Ma Yun once said, "Sun Tzu’s Art of War is my favorite since I was a child. This is where I am different from others. Competition is like war, and shopping malls are like battlefields. I can use the wisdom of military strategists to turn to shopping malls. This is where I successfully won."
Sun Tzu’s Art of War is a masterpiece of China’s strategic wisdom and competitive strategy. The laws of war summarized from blood and fire, life and death are the crystallization of the highest wisdom of mankind, which can inspire and guide our competition and practice in the commercial field.
But this short span of 6,000 words, few people can read it through, let alone read it thoroughly. As a management professor with a background in military science, Professor Gong Yuzhen from the National Development Institute of Peking University has studied Sun Tzu’s Art of War for more than 20 years, and verified it with management, and wrote a book, Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Law of Winning. Looking at management from the military and competing with the war science, around the themes of strategy, organization and leadership, 12 concepts in Sun Tzu’s Art of War are extracted, supplemented by vivid cases, which directly help and inspire managers.
Gong Yuzhen, A Good Warrior: Twelve Lectures on Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Law of Winning.
COVID-19 epidemic is the biggest black swan event in the contemporary era, which fundamentally changed the global political and economic trends, changed the relationship between big countries, and is reshaping the global market rules and business rules, which has cast huge variables on the development of enterprises. Many entrepreneurs are in confusion and hesitation. Everyone hopes to find a clear development path, and also wants to find the enterprise’s value concept and strategic orientation again. At this time, the wisdom of ancient sages more than 2,500 years ago may enable us to sort out myths, transcend disputes and find new ways of prosperity.
In this paper, some principles in Sun Tzu’s twelve laws of "paradox" are taken as examples, and Professor Gong Yuzhen uses real cases to analyze how enterprise competitors use clever strategies to gain competitive advantage.
Soldiers are cunning.
Sun Tzu said, "Soldiers are cunning." War is full of deceit. This is probably Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
One of the most popular golden sentences.
The so-called "paradox" is to mobilize, manipulate, mislead, confuse and divide opponents through the use of strategies, so that opponents fall into greater uncertainty, thus making wrong judgments and making wrong decisions, thus dispersing its resources and exposing its weaknesses.
In this way, we can turn a powerful enemy into a weak enemy, a difficult enemy into an easy enemy, and an organized enemy into an unorganized enemy. In this way, the opponent’s combat effectiveness can not be fully exerted, so that the opponent can not respond effectively to our combat actions, thus creating the best opportunity for us to avoid the real and attack the virtual. We can get the maximum profit with the minimum cost.
How to use specific strategies to create opportunities to shoot?
Sun Tzu put forward his "twelve methods of paradox": "Therefore, you can show that you can’t, use it without showing it, show it far near, and show it near far away. Lure it for profit, take it in disorder, prepare it for reality, and avoid it if you are strong. Scratch it in anger, be humble and arrogant, work hard, and leave it. "
Show what you can;I can play, but I pretend I can’t. Hide your strength and intentions.
Use without showing it:I obviously want to play this way, but I pretend not to. Cover up one’s intentions and plans.
Near and far:It is clear that I am launching an operation in the vicinity, but I have to pretend to hit you in the distance first.
Far and near:Obviously, I’m going to attack from a distance, but I’m going to act close to attract your attention first.
Benefit and lure it:Seduce opponents with small profits. People seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, so do organizations. It is willing to listen to your transfer, and it must have seen the benefits. There is a so-called ambush in war, that is, a small number of troops disguise the main force, attract the opponent’s troops to the unfavorable terrain, and then suddenly attack and destroy the opponent.
Take it at random:Create chaos to capture opponents.
Real and prepared:What if the opponent’s strength is substantial and impeccable? Be prepared, be prepared and wait patiently for the opportunity.
Avoid when you are strong:My opponent is so powerful that I just can’t beat him. What should I do? Fight if you win, and leave if you don’t win. Fight only those battles that can be won, and refuse to fight those battles that cannot be won. Only play with your opponent in favorable circumstances, and avoid playing with your opponent in unfavorable circumstances. Only fight those opponents that you can win, and avoid confrontation with those powerful opponents. Sometimes, if you don’t fight, you may need more courage and wisdom.
Scratch it in anger:If an opponent is irritable and easily angered, tease him, make him lose his mind and make him make mistakes.
Humble and arrogant:The opponent is very cautious and careful, so what should I do? Make him proud and arrogant. Arrogance is the first step towards extinction.
Work hard:What should I do if my opponent is well rested? Tossing him makes him tired and exhausted. Just as Peng Dehuai used mushroom tactics to drag Hu Zongnan’s troops to death, they could become enemies.
Leave me alone:What should I do if the internal unity of my opponent is not easy to fight? By alienating him, he was stripped off and turned into an isolated enemy and an easy enemy.
