Professional Documents
Culture Documents
189-199(1994)
Managing change:
perspectives from
Sun Tzu's Art
of War
Yyrofessor Wee offers some of the
JL lessons that can be learned from
this 2300-year-old Chinese master of
strategy, which has shaped thinking
in many Japanese and South Korean
boardrooms and is now widely read
by managers in China. The article
examines the business value of Sun
Tzu's thinking in relation to:
Managing change
Creating an adaptable organization
The role of strategy in the change
process
190
C. H. Wee
Managing cbange
191
192
C. H. Wee
Thus, the wise general is someone who against Japanese products in recent years,
is able to apply the principle of flexibility Japanese manufacturers have shifted to flexible
so as to take advantage of the changing manufacturing systems and strategy as their
circumstances in war. Note that one of the new competitive weapon. They do this by
most remarkable statements is that there are focusing on more and better product features,
no fixed rules and regulations when it comes flexible factories that can accommodate
to execution of plans. The general must varying production orders and designs,
expanded customer service, innovation and
technological superiority (Stewart, 1992b;
The general must change
Taylor III, 1993).
his strategies like the way
Business situations are always very dynamic
as they are affected by various factorsthe
water conforms to the
consumers, the competitors, the govemment,
changing terrain
the general public, the state of technology,
the state of the economy and so on. To
change his strategies like the way water compete successfully, the company must be
conforms to the changing terrain. In other adaptive to the changes in its environment,
words, he has the ultimate authority to and must not be bound by past practices or
decide what he deems most appropriate, traditions. In fact, Bartlett and Ghoshal
(1989) argued that the future transnational
given the situation that confronts him.
In the same way, companies must learn to corporations, among other things, must be
be flexible in order to cope with the changing able to maintain organizational flexibility in
environment and competitive situations. order to compete effectively. Their views
Here, it is interesting to note that Japanese were supported by Stewart (1992a).
products are known to be shaped according
There should not be any fixed rules on
to the demands of the markets that they are how a company should go about developing
selling to, even though the market size may its overseas markets. If one company cannot
be small. For example, while the United do it alone, there is nothing to stop it from
States (US) ignored the markets in Southeast joining forces with other companies with
Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, the Japanese similar interests, even if they are direct
courted this part of the world enthusiastically competitors. Indeed, strategic alliances are
with products that were designed specifically becoming an important development in the
for them. Despite their huge succcesses conduct of business today as they can also
today, the Japanese have continued to be provide for flexibility (Sherman, 1992). In
flexible in their product offerings to newer fact, Toshiba, the oldest and third largest
markets in the Asia-Pacific region. For Japanese electronic giant has made strategic
example, when China needed cars after they alliances a cornerstone of its corporate
opened up aggressively in the 1980s, the strategy (Schlender, 1993b). As of 1993, it
Japanese were prepared to do 'backward had no less than 18 strategic partners in the
engineering' in order to sell the Chinese US, Europe, Canada, and even South Korea.
cheap, big and efficient cars. In contrast, the In taking such a flexible approach, Toshiba
Western companies were reluctant to do so. has been able to enhance both its global
The results of such flexible policies are very position in technology and marketing.
telling by the size of Japanese market shares Besides Toshiba, many other Japanese
in these countries. In fact, Kotler et al. (1985, companies have created strong partnerships
p. 254) remarked that flexibility has been the by investing in sagging European rival
visible trademark of the Japanese and they companies (Rapoport, 1993). In doing so,
have not engraved their strategies in stone. they have created additional leverages for
Today, as the top US and European themselves to compete in the future. Besides
companies begin to close the quality gap the Japanese, the Koreans are pursuing similar
Journal of Strategic Change, August 1994
Managing cbange
193
Resourcefulness at
the point of decision
making is essential
Use of initiative
194
C. H. Wee
Managing change
195
196
C H. Wee
191
Managing change
Conclusion
Tbe analogy between war and business is a
fruitful exercise, but it is too often taken
Journal of Strategic Change, August 1994
Autobiographical
note
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CCC 1057-9265/94/040189-11
1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd