Sun Tzu's Art of War and Enterprise Competition
abstract:
The globalization of market brings the globalization of competition. At present, no country or enterprise can completely stay out of the great changes in the world economy, politics, science and technology, finance and society. Enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. How to win in the fierce market competition has become a big problem for enterprises to consider.
The core of Sun Tzu's art of war is to win by ingenuity. Its content is all-encompassing, extensive and profound, involving the laws of war, strategy, policy, economy, diplomacy, astronomy, geography, meteorology and other aspects. It contains profound thoughts and rigorous viewpoints, and contains rich management principles and management ideas that can be used for reference by enterprise management. In the competition, enterprises should use various strategies and tactics explained by Sun Tzu's Art of War to get rid of vicious competition, give full play to their advantages and win an all-round victory.
The globalization of market brings the globalization of competition. At present, no country or enterprise can completely stay out of the great changes in the world economy, politics, science and technology, finance and society. Enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. How to win in the fierce market competition has become a big problem for enterprises to consider.
Keywords: Sun Tzu's Art of War Enterprise Competition
Market competition is ruthless. The ranking of the top 500 foreign companies changes every year, some enterprises disappear from it, and some enterprises squeeze in.
With the deepening of reform, China's socialist market economic system has been gradually improved, and the internal and external environment of enterprise management has undergone tremendous and profound changes. Entering the 2 1 century and becoming a full member of the WTO, we must speed up the pace of integration with the international economy. Internationally, the rapid development of high technology and the process of economic globalization are impacting our traditional business philosophy and model. The globalization of market brings the globalization of competition-no country or enterprise can completely stay out of the great changes in the world economy, politics, science and technology, finance and society. Enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities.
Competition can promote the optimization and reorganization of the industry, so that social resources can be rationally allocated; Competition may also bring enterprises a favorable market position, which is a means for enterprises to make profits.
"Under the condition of market economy, competition among enterprises is inevitable. As long as enterprises exist, competition will not disappear. " The survival of the fittest is an objective law of market economy that is independent of human will. In order to occupy a place in the unpredictable market and take the initiative in the increasingly fierce market competition, enterprises should not only rely on past experience and intuitive judgment, but also think from a higher angle, understand and apply some competition rules, and use and learn from some management methods to defeat the enemy.
Sun Tzu's Art of War enjoys the reputation of "the first ancient art book in the world" and "the holy book of art books", and it is a treasure in China's splendid cultural heritage!
The core of Sun Tzu's art of war is to win by ingenuity. It contains profound thoughts and rigorous viewpoints, and is the crystallization of wisdom. Its social function has already broken through the limitations of the art of war, and it is widely used in many fields and is favored. Especially in the market competition of enterprises, Sun Tzu's thought has been recognized and applied by many entrepreneurs, and is known as "the guide in modern commercial warfare".
Under the condition of market economy, many laws of competition and war are interlinked. People usually refer to market competition as "commercial war". Military war is the battlefield and commercial war is in the market. The most essential difference is that in a war, the two armies confront each other in order to defeat or even kill each other; In business wars, competitors decide whether they can win more customers' favor. Although they are different in nature and venue, the tactics of fighting and management are the same, and the requirements and methods of victory are very similar. Therefore, as an enterprise, there are many places to learn from and benefit from in-depth understanding and application of the art of defeating the enemy in military wars. We should apply the laws and philosophies put forward in the Art of War in market competition, which will bring many new experiences and insights to enterprises and entrepreneurs facing new challenges and opportunities.
First, know yourself and yourself.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of science and technology in the world and the increasingly fierce market competition, enterprises should first know what they are doing, not only know their current situation, but also pay attention to analyzing objective conditions when participating in market competition. Respect objective laws.
1. Seriously understand and conscientiously implement relevant policies and decrees, as well as the customs and people's feelings of the places where the products are sold.
From this, we can see what new opportunities it provides for the development of enterprises and what constraints exist. Especially when we are in line with the international economy, we should be familiar with relevant international laws and regulations and international finance, such as intellectual property protection, anti-dumping and environmental protection regulations. That is, restrain yourself from disobeying the law and be good at using legal weapons to protect yourself; Proceeding from the reality of the enterprise, combined with the industrial policy and development trend of the industry, this paper studies "what can be done and what can not be done" to make the strategy of the enterprise conform to the general direction of economic development.
2, in-depth understanding of the potential needs of users.
