Archive for the 'Strategy' Category

Apr 23 2011

Strategic Management & The Art of War By Sun Tzu

Published by under MBA,Presentations,Strategy

Recently my team made a presentation on SWOT matrix, an analytical tool to generate strategies for a company by matching among its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

To make it more interesting and applicable, we related the presentation to The Art of War (孫子兵法) authored by ancient strategist in China called Sun Tzu (孫子).  Here are a few quotes taken from the book of wisdom in warfare to apply to the business world.

未戰而廟算勝者,得算多也

Translation – The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.

Explanation – Those companies and individuals who win in the business world make much calculation, planning and deliberations on their strategy and plans.  Those who plan less have lower chance of success, much less those who don’t plan anything at all!

知彼知己,勝乃不殆

Translation – If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.

Explanation – Success comes first from knowing our own business well, including its strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the competitors.  Understanding this does not guarantee success, but it gives us foreknowledge into our chance of success.

知天知地,勝乃可全

Translation – If you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

Explanation – Knowing our self and the competitors is not enough.  The environments in terms of opportunities and threats need to be understood too.  We can be good, but if the timing is not right, our effort will be in vain.

戰勢不過奇正,奇正之變,不可勝窮也

Translation – In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.

Explanation – There are only two kinds of attack, namely normal and ordinary one (direct) and the unusual and extraordinary one (indirect).  But the combination of both opens door to endless permutations of strategies we can take.

兵貴勝,不貴久

Translation – In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

Explanation – There is no use to analyze and over-analyze the situation until we get into analysis paralysis.  We must act with our gut and intuition, despite incomplete information, after reasonable amount of analysis has be done.  The objective of a business war is in the victory, not prolonging the process.

Do you see how The Art of War may apply to your business or life situation too?

No responses yet

Dec 01 2010

Why Online Business Failed?

This is a guest post from Pin, the founder of 1.com.my. He runs a company that hosts emails. Pin is very kind to offer to help you solve your problem related to your email hosting. Just let him know what it’s about.

Online business owner says:

1. Web developers do not deliver a good job (I have tell you n times about everything you need to know, including inserting auto-play background music. I have also given you guys a benchmark website which I want – I want it to be similiar or better than Dell’s online ordering website. I have budget, yes I have!)

2. My site ranking is poor, something is wrong (Why other websites are listed on the the first page of Google but not mine. I should engage my friend who is a SEO expert working in eOneShreak)

3. Isn’t my website should be fully automated (What I want to say is, web developer should create an auto-pilot website or money making machine version 2.0. I just need to sit there waiting for money to come in)

4. Keep my online business ideas confidential (My ideas is first in the universe. I have discussed this plan with God and both of us agreed that this will hit and overtake Facebook. You are lucky to be involved in project like this)

5. The site is not what I want… (Isn’t that you know everything about website? You should propose something fresh, innovative, better, faster….)

Web developer says:

1. Well, we are afraid that this is what we can do with your limited budget (Even given the same budget as what Dell has invested, you are only a copycat and your business will fail because a website is not an online business. You need to have strategy to make it work and remarkable)

2. There is no overnight trick to make your page to first in Google (Idiot, do you know what is PR? Not Public Relations but Page Rank)

3. We have done all the integration right (If we are able to come out with such thing, we would not be here doing the website for you. You know, you don’t even buy anything online before and you expect your online business to be built and money piling up in your Paypal account. Again, do you have Paypal?)

4. Sure! We will keep this ideas to no one including my cat. My fish do not talk but I won’t tell them too (This is the n times of people mentioning this ideas. To make you happy and to make sure we get the project, we will agree that you have done all the search in Google and happily confirmed that you find no similar website or ideas)

5. Let’s us try again and we hope it is closer to what you want this time (We have another final payment to collect so we will have to bear with you a wee longer. We do not understand what do you mean by better, give us clear guideline)

3 responses so far

Sep 03 2010

Ten Points on Globalization For Malaysia

Published by under Economics,Malaysia,MBA,Strategy

I recently wrote a paper on whether globalization is good for Malaysia or not, as an assignment for the subject International Business Management & Policy in my MBA study.

To complete the 4000-word essay (I managed to write 2800 words only), I thought of 10 points and expanded from there. I published in Facebook before and have drawn many comments.

Here are the 10 points for sharing to all.  Welcome to comment and criticize. I’d like to discuss and learn from your viewpoints.

