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Sun Tzu and the Art of Business
Book

Sun Tzu and the Art of Business

Six Strategic Principles for Managers

Mark McNeilly
Oxford UP, 1996

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Engaging

Recommendation

This book takes the metaphor, "business is war" as far is it can possibly go - and then pushes it a little bit farther. The writer, an amateur military historian, draws many examples of strategy and tactics from battlefield applications - none of them Chinese, interestingly enough, considering the inspiration for the book. He establishes indisputably that Sun Tzu’s observations in China, circa 400 BC, would have been equally valid in Imperial Rome or World War II. He falters somewhat when he attempts to apply these principles to business. The author struggles to make the connection and occasionally succeeds, most effectively when discussing price wars and hostile takeovers. If the premise that business is like war is questionable, the idea of using a Chinese military handbook as a business text is unusual enough to be stimulating. getAbstract.com recommends this intriguing book to business strategists and managers.

Take-Aways

  • Business is like war.
  • The strategic principles that succeed in war also succeed in business.
  • Win without fighting by avoiding price wars.

About the Author

Mark R. McNeilly is a strategist for IBM, an amateur military historian, and a former officer in the infantry and artillery.

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