THE ART OF WAR

The Art of War

The Art of War

Sun Tzu seems to be saying that any business strategy requires a plan. Did Mark Zuckenberg have strategy in mind when creating Facebook or was he just lucky?

The history of Facebook clearly revels that Mark Zuckenberg's idea of Facebook was inspired by Adam D'Angelo his best friend from high school who initially developed a social networking site Buddy Zoo experimentally. After D'Angelo shut down his project of Buddy Zoo, Mark Zuckenberg started to study the implications which clearly furnish answer the he had a strategy in mind when creating a Facebook.

Question: Sun Tzu seems to be explaining the economy of war (strategy). Can one achieve a competitive advantage without capital (or resources)? Can you provide examples?

One of the main points of The Art of War is planning for battle. The book strongly emphasizes how important it is to not only know your own army (resources), but know the enemy just as well (competitors) (Samuel, 2005). According to Sun Tzu, a person must base his or her tactics on those of the enemy. From Sun Tzu's explanation to the economy of war it can be concluded that no firm can achieve competitive advantage without having capital or resources as per their competitor.

Can you provide an example from your own organization where your boss (es) might have engaged in or more of these conditions? Oven great leaders

When a firm is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors, then it can be said that the firm has a competitive advantage. Ryan Air's case in this question can be presented as an example. Ryan air's main competitors in Europe are easy Jet, Air Berlin, and German wings Hapag-Lloyd Express. To save on maintenance costs and operating aircraft, Ryan air's fleet is composed of a single model of aircraft, the Boeing 737-800. Airline industries are badly influence with the increase in fuel prices and put them in major problem. If the prices keep on rising, then the industry has to keep cut corner or to apply such strategies in order gain competitive advantage and give edge to other competitor within the industry (Jeffrey, 2010). In this connection, to maintain the competitive advantage by offering the lowest possible prices to the customers, Ryan Air leader is implementing several cost cutting strategies as well as customer retention strategy, primarily by training its employees to enhance their efficiency whereas, working on to increase their level of motivation. Leaders and managers at Ryan Air believe that if they will treat their employees well, they will serve the customer well, which will ultimately enhance the customer satisfaction. This in turn will retain the customers.

What might these principles be saying about the contemporary approaches to strategic thinking? Can you provide an example from your readings in this course?

The five principles of military method including: measurement, estimation of quantity, calculation, balancing of chances and victory is also aligned with the business practices at ...