Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Shah Mohammed

17 — Be the first to occupy the strategic positional advantage — Sun Tzu

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

Business success depends on being first to ….? Not being first to the market, but being first in entering your consumer’s mind. We need to position our brand name in a distinct place in our consumer’s mind. To be the first means that you are the first in a category and in fact you are the one who created the category.

Coke created Cola category, Pepsi occupied the second position. What 7-UP did? It created a new category — UNCOLA — Alternative to cola drink and first to mind. What Red-Bull did? Red Bull created a new category — Energy drink and it was the first brand to a consumer’s mind. The easy way to get into your consumer’s mind is being first.

18 — The clever combatant sacrifices something that enemy may snatch at it — Sun Tzu

It is a form of deceit. It is a skill that, when highly developed, can win wars with little fighting. Sacrificing something which may not add value to our strengths, would help us to focus on essential activities, polish and improve them.

IKEA sacrificed customer service for low cost, sacrificed customization for modularity — IKEA uses a self-service model. Customers need to do their own pickup and delivery. They need to assemble the product on their own.

Southwest Airlines sacrificed busy airports, long-distance flights, interline baggage checking, travel agents, premium customer segment, seat assignments.

Neutrogena, the soap manufacturer, sacrificed traditional FMCG segment and projected it as a premium “Medical” company. They sold their product initially in pharmacies and through doctors. They advertised through medical journals. The company avoided ingredients like skin softeners, which a customer desired in a soap — These sacrifices reinforced the Neutrogena’s brand image.

19 — Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory — Sun Tzu

Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.Military tactics are like unto water; Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

P&G research team invented a self-sealing plastic wrap, that is stronger, highly stretchable and consume less plastic. The team thought this new technology offered a solution to the garbage bag problem faced by consumers. They called the product “Impress” — P&G test-marketed the product and consumers loved ‘Impress’. It is a unique product technology that the competitive products didn’t have. But, Impress had to compete against powerful, deep-pocketed brands with well-established capital investments- Glad brand and SC Johnson. Established brands would fight tooth and nail. Huge capital investments were needed to fight the brands. Moreover, there are operational concerns too. P&G team had less experience related to this industry and knew that technology and a superior product alone would not lead to victory. After detailed analysis, P&G got into a business agreement with CLOROX(Glad Brand), shared it’s ‘Impress’ technology and received 10% of the overall Glad business with an option to acquire additional 10% later. Glad grew from $400 million to $1 billion business within 5 years boosted by the strength of Impress technology. This strategy choice was highly profitable for P&G, Glad brand and the customers.

20 — Form a single united body, if the enemy’s army is split up into fractions — Sun Tzu

We can form a single united body of the army, while the enemy’s army was must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole army pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.

Lou Gerstner was chosen to become CEO of IBM in 1993. At that time, IBM was struggling to survive against new entrants. Everyone was of the view that IBM needs to be broken into smaller companies, each company specialising in one area so that it could compete better with the new entrants. Microsoft made only software. Intel manufactured only microprocessors. Oracle made only business database software. So, to compete, to manage better, IBM needs to be dismantled. Gerstner’s predecessor had already initiated some steps towards splitting up of the company. But Gerstner believed that IBM’s strength was its size and integrated services. He felt that he need to keep IBM together.

Gerstner, “It would be insane to destroy its unique competitive advantage and turn into a group of individual component suppliers — mere minnows in the ocean”

Gerstner knows that there are companies who didn’t need a single PC but had special needs for a solution combining hardware, software, service and support. IBM was the only company who could do at that time from Beijing to Berlin. Gerstner ruled out dismantling the company and started strengthening it’s service offerings. Finally, IBM turned the corner and became profitable.

21 — Detach a flying column to occupy a strategic location if possible — Sun Tzu

If you set a fully equipped army in march in order to snatch an advantage, the chances are that you will be too late. Moving the whole army would need enormous planning time, supplies, training. A small army could be easily assembled and sent to occupy the location before the fully equipped army arrives.

The limitations in brand recognition, budget, production, infrastructure, distribution channels, resources, research capabilities, promotion, publicity would delay the launch of a product on a mass scale. The best way to launch a product is to introduce it in a small but a prominent market(Potential to create ripples — A market that has more Influencers or opinion leaders and early adopters) as early as possible, test and iterate it. It is like detaching a flying column of an army to occupy a strategic location with the less baggage.

References: The art of war by Sun Tzu and notes by Lionel Giles, Good to great by Jim Collins, Playing to Win by AG Lafley, Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik, What is Strategy by Michael Porter, Blue Ocean Strategy, The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz, Something really new by Denis Hauptly, The power of habit by Charles Duhigg, Strategy that works by Cesare R. Mainardi and Paul Leinwand

Building a Great Business and The ‘Art Of War’ Strategy — Part 04 was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Building a Great Business and The ‘Art Of War’ Strategy — Part 04

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