The "thirty-six strategies" of later generations are actually derived from the twelve methods of sophistry. Of course, there are not only twelve tricks, but Sun Tzu can also write thirty-six tricks, or even one hundred and eight tricks, which may not be finished.
War is essentially a confrontation of wisdom between the two sides. The so-called "the soldiers are cunning" is the point emphasized.
"If you can, you can’t, but if you use it, you can’t."
How did Microsoft Word occupy the word processing software market in China?
I can play, but I pretend I can’t; Play this way, but I pretend not to play this way.
In the early 1990s, the Word processing software installed in most of our computers was WPS instead of Word, which is used today. WPS is a domestic word processing software developed by Jinshan Company. The biggest advantages of local enterprises in China are often cost advantage and price advantage. Word is a software developed by Microsoft, and the development cost is inherently high, and after localization, the cost is even higher. Therefore, for a long time, the competition between Word and WPS in the China market has been repeatedly defeated and almost completely crushed by WPS.
But in a short time, WPS was eliminated from the China market. Word has almost become a standard for personal computers. Why did the situation suddenly reverse? Did Word suddenly overtake WPS in cost advantage? Of course not. Word will never beat WPS in terms of cost. Microsoft began to adopt a very effective strategy: acquiesce or even encourage pirated Word software to flow into China.
Is the cost of WPS lower than that of piracy? So if you buy a computer during that time, the computer seller will ask you, "How about installing a Word for you?"? Free. " Free. Who doesn’t want it? WPS includes almost all domestic software companies in word processing, and soon disappeared from the industry.
However, after the market was controlled by Word, Microsoft announced a new policy: it began to carry out genuine certification. Is Microsoft really incapable of controlling the popularity of piracy? In fact, it is very simple. Microsoft only needs to implant a small authentication program to put an end to all piracy. If you can’t, you can’t. The key is to defeat the main opponent with the help of piracy, and truly defeat the enemy without fighting. Typical "can show it can’t, use it and show it doesn’t".
"Show the distance when you are near, and show the distance when you are far away."
Audi blocked the battle of BMW 3 Series in China market.
Obviously, I want to hit you near, so I will take action in the distance first; Obviously, I want to hit you in the distance, so I will attract your attention in the vicinity first.
In a war, the attacking side, in addition to the main attack direction, often has the direction of assist and feint. The direction of assist and feint is often to contain and attract the opponent’s strength and attention, and to cooperate with the main attack.
The same is true of enterprise competition. The competition between enterprises is often not the competition of a single product and a single market, but the competition of multiple products and multiple markets at the same time. If you can make the competition between products, markets and markets organically cooperate and play a combination boxing, it will often produce excellent results.
A classic example is that Audi blocked the battle of BMW 3 Series in China market.
BMW 3 claims to be the first domestic luxury car. BMW has great expectations for the off-line of BMW 3 in China, hoping to open the China market with BMW 3. Much to BMW’s delight, the market response is also extremely optimistic: more than 7,000 orders have fallen into BMW’s hands before BMW 3 rolled off the assembly line.
The production of BMW 3 will inevitably have a great impact on Audi’s market in China. Audi has worked out its own counter-attack strategy: with the help of its strong production capacity in China, Audi A4 was launched before BMW 3 went on the market, and a basic price of about 400,000 yuan was set for Audi A4.
This price is very unreasonable, even higher than the Audi A6 at that time. Why did Audi do this?
We know that BMW never regards Audi as its opponent. Who does BMW think its opponent should be? It’s a Mercedes. Because Audi has never been regarded as its own opponent, the sales price of cars and BMW of the same level must be higher than Audi. BMW should show its higher value through higher prices.
For BMW and Audi, this has been a practice for many years in the international market. Therefore, it is natural for BMW to refer to Audi A4 and set a basic price of more than 400,000 yuan for BMW 3.
This brings a problem: the price-performance ratio of Audi A4 is already unreasonable, and the price-performance ratio of BMW 3 is even more unreasonable. The performance-to-price ratio of Audi A6 is extremely reasonable.
So during that time, Audi A4 never finished its task-it is impossible to finish it, but Audi A6 sold very well. The key point is that BMW’s pricing error exceeded consumers’ psychological expectations, and the whole off-line plan of BMW 3 was in a mess, so BMW’s hope of opening the China market through the off-line of BMW 3 Series in China also fell through.
There is a warning of "cautious first battle" in the military. If the first battle is not well fought, it will be difficult to fight the next one. So until today, in the China market, BMW is still subject to Audi.
Let’s look at this battle. What is the beauty of Audi’s strategy? On the surface, Audi is playing Audi A4, but it is actually protecting Audi A6. Audi A4 is actually a fighting brand launched by Audi to block BMW 3. Typical diversion.
Through this strategy, Audi successfully focused on the breakthrough point of brand value promotion on Audi A6, and more importantly, it defeated the off-line plan of BMW 3 in one fell swoop. In the theory of enterprise dynamic competition, there is a famous multi-point competition strategy. Multi-point competition strategy is considered to be a very effective offensive strategy. In this strategy, enterprises often launch a feint in one market or by one product to contain and interfere with each other, but launch a real attack in another market or with another product.
In fact, the party that carries out multi-point attack can often give itself more room for market maneuver than the opponent with only one attack direction. Therefore, when competitors launch an attack, they should not only have one attack direction and one attack product, but also form a strategic cooperation between products and between directions.
Through such a combination boxing, you can mobilize your opponent more effectively. When the opponent is in a hurry, it is often extremely effective for you to launch a real attack.
"Lure it for profit, and take it in disorder."
The battle of ham and sausage between Shuanghui and Chundu
Seduce opponents by making small profits, and attack opponents by creating chaos.
There are so-called ambush wars in the military, such as the classic battle of Maling. How to fight an ambush? Introduce the opponent’s troops into the terrain that is actually unfavorable to it with small troops, and then the main force suddenly attacks and defeats the opponent while he is in chaos.
In the competition, you can also use clever strategies to lure your competitors into a market that is actually unfavorable to them, thus changing the pattern of competition. A classic example is the battle between Shuanghui and Chundu. Shuanghui and Chundu are both ham sausage enterprises in Henan. The two companies are direct competitors, and for a long time, the strength of the two companies are neck and neck. But all of a sudden, Chundu is not working. Today, in the market, we seldom see the ham sausage in Chundu. Why? In the words of Chundu’s propaganda minister, Chundu accidentally entered a bureau carefully arranged by Shuanghui.
The specific process is like this. The two companies fought hard. The characteristic of China enterprises is that they will fight price wars in the end. Shuanghui first launched a price war. The main ingredient of ham sausage is meat, and other ingredients include starch, monosodium glutamate, cooking oil and so on. For sausage enterprises, the best way to fight the price war is naturally to reduce the meat content. Conventional ham sausage, the meat content is generally 85%, and the price is generally 1.3~1.5 yuan. Let’s call it 1.3 yuan. Shuanghui began to reduce the meat content by 75%, and the price dropped to 1.2 yuan.
The two sides fought badly and had spies in each other’s enterprises. The news that Shuanghui fought a price war by reducing costs was soon known by Chundu. Of course, Chundu can’t watch Shuanghui attack the city and squeeze its own market space in this way, so it is bound to follow up, so it has also dropped to 75%, 1.2 yuan.
The news of Chundu’s follow-up was immediately known by Shuanghui. Shuanghui, continue to drop, 65%, 1.1 yuan. Chundu, of course, will not let it go, and then follow up immediately. Shuanghui followed suit in spring and continued to decline. Chundu continues to follow up. Shuanghui continues to decline.
After several rounds, the meat content of ham sausage dropped to 15%, and it was 50 cents each.
At this time, the ham sausage is almost inedible. In the past, the main ingredient of ham sausage was meat, and the sausage was elastic. If you break it, it will bounce back. Now the intestine has basically become a pimple. Many people buy it and bite it, bah! It’s not that smell.
Chundu’s ham sausage has also dropped to this share. But at this time, Chundu suddenly found a problem.
It is this cheap ham sausage that Shuanghui publicizes with great fanfare in all publicity channels. However, in actual operation, for every 10% reduction of meat content, the output of products will also be reduced by 10%. So at 50 cents, this product only accounts for 10% of all products in Shuanghui. And 100% of Chundu’s products have all fallen to this point.
What does this mean? Among the 10 sausages, only one in Shuanghui is inferior, while 100% in Chundu is inferior. Consumers will soon stop eating Chundu’s ham sausage, and dealers will not enter.
Spring is not good, so hurry back to produce high-end ham sausage. But we know that it is very difficult to rebuild trust once a brand is dumped in the market. Chundu’s high-end ham sausage reaches 10%, and it can’t move any more. Thus, in their respective product structures, Shuanghui is a high-end sausage, accounting for 90%, while Chundu is a low-end sausage, accounting for 90%.
Shuanghui has since firmly put Chundu on the low-end market.
Where do we see the beauty of Shuanghui strategy? Through the price strategy, Shuanghui gradually introduced Chundu into the low-end market that was actually unfavorable to it, and made it deeply involved, thus breaking the deadlock of competition.
Soros once warned: "World economic history is a series based on illusions and lies. To get wealth, the way is to recognize the illusion, invest in it, and then quit the game before the illusion is known to the public. "
Soros is talking about investment. From the above cases, we can see that this warning is equally alarming for market competition to a considerable extent.
