The Power of The Art of War in Busniess
SunTzu, also called Sun Wu, who is the author of The Art of War, was a well-known military strategist and tactician during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BC). He is considered as the “ Master of War of the East” in today because the book he had written is the earliest military work in the world, and the theories from the book have been widely used in military for several thousand years. There are 13 chapters in the book and each one has included and dedicated to one aspect of warfare by using convictive dialectics and philosophic thinking. SunTzu was recognized by Ho Lu, King of Wu, and helped king Ho Lu trained his troops by using the principles from The Art of War. Eventually, Wu State defeated the powerful Ch'u state in 506 BC, and headed north and subdued the states of Qi and Qin. After that, Sun Tzu’ s name was quickly spread to the land. Nowadays, The Art of War has been published and translated in various languages to the world. Lots of politicians, military leaders and scholars in Asian have a copy on hands, even though some western military schools used it as a teaching material. “The Art of War is not only a guide on the battleground, it is the combination of the studies of human mind, political ideas, philosophy, geography and natural science” highly rated by its readers. It’s a treasury of human beings.
The Art of War has 13 chapters, and the ideas of each chapter are related and mainly can be concluded as four parts: The first one is to know and be prepared. Before starting a fight, general not only requires to know what kind of strength and weakness that they have, but also enemy’s. Once an army can know well about themselves and their enemy and consider everything included five constant factors (the Moral Law; Heaven; Earth; the Commander; method and discipline) before the war, then, this military has a great chance to win because they can make a comprehensive strategy based on their observation. As Sun Tzu said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” The second one is to control and be certain. For a military, if they want to win the battle, their force has to greater than their enemy. Therefore, before the war, a successful leader should be cautious and do not start to fight easily. The army only entries the battle if they have great confidence to win. Troops should keep them in a position that have certain chance to win and do not make any decision that the result is unpredictable during the battle. As saying: “Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” The third one is to minimize the cost. Victory is for people who lose less during the battle, only peace can count as a real victory. In the warfare, if there is a way that can avoid unnecessary fighting, then we should put it as our first priority. Conquering the enemy's troops with military force is the last option for a skillful leader. Minimizing the war cost is the smartest choice for general and it is benefit for the country as well. “Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” The last one is to be creative. “In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack — the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.” In all fights, the direct attack is used for joining battle, which both troops will use it. The only difference between two sides’ military is by using the indirect method which has great impact on victory. People who have better skills that can allocate troops, weapons, and resources more efficiently and creatively always become the winner of the war. This is because a capable person can keep the enemy on the move while maintains
