by Siew Cheng Hoe

Created on: October 05, 2009

Many people are familiar with Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Sun Tzu's The Art of War is part of the famous seven military classics of China.

However, many Chinese are more familiar with The 36 Strategies (or The 36 Stratagems). Many schoolchildren, as young as six years old, know that the last strategy is to retreat. The last strategy in the 36 Strategies says that, "When all strategies fail, retreat is the best way out."

The purpose of the retreat is to conserve resources and wait for a better time to attack.

Many companies know the importance of retreat. They know that they have to kill the research and development project when the market is not ready for it. Taking action to stop the research and development does not mean failure.

It means that the market is not ready for the product. If the companies continue spending money on research and development, and subsequent product launch, they are going to lose much more money.

The first strategy is Deceiving the Heaven to cross the sea. This strategy comes from a historical record of Tang Dynasty. In 643 AD, Emperor Tang Taizong led his army of 300,000 soldiers to wage war against the Koguryo. When Emperor Tang Taizong came to the sea, he was terrified of the rolling waves. He refused to cross the sea.

His general, Xue Rengui, camouflaged a ship as a luxurious manor. He asked a wealthy man to lure Emperor Tang Taizong to enter this luxurious manor. They feasted for a few days. By the time Emperor Tang Taizong knew that he was on board a ship, they had already crossed the sea.

In ancient China, the people viewed Emperor as the representative of Heaven. The first strategy Deceiving the Heaven to cross the sea means to deceive the Emperor by means of camouflage.

Camouflage is a business strategy that every company can use.

The Emperor Tang Taizong did not fear going into a manor. He feared the sea. All of us are in a similar situation. We do not fear the ordinary things in familiar surroundings. We are more fearful in unfamiliar surroundings.

This business strategy calls for camouflaging the unfamiliar into familiar. One example of using this business strategy is to provide free lessons on new product usage until the customers view the products as familiar.

Another business strategy arising out of Deceiving the Heaven to cross the sea is to camouflage the real goal so that the competitors do not know the real plan. One example is the giving of free gift with product purchase.

Some toothpaste manufacturers give toothbrush as a free gift for every tube of toothpaste purchased. The free toothbrush has a longer brush than the normal toothbrush. The customers have to use more toothpaste. As a result, the toothpaste runs out faster, and the customers have to buy more toothpaste.

Secret Art of War: The 36 Stratagems had been in circulation for three hundred years. This book is a collection of 36 strategies by an unknown scholar during the end of Ming Dynasty. All businesspersons should read this military classic and learn to derive business strategies.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-Six_Strategies

36 Business Stratagems by Wang Xuanming (ISBN: 981-229-370-1)

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