Application of Sun Tzu Art of War strategies in different stages of organizational life cycle: A study in Malaysian manufacturing organizations

A B S T R A C T The resurgence of the interest in the investigation on the likelihood of the ancient war strategy, Sun Tzu Art of War (STAW) in improving the competition position of business organisations is reaching a new height both locally and internationally. This is evident by the number of literatures that has attempted to identify the measurement dimensions of STAW for business applications. The focus of these literatures however, was mainly on the theoretical perceptions and arbitrary assumptions with not much statistical substantiation. Therefore, this study"s objective is to operationalize the time-tested Sun Tzu Art of War strategies for business applications. The study also examined the possible emergence of factors that may arise at the different stages of the life cycle of the organization. The study was performed on the Malaysian manufacturing companies, involving 167 Small Medium Enterprises and 133 Multinational Corporations. From an extensive literature review, four dimensions namely: Employee Motivation, Situation Appraisal, Strategic Planning and Leadership were established to represent Sun Tzu Art of War strategies in Malaysian Manufacturing Industries. The hypothesized relationships of the dimensions were then, tested using Structural Equation modelling technique (SPSS and AMOS). The results indicates that the theoretically developed measurement dimensions of STAW are significantly and positively associated with the construct Sun Tzu Art of War strategies. Academically, this research contributes to the knowledge on Sun Tzu Art of War strategies for business applications by providing an empirical and statistical evidence on the development of the critical factors for the manufacturing organisations in Malaysia. This study will also provide an impulsion for business operators to understand the role of Sun Tzu Art of War strategies in organizations in attaining business sustainability. Hence, the dimensions developed in this study, which is not studied in many past researches will provide a direction for Malaysian business operators towards effectively managing their business operations.

[1]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The core competence of the corporation’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. pp. . , 1990 .

[2]  James Guthrie,et al.  Strategy, Size and Performance , 1989 .

[3]  David G. Sirmon,et al.  A Model of Strategic Entrepreneurship: The Construct and its Dimensions , 2003 .

[4]  Wann-Yih Wu,et al.  A study of strategy implementation as expressed through Sun Tzu's principles of war , 2004, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[5]  William G. Zikmund,et al.  Exploring Marketing Research , 1986 .

[6]  Naresh K. Malhotra,et al.  Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation , 1993 .

[7]  David Miller.  Strategy Making and Structure: Analysis and Implications for Performance , 1987 .

[8]  W. Mitchell,et al.  Strategic Momentum , 2013 .

[9]  I. Jawahar,et al.  Toward a Descriptive Stakeholder Theory: an Organizational Life Cycle Approach , 2001 .

[10]  C. Freeman.  Economics of Industrial Innovation , 1975 .

[11]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[12]  D. Audretsch,et al.  New Venture Growth: A Review and Extension , 2006 .

[13]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[14]  David G. Sirmon,et al.  The Dynamic Interplay of Capability Strengths and Weaknesses: Investigating the Bases of Temporary Competitive Advantage , 2010 .

[15]  Michael Gort,et al.  Firm and Product Life Cycles and Firm Survival , 2002 .

[16]  T. Kolar,et al.  Marketing as warfare, revisited , 2007 .

[17]  D. Sculli,et al.  The strategic insights of Sun Tzu and quality management , 1998 .

[18]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[19]  François Bergeron,et al.  An information technology trilogy: business strategy, technological deployment and organizational performance , 2001, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[20]  W. S. Lau,et al.  Sun Tzu's as business and management strategies for world class business excellence evaluation under QFD methodology , 1998, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[21]  S. Zahra,et al.  Business strategy, technology policy and firm performance , 1993 .

[22]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  MARKET REACTIONS TO ANNOUNCEMENTS OF CORPORATE DOWNSIZING ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES , 2004 .

[23]  N. Venkatraman,et al.  Strategic Orientation of Business Enterprises: The Construct, Dimensionality and Measurement , 2015 .

[24]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[25]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[26]  Jason B. MacDonald,et al.  Applying Sun Tzu's terrain and ground to the study of marketing strategy , 2005 .

[27]  J. DeCoster.  Overview of Factor Analysis , 1998 .

[28]  Donald C. Hambrick,et al.  Operationalizing the Concept of Business-Level Strategy in Research , 1980 .

[29]  Sik-Fun Lee.  The use of Chinese philosophies to assist achievement of world-class business excellence , 1998 .

[30]  S. Heine.  From Art of War to Attila the Hun: A Critical Survey of Recent Works on Philosophy/Spirituality and Business Leadership , 2008 .

[31]  S. F. Lee,et al.  Implementing the strategic formulation framework for the banking industry of Hong Kong , 2000 .

[32]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  Top Level Management Priorities in Different Stages of the Organizational Life Cycle , 1985 .

[33]  Xiaoming He,et al.  Firm resources, competitive actions and performance: investigating a mediated model with evidence from the in‐vitro diagnostics industry , 2011 .

[34]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Linking Two Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Orientation to Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Environment and Industry Life Cycle , 2001 .

[35]  Andrew Sai On Ko,et al.  Building balanced scorecard with SWOT analysis, and implementing “Sun Tzu’s The Art of Business Management Strategies” on QFD methodology , 2000 .

[36]  B. E. Wallacker,et al.  Sun Tzu: The Art of War , 2008 .

[37]  P. H. Friesen,et al.  Innovation in Conservative and Entrepreneurial Firms: Two Models of Strategic Momentum , 1982 .

[38]  C. Causer.  The Art of War , 2011, IEEE Potentials.

[39]  R. Duane Ireland,et al.  Resource Orchestration to Create Competitive Advantage , 2010 .

[40]  D. Slevin,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior , 1991 .

[41]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students , 2006 .

[42]  Patrick R. McMullen,et al.  Human Resource Management Problems Over the Life Cycle of Small to Medium-sized Firms , 2003 .

[43]  G. Yukl,et al.  Leadership in Organizations , 1981 .

[44]  Michael E. Porter,et al.  Strategy : seeking and securing competitive advantage , 1991 .

[45]  Christopher Lynch,et al.  Art of war , 2003 .

[46]  Paul E. Bayes,et al.  Market reactions to announcements to expense options , 2009 .

[47]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  Research Evidence On The Miles-Snow Typology , 1990 .

[48]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed. , 2009 .

[49]  Sui Pheng.  A convergence of Western marketing mix concepts and oriental strategic thinking , 1995 .

[50]  P. H. Friesen,et al.  A Longitudinal Study of the Corporate Life Cycle , 1984 .

[51]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[52]  Amitava Chattopadhyay,et al.  Rethinking Marketing Programs for Emerging Markets , 2002 .

[53]  Massimo G. Colombo,et al.  Agreements between firms and the technological life cycle model: Evidence from information technologies , 1992 .

[54]  孫子,et al.  Sun Tzu's The art of war , 1995 .

[55]  Sun Tzu.  The Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the World , 2002 .