Tao Zhugong’s Chinese Business Principles (770–221 bc): A Convergence with Modern-day Construction and Real Estate Practices

A comparison by Low and Sirpal (1995) of modern-day Western business and corporate strategies with ancient Chinese classical strategies of war suggests that there is considerable overlap in concepts between the two (Thomas, 1995). This suggests that the Chinese people faced and dealt with similar problems of modern-day living more than 2,000 years ago. Ancient Chinese treatises in the areas of philosophy, administration, management and strategy continue to provide much wisdom for business applications in the twenty-first century. It is just unfortunate that all these treatises were written in the Chinese language, which is not accessible to the majority of the English-speaking world (Low, S. P., 1996, 2003). Studies have, however, shown that these ancient Chinese treatises have many similarities to modern-day management practices (Low and Yeo, 1993; Low, 1995; Low and Tan, 1995; Low and Lee, 1997).