Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the Thirteenth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 打草惊蛇(打草驚蛇) – Dǎcǎojīngshé. 打, dǎ: beat, fight. 草, cǎo: grass. 惊, jīng: shock, surprise, be frightened. 蛇, shé: snake.
Meaning: Test the opponents reaction with smaller strikes and attacks. Provoke the enemy to reveal his strength and intentions.
Business example: Sometimes it is necessary to take an incremental approach to strategic change, in order to test the grounds and gather more competitive intelligence. Thus beating the grass to scare the snake. Simply put: Test the situation and find out how all the other players may behave, without the risk of large scale confrontation or damage to the own strategic position.
This is a very common approach to change management and development in China. It is often preferred to take action, make smaller steps and then see how it goes. Or as I always used to tell my employees in China: 计划还不如变化 (Jìhuà hái bùrú biànhuà) Change supersedes planning.
Tag Archives: #ThirtySixStratagems
Twelfth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Lead away a sheep in passing. 顺手牵羊 (順手牽羊) – Shùnshǒuqiānyáng.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the Twelfth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 顺手牵羊 (順手牽羊) – Shùnshǒuqiānyáng. 顺, shùn: along, smooth. 手, shǒu: hand. 牵, qiān: pull, lead along. 羊, yáng: sheep.
Meaning: Hide the attack in an unthreatening motion.
Business example: This stratagem is about seizing opportunities when the competitor is not paying attention to the threat. One cooperation may be focussing in one direction and the competitor is stealing something, they are not paying attention to.
Eleventh of #ThirtySixStratagems: The plum tree dies for the peach tree. 李代桃僵 (李代桃僵) – Lǐdàitáojiāng.
Eleventh of #ThirtySixStratagems: The plum tree dies for the peach tree. 李代桃僵 (李代桃僵) – Lǐdàitáojiāng.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the eleventh of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 李代桃僵 (李代桃僵) – Lǐdàitáojiāng. 李, lǐ: plum. 代, dài: replace. 桃, táo: peach. 僵, jiāng: stiff, remain stiff.
Meaning: The plum gets the insects while the peach remains stiff and strong. The plum dies to save the peach. When loss can not be avoided, sacrifice may be necessary for the benefit of whole.
Business example: See the big picture and long term trends. In order to stay in business in the long run, it may be necessary to sacrifice a successful business unit now, in order to promote a new business unit for long term success.
This is what is currently happening at SAP. The cloud business is growing, while the traditional software license business is under thread. SAP is sacrificing the plum, to harvest the peach.
Tenth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Hide the dagger behind a smile. 笑里藏刀 (笑裡藏刀) – Xiàolǐcángdāo.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the tenth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 笑里藏刀 (笑裡藏刀) – Xiàolǐcángdāo. 笑, xiào: smile. 里, lǐ: inside, behind. 藏, cáng: hide, conceal. 刀, dāo: knive.
Meaning: Pretend to be friendly and peacefully, but secretly preparing and waiting for an opportunities to strike at the opponent.
Eighth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Crossing in the dark to get to Chencang. 暗渡陈仓 (暗渡陳倉) – Àndùchéncāng.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the Eighth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 暗渡陈仓 (暗渡陳倉) – Àndùchéncāng. 暗, Àn: dark. 渡, dù: cross. 陈, chén. 仓, cāng. 陈仓, chéncāng: Chencang, today it would be in Shaanxi province, Baoji City
Meaning: Crossing in the dark to get to Chencang.
Business example: Openly prepare to take a certain path while secretly advancing along an other. Fake left, move right. Attack from an unexpected place or direction.
A successful application of this stratagem could be to start negotiating to cooperate with a competitor while preparing to replace their product with a new innovation.
Seventh of #ThirtySixStratagems: Create something out of nothing. 无中生有 (無中生有) – Wúzhōngshēngyǒu.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the seventh of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 无中生有 (無中生有) – Wúzhōngshēngyǒu. 无, wú: noting, naught. 中, zhōng: middle, center. 生, shēng: life. 有, yǒu: to be, exist.
