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Journal of Strategic Change, August 1994