MD White - The Influence of Military Strategies to Business: Skills to Help With Problem Solving and Decision Making

THE INFLUENCE OF MILITARY STRATEGIES TO BUSINESS

Skills to help with problem solving and decision making

M.D WHITE

Copyright 2017 by M.D. White.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover design by Katie Norton

Layout and interior design by All Stories Editing

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2017

Second Printing 2018

HOPEFUL MEDIA SOLUTIONS LLC

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ISBN-10: 1-947920-03-0

ISBN-13: 978-1-947920-03-3

Dedicated to my greatest achievement, my most prized possession

MONTE

INTRODUCTION

T he parallels between war and business planning are numerous. The important distinctions between war and business planning involve the ultimate ends of a given conflict. War involves physical destruction and death. When a business conducts operations, economic utility is generated, and employees, stakeholders, and society on the whole derive some benefit. The nature of competition is generally regulated by law, and if disputes arise among rivals, either marketplace conditions or legal systems will make a binding decision over corporate life and death, victory or defeat. Introducing the analogies of war into the business environment is complex and may arouse emotions and an ethos contrary to the culture of commerce. As multinational businesses expand their reach, they can be engines of wealth generation and peace. However, if global corporations adopt an overly martial ideology, then the hopes for human progress and cultural evolution will be dashed.

WAR PLANNING

T he fundamental objective of a war plan is the imposition of the victors terms on the opponent, which could also be defined as total victory. Military historians can cite exclusions to this definition, however, the purpose of this book is not centered on arcane military history debates. With few exceptions, modern military conflict results in the deaths of the combatants armed forces and civilians, and the physical destruction of property and economic assets. Additionally, war plans are usually carefully planned before a conflict but are rarely executed exactly as projected during the engagement. The arrangements are generally redeveloped in lieu of alterations during a war.

An example of grand strategy conflict was the Pacific campaign waged between Japan and America from 1941 to1945. Prior to engaging America and Great Britain in 1941, the Japanese created a detailed stratagem. It was designed to suddenly destroy the offensive capabilities of both the Americans (the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor) and the British (key military bases in Singapore and Hong Kong), the rapid seizure of economic resources and territories in Southeast Asia (present-day Malaysia and Indonesia) and the Western Pacific (the Philippines, Guam, Wake and Midway Islands). The Japanese planned to achieve these objectives within six months of the start of hostilities. The ultimate goal of the Japanese was to rampage in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, then propose a peace settlement with a demoralized America and Britain to gain international recognition of the Empire of Japan as a superpower.

America had anticipated war with Japan since the late 1800s and crafted and periodically revised many offensive strategies culminating in War Plan Orange. It served as the United States Pacific war plan until the defeat of Japan in September 1945. Plan Orange called for a decisive naval engagement with the Japanese off the coast of the Philippines, then a naval blockade of the Japanese home islands to force Japans surrender. Events (successful air and naval campaigns) and new technology (the submarine, aircraft carrier, and atomic bomb) and other tactical considerations altered Plan Orange, however its strategic goal of imposing Americas will on Japan was achieved.

Many military historians and contemporary business students view the Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu (ca.500 B.C.E.) as the developer of the Bible of strategy . Wong, Maher, and Lee (1998) confirmed that Sun Tzus principles are divided into basically two components:

Knowing oneself

Knowing the enemy

Although Sun Tzu recommended that war be avoided if at all possible, he provided warriors with the principles of strategy if war erupted. Many of Tzus teachings have laid the foundation for today's theory of strategic management. Sun Tzu's strategy consisted of five elements:

These elements are presently thought of in terms of external and internal environmental analysis in present-day strategic management. Sun Tzu believed that close management and monitoring of the five factors would build a strong organization.

Sun Tzus five elements constitute the basic components that comprise any war plan. The fundamentals of war planning which includes an assessment of ones capabilities and gathering intelligence on the enemy to determine their strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and intentions. However, the most important goal of any war plan is victory over the adversary. War involves deploying as many factors necessary to achieve triumph, including the sacrifice of human lives and consuming as many physical (oil, metals, food) and economic (production plans, currency controls, etc.) assets as required to accomplish the objective.

Finally, war involves great risk. One side, such as Japan, can initiate a conflict to achieve results. However, if the instigator is unsuccessful, it may lose control over its destiny and physical territory and be subject to physical occupation by the victor.

This book focuses on and is filled with tracts touting the adaptations of military strategy and other analogies to guide businesses. Most researchers, for example, point out how the military doctrine of C3I (command, control, communication, and information) which should be the basis for corporations to manage crises. The author studied three contamination cases faced by Perrier, Vita Soy, and Coca-Cola, as examples of how large corporations used C3I to effectively deal with a clear and present danger. Most researchers have enthusiastically embraced the corporate use of military doctrine.

Reflecting the spirit of the times, they have promoted the exploration of a deterrence strategy because if properly devised and executed, deterrent strategies offer the highest return and help to preserve intact the companys security, sovereignty, and power. The researchers entire presentation is laced with Cold War terminology.

They sound like a Presidents national security advisor when they proclaim that the four key elements of a successful corporate deterrence strategy are:

After reading the above, one can almost imagine a McDonalds executive putting all of its stores on red alert status and scrambling its franchises to be prepared to launch a preemptive soft serve ice cream sale on Wendys.

Some other researchers take lessons from a classic Indian epic the Bhagavad Gita, to derive management strategies. The Bhagavad Gita stresses self-control focusing on discipline in perseverance, detachment from fruits of labor, and devotion to duty. The key components in business management are the 5Cs:

While the analogies between war and business planning may feel superficial and appear transferable, some researchers argue against not only the overt comparisons but describe the subtle damage that a military lexicon may have on businesses. The research shows that post-industrial business is less rigid and command-control oriented, requiring less hierarchical structures and more independence, creative employees.