The Influence of Military Strategies to Business: Skills to Helpwith Problem Solving and Decision Making is an
informative and helpful book by M.D. White.
It is divided into twenty-five chapters in addition to the
Introduction. It is written to present the parallels between war and business
planning based on the principles of the Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu.
These principles are divided into two components: knowing oneself and knowing
the enemy.
Among the topics discussed in the book include strategic
surveillance, transformational leadership, business models, and innovation. Moreover, the
author expounds on C3I (command, control, communication, information) as the
basis to managing crises, the three most critical market factors (accelerating
change, increasing competition, increasing complexity), as well as various
defensive and offensive strategies and the application of the Principles of Sun
Tzu in business. Furthermore, by analyzing the similarities between an airplane
and a company, he is able to emphasize the importance of business models.
Basically, this is an interesting, informative, helpful, and,
apparently, well-researched book. It is organized and academically written with
a consistently formal tone commonly used in textbooks. By citing internationally
recognized brands like Coke, Pepsi, Xerox, Ford, Colgate, Nike, and Adidas,
the author is able to reach out to ordinary people, and by sharing the stories
of Xerox, Sears, Ford and the battle between Coke and Pepsi,
and Nike and Adidas, he makes this book difficult
to put down.
Needless to say, this is one great book that even a non-military
and non-business minded person like myself is able to appreciate it. However,
with its textbook tone, other readers may find this book not an easy read. In
addition, there are a few errors within the entire book which some readers may
find distracting.
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