The question “Is globalization good or bad for Malaysia?” is not relevant any more. Globalization will happen and is happening to all countries including Malaysia, no matter it’s good or bad.
Quoting an unusual example – The late Qing dynasty in China in late 19th century and early 20th century. They locked the country out from the rest of the world. Unlike the Meiji Restoration that propelled their neighbour Japan into a world power in just a few decades, the Qing dynasty eventually fell in 1911.  Refuse to follow the world trend? It’s either downfall or extinction.
#1 Malaysian businesses need the global market. The local market is just too small. It’s a matter of survival in the globalized 21st century. Don’t be content with just being a jaguh kampung.
#2 Malaysia needs to specialize. Want to get out of the middle income trap? Do something new, something different. Outsource production to cheaper places elsewhere. Move up the value chain.
#3 We have been trying to “prepare” for globalization for too long time, even decades. It’s truth some of us, some industries, some businesses are not ready. But when will we be ready? Perhaps when we are truly ready, we are irrelevant in the world economy any more.
#4 Globalization raises our competitiveness. Being a frog in a well does not improve our competitiveness. In business, it’s only when we face the real challenges that we grow. Just open up and the competition will hasten up our readiness.
#5 Globalization raises our human capital. Brain drain is a real problem. But don’t dwell on it too long. How about using these “drained brain” in overseas for our advantage instead? How about getting foreign talents into our country instead? Who say Malaysia can’t attract talents? Learn from Mind Valley, the Google workplace of Malaysia.
#6 When we close ourselves out, people will not admire us. When we become an open book and have transparency, investors will come. A 81% drop in FDI is a wake-up call, much too late. Learn the lesson and open up.
#7 Communities in Malaysia have been sharing the same country, yet living segregated. Yet our diversity is a great blessing to foray into the largest markets in world. Globalized Malaysian businesses with true partnership among different races and spirit of 1Malaysia can help national unity.
#8 We are living in an integrating, interdependent world economy. We need to keep up this reality. Want to close our market? Check the fate of Qing dynasty.
#9 We are good in many areas. We have leadership in many markets, such as Islamic finance and palm oil. Why can’t we excel in other areas as well? Malaysia Boleh? Don’t be defeatist. Think boleh and we boleh!
#10 I never advocate opening up 100% completely without reservation. There are limits. But we need to embrace globalization and even be an advocate in it. Globalization will change us, for the better.

Introduction

The question “Is globalization good or bad for Malaysia?” is not relevant any more. Globalization will happen and is happening to all countries including Malaysia, no matter it’s good or bad.

Quoting an unusual example – The late Qing dynasty in China in late 19th century and early 20th century. They locked the country out from the rest of the world. Unlike the Meiji Restoration that propelled their neighbour Japan into a world power in just a few decades, the Qing dynasty eventually fell in 1911.  Refuse to follow the world trend? It’s either downfall or extinction.

The 10 Points

#1 Malaysian businesses need the global market. The local market is just too small. It’s a matter of survival in the globalized 21st century. Don’t be content with just being a jaguh kampung (champion in home country).

#2 Malaysia needs to specialize. Want to get out of the middle income trap? Do something new, something different. Don’t insist on attracting FDI in labor-intensive businesses. Move up the value chain.

#3 We have been trying to “prepare” for globalization for too long time, even decades. It’s true some of us, some industries, some businesses are not ready. But when will we be ready? Perhaps when we are truly ready, we are irrelevant in the world economy any more.

#4 Globalization raises our competitiveness. Being a frog in a well (Malay proverb: katak dalam tempurung) does not improve our competitiveness. In business, it’s only when we face the real challenges that we grow. Just open up and the competition will hasten up our readiness.

#5 Globalization raises our human capital. Yes, brain drain is a real problem. But don’t dwell on it too long. How about using these “drained brain” in overseas for our advantage instead? How about getting foreign talents into our country instead? Who say Malaysia can’t attract talents? Learn from Mind Valley, the Google workplace of Malaysia.

#6 When we close ourselves out, people will not admire us. When we become an open book and have transparency, investors will come. A 81% drop in FDI is a wake-up call, much too late. Learn the lesson and open up.

#7 Communities in Malaysia have been sharing the same country, yet living segregated. But our diversity should be a great blessing to foray into the largest markets in world. Globalized Malaysian businesses with true partnership among different races and spirit of 1Malaysia can help national unity.

#8 We are living in an integrating, interdependent world economy. We need to keep up this reality. Want to close our market? Check the fate of Qing dynasty.

#9 We are good in many areas. We have leadership in many markets, such as Islamic finance and palm oil. Why can’t we excel in other areas as well? Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia can)? Don’t be defeatist. Think boleh and we boleh!

#10 I never advocate opening up 100% completely without reservation. There are limits. But we need to embrace globalization and even be an advocate in it. Globalization will change us, for the better.

What do you think of globalization? Is it good or bad for Malaysia? Welcome to voice your opinions.

5 responses so far

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