Strong Military heritage underlies the study of strategic management.

Terms “Objectives” , “Mission”, “Strengths” & “Weaknesses” were first

formulated to address problem on battle field.

Webster’s new dictionary Strategy is

“the science of planning & directing large-scale military operations, of maneuvering forces into the most advantageous position prior to actual engagement with the enemy”

Strategy comes from Greek STRATEGOS, which refers to a military

general and combines STRATOS (the army) and AGO (to lead).

Military & business strategy’s key aim is “TO GAIN COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE”

Both use their strengths to exploit competitors’ weakness.

Business & military success is not the result of accidental strategy

Rather, success is the product of:

Continuous attention to changing of external & internal conditions

Formulation & implementation of insightful adaptations to those changes

Fundamental Difference between the strategy of both is:

Business Strategy is based on an assumption of COMPETITION

Military strategy is based on an assumption of CON FLICT

Superior strategy formulation & implementation can overcome an opponent’s superiority in numbers & resources.

Both business & military must adapt to change and constantly improve to be successful

War is vital important state, matter of lie & death. Survival or ruin.

Based on deception, when near to enemy, make it seem like far away, & when far away make it seem like near.

Strike when disorder, avoid when stronger, if troops are well prepared, wear them down, attack when he’s unprepared.

Speedy victory is the main object, if it prolongs morale depresses.

Best is to intact a state.

To capture enemy’s entire army is better than to destroy it. Subdue enemy without fighting is excellence.

Art of using troops:

10 to enemy’s one > Surround him

5 times strength > Attack him

If double his strength > Divide him

If equally match > Engage him with a good plan

If weaker < Be capable of withdrawing

If all aspect unequal - Elude him

Know your enemy, know your self = will never be defeated Know yourself, ignorant of enemy = chances are equal to win & lose Know neither side = You are sure to be defeated One who occupies field first will be at ease, better to occupy field first & wait for opponent to come. Analyze enemy’s plan to know his shortcomings & strong points.

Army should be likened water, avoids heights & hastens to the lowlands, avoid strengths & strike weaknesses.

If you decided to go in battle, don’t announce. Project “business as usual”

Unskilled leaders solve conflicts in courtrooms, brilliant strategists achieve through tactics in advance to any confrontation.

Before challenging any company, do much computing, analyzes & estimation. Little computing brings defeats.

Skillful leaders don’t amend strategy if face creative counter-movement.

When got an advantage over enemy, don’t press on. Give option to surrender to opponents.

Create the appearance of confusion, fear so that opponent helplessly drawn toward this illusion of advantage

Summary: business and military strategy are similar in many respects. Many of the ideas developed in business strategy were first formulated as military strategy. Both military and business organizations have competitors. A fundamental difference between military and business strategy is that business strategy is formulated, implemented, and evaluated with the assumption of competition, while military strategy is based on an assumption of conflict.

The term "strategy" was first used in the military to describe the grand plan for winning a war. It is usually distinguished from "tactics" which are the plans for winning individual battles. Businesses use strategic plans to contend with their environments. These plans provide the fundamental direction of purposes and policies that define the cooperative.

Military strategy is a policy implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Military strategy deals with the planning

and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy.

Business strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal or set of goals or objectives. Strategy is management's game plan for strengthening the performance of the enterprise. It states how business should be conduct to achieve the desired goals.

There are similarity and difference between the strategy of the business and the military.

Similarities

The essence of the strategy used by businesses and the military are similar or almost the same.

Similar terminologies, such as goals, mission, strengths and weaknesses.

The major goal is to gain a competitive advantage. One of the common practices is to use its own forces in attacking

opponents weaknesses. Information gathering and analysis of opponent or competitor is

very important. Need to adapt to changes and must always improve. Similar procedure of strategic planning, such as fact gathering,

evaluation, plan definition, and reevaluation.

Differences

Despite having some similarities, the strategy of the business and the military have a fundamental difference between the two. Like, formulation, implementation and evaluation strategies of the business is done by competitive circumstances, while the military strategy based on conflict situations and conditions. Strategic business planners can get valuable experience and insights that have been developed by the thinkers of the military from time to time, and not vice versa.

Business strategy / Military strategy: by Richard Martin

Apple introduced the iPad in April and, most recently, a new version of the iPhone.

Both of these products have been acknowledged as category leaders in the

consumer (and increasingly business) IT space.

First in 2007 and now in 2010, Apple has completely reinvented two product

categories by combining previously disparate features into single devices. The iPad

and iPhone can be called breakthrough products. Why breakthrough? Because

Apple went completely around the competition by inventing new product categories.

They didn’t bother trying to imitate others or to compete on their terms.

This is a perfect example of some of the interesting parallels between military and

business strategy. The military equivalent of a breakthrough product (or service) is to

completely outflank a defensive position in order to wreak havoc behind enemy lines.

When truly successful, the entrenched forces must leave the relative strength and

safety of their defences to fight off the attacker’s breakthrough.

As for the attacking force, they must be capable of exploiting the breakthrough by

staying continually ahead of the defenders, disrupting and dislocating their efforts at

stabilizing the defence. The equivalent in business is the ability to stay at least one

step ahead of the competition and to keep the pressure on them.

The way to do this is to keep innovating new products and services and also to

continually upgrade the breakthrough product. This is because imitators will

eventually be able to replicate the main features of the original breakthrough product.

They may even surpass it in some respects. However, as long as the company that

introduced the breakthrough product can keep innovating and improving it, they can

keep the competition off balance and maintain – even reinforce – the temporary

advantage gained at product introduction.

The evolution of the iPhone is a great illustration of the parallels between business

and military breakthroughs. When the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, it was

acknowledged immediately as a new type of product, even though many of its

features already existed and its capabilities were still embryonic. However, other cell

phone makers were thrown off balance. Apple has kept one step ahead of the

competition since then by introducing annual upgrades.

However, what really allowed Apple to keep the competition off balance was the

creation of the App Store in 2008. Up to that point, the battle for the smart phone

could have gone another way. But the App Store gave a marked advantage to Apple,

because it allowed the company to consolidate its position by solidifying the loyalty of

early adopters. This is equivalent to breaking through enemy lines then setting up a

fortification to defend your advantage. It also leverages the know how of many other

companies by letting them develop apps and profit from the iPhone ecosystem. This

is equivalent to multiplying your fighting strength by digging in and using air power

and artillery to break up counterattacks.

The iPad is still in its early days, but it has benefited greatly from the pre-existing

application ecosystem by building on the iPhone’s operating system. The

combination of capabilities it has introduced to the market has led many other

manufacturers to abandon their tablet projects, or to go back to the drawing board. In

either case, however, Apple has once again broken through to another level of

technical proficiency and is wreaking havoc behind enemy lines.

http://www.alcera.ca/leaders-edge-newsletter-july-2010.php