Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “He who would avoid defeat learns defensive tactics. He who would attack learns offensive ones. Defense tactics are about going to ground. When you have insufficient resources you have to hide a lot. But when you have a superior firepower and forces, then you flash from the skies, scream from the land, and flood in from the sea like the dogs of hell unleashed. It is really very simple when you think about it. ”
Raven: “The tricks are in the timing. You are only weak or strong in comparison to someone else. Asymmetric Warfare. Why do you think wolves mark their territory? No-one likes the wrong kind of surprises.”
Poor Richard: “If I want to know what my ancestors did, I read histories or their dairies. If I want to know what a business did, I read its ledgers. Everything ends up in the ledgers. Strengths. Weaknesses.” Assets and Liabilities. Tangibles and Intangibles. Revenues and Expenses. Before you can grow, you have to know what you have to grow with. That’s cash flow and assets. If I want to know what a business can do, I use the assets to project the revenues. I start with the industry margins for the expenses, then I adjust them to make them real as they can be given that they are a projection. What does this have to do with addressing competition? Everything. The way you win is you make money. If you are, and the prognosis for doing so in the future is good, what do you care about the competition? All you need to do is monitor their product development and introduction so you don’t get blindsided while you are in the field of battle maneuvering for sales.
© Phyl Speser, March 16, 2014