With the development of economy, the rapid progress of science and technology, the intensification of competition and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the needs of users or customers are constantly changing. Whether an enterprise can stand on the market depends on whether its products and services can be accepted by users or customers, so customer satisfaction is the top priority of enterprise management. Only by thinking more carefully about users' needs than you think, can we grasp the potential needs of users as the ideological source of developing new products and markets, and truly grasp the initiative of management and competition.
3. Understand the enterprise itself objectively.
The resources that any enterprise has and can use are limited. There are many business opportunities under the condition of market economy, but not every business opportunity can bring new opportunities to this enterprise. Enterprises should correctly estimate their own strength, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses in the competition, and use limited resources where they can play their best role.
4. Carefully analyze competitors.
Be sure to distinguish who is the main competitor who poses the greatest threat to the enterprise, deeply understand and analyze your competitors, so as to "learn from each other's strengths" and gain the initiative in competition. We should know every link of the other side as we know our own enterprise, and compare it with our own enterprise, so as to see the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, and be good at formulating corresponding strategies according to the actual situation of competitors.
With the change of the world economic structure, the internationalization of the market promotes the internationalization of competition. Now, the competitors of enterprises are not limited to China, but the whole world, and the scope of understanding and analyzing competitors has also expanded to the whole world. Enterprises should take the standards formulated and reached by the most advanced peers in the industry as their own standards, see where the gap between their current situation and the highest standards is and how big it is, and take striving for this standard as their strategic goal.
5, timely and comprehensive understanding of major changes in the overall environment.
The domestic and international markets are always changing, which is actually caused by politics, economy, technology, finance and management, and finally reflected in the market. There is a time difference between these two changes. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the changes of macro-environment, analyze the development trend of these changes, study which ones are biased, analyze the macroeconomic situation, estimate the impact of economic prosperity on enterprises, and consider countermeasures. Enterprises can get time and business opportunities first. Paying attention to the changes in the general environment is becoming more and more important to the strategy of enterprises.
Second, people who know whether they can win or not.
Sun Tzu said, "There are five ways to know how to win: those who know how to fight cannot win; He who knows people wins; People with the same desire win; He who treats others with heart wins; Without a monarch, the winner can win; These five know the way to win. "
Under the market economy, any industry and its products or services are providing new business opportunities for enterprises, so many enterprises are developing from single product management to multi-category and diversified management. The market competition is fierce, and diversified management can spread risks and provide opportunities for enterprises to create profits and develop properly. However, many enterprises are under siege and even go to extinction.
For enterprises, to expand the business scope, we must first consider the original foundation of the enterprise, especially the original advantages of the enterprise. Many successful enterprises use the extension of their original technology instead of blindly expanding into new fields that they are unfamiliar with or not good at. If an enterprise only sees the profitable opportunities in the market and does not clearly analyze whether it has mastered the advantages, it will rashly take it as a new field for its expansion, which itself contains great risks.
Shi Yuzhu, the founder of Zhuhai Giant Group, is an expert in electronic technology. He has made outstanding achievements in the study of Hanka and made huge profits in the first few years of industrialization. Then the giant set foot in the "brain gold" of biotechnology and used a lot of advertising investment to expand its popularity, which is a new field unrelated to the original product; After that, he entered the hot real estate industry at that time, built the Giant Building, and increased it from the original planned 20 floors to 70 floors, hoping to become a city symbol. Unfortunately, the funds could not be put in place, and finally the financial resources of the building were exhausted. Since then, the group has never recovered, leaving only memories and regrets about its past glory.
This is the difference between knowing that you can fight and not fighting. If you think you can attack any well-funded industry without asking yourself how sure you are about the business and development prospects of this new industry, then this decision itself has already planted the seeds of failure.
If an enterprise wants to consider diversification on the basis of limited resources, it must first study how to give full play to the role of the resources it has, concentrate its limited strength on the cutting edge, and never stretch the front too long to attend to one thing and lose sight of another.
Third, distinguish competitors and avoid vicious competition.
Sun Tzu concluded more than 2,000 years ago that victory or defeat depends on the objective realization conditions, and both sides of the contradiction can influence each other and transform each other into a dialectical view of victory or defeat, which still has very important guiding significance.
Sun Tzu's Art of War tells modern enterprises that "your life will not be affected if the road does not help, the army does not attack, the city does not attack, and the ground does not fight." In the competition, do something and do nothing. Although all competitors may pose a big or small threat to me in the long run, in many specific cases, some competitors are "allies" rather than enemies, because suitable competition fields and competitors can strengthen the competitive position of enterprises without weakening them.
There are "good" and "bad" competitors. "Good" competitors can help enterprises achieve strategic goals, enhance lasting competitive advantages and improve the structure of their industries. Only "bad" competitors pose a real threat to this enterprise.
The strength of an enterprise is limited. If we don't distinguish competitors and treat them as targets, then enterprises will feel at a loss and destroy their competitive advantage. Enterprises selectively compete and concentrate their strength, which means that their own strength has increased, and the "potential" of competition can be accumulated stronger and it is easier to win.
In addition, enterprises should try to avoid confrontation with competitors, avoid excessive competition, and strive to be better than intangible.
The phrase "peers are enemies" has always been used to describe the competition between enterprises. In order to coordinate the relationship with other peers and ease their contradictions, American Murray Company opened a "consulting service kiosk" in an ingenious way. The purpose of this kiosk is: if customers don't buy satisfactory products in our company, it is responsible for guiding customers to buy from companies with such products, that is, pushing customers to competitors. The opening of the "consulting service kiosk" not only did not drive away customers, but attracted more customers. Moreover, the relationship between the company and its peers has greatly improved. Therefore, Meirui Company has obtained more information from its peers to help it achieve progress and development.
Now, more and more enterprises are aware of this, and many enterprises have established strategic alliances to help each other in technology, information and intellectual resources.
Fourth, surprise is impossible to prevent.
"The Art of War" emphasizes: "A man who fights with his husband wins by surprise. Therefore, the good and the strange are infinite as heaven and earth and inexhaustible as rivers. "
After more than ten years of fierce competition, the washing machine market in China has already been saturated, and many enterprises have been eliminated. Because the washing machine market sells products with large capacity and high power consumption, it sells well in spring, autumn and winter, and it is relatively off-season in summer. Haier first seized this business opportunity and developed a small washing machine "Little Miracle" with a capacity of only 1.5kg and power saving. Immediately after listing, it sold well in the market. Within 20 months after listing, after six improvements, the sales volume reached 1 10,000 units.
Of course, each enterprise's industrial nature, products and internal and external environment are different, and it is not entirely necessary to copy other people's successful models. It is important that enterprises should have new ideas and discover new opportunities instead of sticking to the rules and standing still. This is "surprising".
Now, to improve the competitiveness of enterprises, we must vigorously advocate the implementation of system innovation and management innovation, and the fundamental thing is the innovation of thinking mode and concept. Although the challenges are severe, the opportunities are also infinite, and these new opportunities cannot be ignored. Enterprises must first change their way of thinking, truly think independently, and consider and deal with problems according to the requirements of the market economy, and then they will be suddenly enlightened and find that the original opportunity is just around the corner. Otherwise, the idea will not change, and the opportunity will stand in front of people, only to turn a blind eye and miss the opportunity.
Want to achieve the effect of "surprise", we should pay attention to three truth points:
1. If modern enterprises want to win in the competition, they must achieve "all in one" to face fierce enemies, avoid their sharp edges, and adopt the method of separate guidance to break them one by one.
Canon of Japan used this strategy when competing with Xerox in the British market. They avoided the London market tightly controlled by Xerox, first concentrated on fighting for Scotland, then attacked other British markets, and finally attacked the London market with superior forces, driving Xerox out of the whole British market in the early 1980s.
2. Shopping malls are like battlefields. If an enterprise wants to win by surprise, it must try its best to hide its own strength so that competitors can't see the real situation clearly. Enterprises should take various measures to confuse and "fool" their competitors and let them relax. At this time, the enterprise takes the opportunity to attack, so the probability of winning the competition is very high.
3. When competitors have an advantage over themselves in a certain market, they should try their best to "lure" them to compete in other favorable markets; When our competitors are strong, we should find another way to make them weaker than ourselves in some way, so as to win.
Fifth, strive for initiative, "causing people but not causing people"
The market is made up of customers. With the development of economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, customers' needs are more and more diversified, and there are potential needs of customers. If you only see the real market, then the competitors are already ahead of you, and even if you squeeze in, it will become a favorable position behind the battlefield. You can "because of people" instead of "people", and you can take the initiative in market competition.
Enterprises must carefully investigate and analyze in advance, and carefully select the target customers you identify and strive for. Focus on this potential demand, "take the customer's heart as the heart", start from the customer's needs, think more carefully, and walk in front of the customer himself. Turn the potential needs of customers into real needs, and the potential customers will become real customers, and the potential market will become the real market you open up. Enterprises should rely on the market, walk among customers, take customers' potential hopes, wishes and desires as the subject of the enterprise, carefully ponder and analyze, and hit new business ideas, which is the source of inspiration for enterprises to develop new products and open up new markets. Once an enterprise has the correct core competence (referring to key technologies and processes), it can launch new products at lightning speed and make its business advance by leaps and bounds. Only in this way can we "create people" instead of "as for people".
However, when making development strategy and building core competence, enterprises often ignore this point and put the countermeasures against competitors in the first place instead of actively competing for their target customers. How do they win in the competition?
Six, build momentum and "potential, because of profit and strength"
Running water and boulders are nothing in themselves, but when they flow down and roll down the mountain, the "situation" will be terrible. In the realistic market economy, some large enterprises have gained great momentum in the market with rich bonuses, sufficient manpower and advanced technology. Only when other enterprises dare not confront each other head-on, or retreat or evade repeatedly can large enterprises "defeat the enemy without fighting". This is "winning without fighting" caused by "potential", which has a great influence on the process and result of the game.
Enterprises can vigorously publicize their own advantages before competition, or they can overwhelm their competitors from the air cushion with abundant talents or superior technology or advanced management. Only in this way can competitors "retreat without fighting" and firmly grasp the initiative of market competition.
If an enterprise can't become a climate and has no competitive products or services, it has no potential to build. After an enterprise has a certain foundation and strength, it needs to expand its influence and improve its popularity in order to open up more markets. Raising awareness is "creating momentum". On the market stage, enterprises promote themselves in the market through various marketing means, attract people's attention and stimulate people's potential demand, so as to achieve the purpose of promotion.
Since the introduction of children's nutrient solution and the opening of Jiangnan market in the late 1980s, the sales scale of Hangzhou Wahaha Company has expanded rapidly, and the enterprises are also growing. But the products have not yet entered the Central Plains market. If we can open this new market? Enterprises have adopted the strategy of "taking pedantry as a straight line". In Zhengzhou, they give each student a yellow hat. Yellow hats were used to remind drivers and cyclists to pay attention to pedestrian safety in the early days, but Zhengzhou primary school students had not adopted this method to protect their children's safety on the road at that time. Wahaha printed the name of his company on the hats of primary school students in the city. On such a morning, the whole city suddenly appeared, and all the children were wearing the same yellow hats. This has aroused the attention of the general public and the effect that they are willing to accept. This is a meaningful case of a city "creating momentum".
Seven, Kuang current affairs with your knowledge.
After Liu Bang unified the whole country, he told the courtiers the reasons for his success: "My husband planned behind the scenes and won the battle thousands of miles away. I am not as good as my ovary;" Town, comfort the people, feed, endless food supply route, I am not as good as Xiao He; Even if it is a million-strong army, the battle will win and the attack will be taken. I am not as good as Han Xin; These three are outstanding people. I can use this, so I win the world. "Don't forget to laugh at Xiang Yu." Xiang Yu has a Fan Zeng, but he can't use it. That's why he caught it for me. "It seems that a wise leader himself is not Decathlon, but knows exactly how to integrate everyone's wisdom and thinks he has used it. A man can't run a maxima any more, but as long as he can drive a maxima, maxima will work for him.
Today, the focus of "strategic alliance" between enterprises is "enjoyment of resources", and human resources are the most important aspect.
Sun Tzu said, "Therefore, a good fighter seeks the situation without blaming others, so he can choose people and take advantage of it." A general who is good at commanding should focus on relying on, utilizing, grasping and creating a situation conducive to his own victory, rather than making demands on his generals. Therefore, he can start from the development and changes of the overall situation, choose talents who are suitable for taking on heavy responsibilities, and thus gain the initiative to decide the overall victory.
For today's business leaders and entrepreneurs, a person often has outstanding talents in a certain aspect, which is most suitable for a specific job, giving full play to his strengths and using his abilities to become an adult; Limit a person's strengths and make use of his weaknesses, and you will become a mediocre person. If a person's most valuable advantage is buried, it is a waste of talent and a destruction of career. It can be seen that a person who is good at knowing and using talents is a very virtuous and talented person. In actual employment, we often choose people because of blind spots in our thinking. The greater a person's talent, the more prominent his strengths, the more obvious his shortcomings, and the more inferior he is. A person's greatest strength may only be one in quantity, but its value and benefits are immeasurable.