Sun Tzu and Machiavelli Business Term Paper

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" (XII) but even if employees are paid, they must still be loyal for other reasons, as quite often talented employees can just find a job elsewhere. "Therefore, "the arms with which a prince defends his state" must be "his own," counsels the author of the Prince still ads that "the chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws." (XII) Likewise a good product must deliver on its promised quality to the consumer, and no puffery or rapaciousness on the part of the leader can ensure a market permanently acquired by force alone, its claims must be backed up with some substance.

When the enemy or competitor is finally engaged, Sun Tzu advises a leader to always move quickly, "There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. (II.6) "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." (IV.1) Be a first mover in a market, a strategic manager might say, before demand has been exhausted. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Be true to your principles and strengths as a company, rather than be all things to all people. "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." (III.18)

Thus, to apply the principles of both Sun Tsu and Machiavelli, above all, a strategic assessment of the situation at hand is required.

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A good leader must be quick and decisive in battle, deliver on his or her promises of attack to the enemy, or be eaten alive, and deliver upon his or her promises of principle and rewards to his or her troops, or they will desert. The necessity of strategy has made Sun Tzu extremely popular in business classes, and Machiavelli, although the latter less so, partly because of the negative attributions given to the Italian philosopher's name.

One example of real world application, according to strategic management guru Kaihan Krippendorf of Sun Tzu's principles was "in 1996, Coca-Cola outsold Pepsi in almost every market in the world. In Latin America, Venezuela was the one country in which Pepsi enjoyed a lead. Venezuela was a particular source of pride for Pepsi. Pepsi had outsold Coca-Cola in the country for almost fifty years. Its sales were approaching four times that of Coca-Cola's. But in August of that year Coca-Cola applied the Stratagem of Sowing Discord. The stratagem suggests that you can more efficiently topple your adversary by removing a critical relationship from his support. This is like removing a leg from a chair -- the chair will topple under its own gravity." Coke moved quickly, rallied its loyal corporate workers with the promise of the glory of its company and bonuses for successful executives and advertisers, and delivered upon its promises to the Venezuela soda consumer. And as Machiavelli might have noted, this show of strength by Prince Coke did not simply gain money for the company in one market, but the business strategic coup created a valuable crisis of confidence that Coca-Cola was able to exploit in other markets.

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