Meaning: Create something out of nothing.
Business example: One application of this tactic could be to create new suppliers to your portfolio. If negotiations with existing suppliers are difficult but quality and cooperation is good, then it may be advisable to find trusted companies that also could enter the bidding and supply goods.This new competition would help with price negotiation and will be a good source of information about the existing supplier.
Sixth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Making noise in the east and attack from west. 声东击西 (聲東擊西) – Shēngdōngjīxī.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the sixth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 声东击西 (聲東擊西) – Shēngdōngjīxī. 声, shēn: sound. 东, dōng: East. 击, jī: strike, attack. 西, xī: West.
Meaning: Making noise in the east and attack from west. Create Diversions.
Business example: Create an distraction or false attack. The opponent will concentrate its defences accordingly on one front, making him vulnerable for your attack where he least anticipates an attack.
For example in sales for insurance policies, the sales person would emphasize the high (predicted, not guaranteed) yield, but not mention the ruinous upfront fees and hidden costs.
Fifth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Loot the burning house. 趁火打劫 (趁火打劫) – Chènhuǒdǎjié.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the Fifth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 趁火打劫(趁火打劫) – Chènhuǒdǎjié. 趁, Chèn: take advantage of. 火, huǒ: fire. 打, dǎ: fight. 劫, jié: rob. 打劫, dǎjié: plunder.
Meaning: A clever fighter wins with ease by exploiting the weakness of the enemy.
Business example: Be ready to act on your opponent weakness or inaction. In this example a large manufacturer and supplier of ball bearings had a long and close cooperation with a Global manufacturer of forklifts. This supplier started to have quality problems due to poor management that did not recognize weaknesses in some of its raw material.
Only the factory manager of that ball bearing supplier recognized the problem, but decided not to solve or mention it. Instead he told his uncle about these weaknesses who was already copying the manufacturing process. Together they seized the opportunity to offer superior bearings and start a successful relationship with the the large forklift customer. Take advantage of problems to plunder.
Fourth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Await the exhausted enemy. 以逸待劳(以逸待勞) – Yǐyìdàiláo.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the fourth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 以逸待劳(以逸待勞) – Yǐyìdàiláo. 以, Yǐ: by, with. 逸, yì: relaxed. 待, dài: treat, deal with. 劳, láo: fatigue.
Meaning: Make sure to be well rested and relaxed when awaiting the hungry, tired and weakened opponent.
Business example: Choose a tactic that keeps your team relaxed, rested and well fed, but the opponent’s team exhausted, short in resources and disoriented. In business, a local supplier may give the visitors from afar a hard time, by not picking them up from the airport, choosing a noisy hotel or a meeting room without air-conditioning. Make it tough for them to keep focused on a long negotiation.
Key to use this strategy in business is be to predict the future battleground and prepare for conflict under these new conditions. Set up position and wait for the competitor to approach.
In combat it would mean to stay out of your attackers range and make them expend energy on useless actions.
Third of #ThirtySixStratagems: Kill with a borrowed knife. 借刀杀人(借刀殺人) – Jièdāoshārén.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the third of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 借刀杀人(借刀殺人) – Jièdāoshārén. 借, Jiè: borrow. 刀, dāo: knife. 杀, shā: kill. 人, rén: people, person.
Meaning: Kill with a borrowed knife. One man’s loss is another man’s gain.
Business example: A factory may have the problem that the only reliable supplier for certain components has rather high prices and is a very tough negotiator. It seems impossible to lower the prices through negotiation.
In that case it is wise to add suppliers that are very keen to enter a business relationship with the factory. If this smaller supplier is then kept small and hungry for more orders, then he will start to use all the tricks in the book in order to gain the upper hand over the first supplier. This urge for more orders is even increased if the factory requires the new smaller supplier to invest into special machines and tools.
During talks with the factory, he may accuse the first supplier of fraud, make below cost price offers, spy on his operations etc. – just to get more orders.
In any case, that new supplier will be a great source of information and puts the factory back into control of the negotiation.