Becky Sheetz-Runkle - The Art of War for Small Business: Defeat the Competition and Dominate the Market with the Masterful Strategies of Sun Tzu

Defeat the Competition and Dominate
the Market with the Masterful Strategies of
SUN TZU

Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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2014 Becky Sheetz-Runkle.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Sheetz-Runkle, Becky.
The art of war for small business : defeat the competition and dominate the market
with the masterful strategies of Sun Tzu / Becky Sheetz-Runkle.1 Edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-3381-2
ISBN-10: 0-8144-3381-2
1. Small businessManagement. 2. Strategic planning. 3. Leadership. I. Title.
HD62.7S5254 2014
658.4012dc23 2014005358

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Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my husband, David Runkle.
He deserves a medal.

The Art of War for Small Business relies on Lionel Giless translation as its primary source. I am also deeply indebted to Thomas Huynh for his translated and annotated The Art of War: Spirituality for Conflict, published by SkyLight Paths Publishing, and for generously allowing me to use many passages from his work here. Thomas has been a source of encouragement and understanding of Sun Tzu, and his perspective brings a more nuanced view of the philosopher-general. Ive made some reference to the popular translation by Samuel B. Griffith of Oxford University, as well as the version presented to Steven Michaelson in Beijing at a symposium of the Research Society of Sun Tzus Art of War. I also relied on J. H. Huangs Sun-Tzu: Art of WarThe New Translation, published by Harper Paperbacks, for some translations as well as difficult-to-find historical context.

I am grateful to each of these authors for their contributions to the Sun Tzu literature and for their guidance in developing The Art of War for Small Business.

Imagine that the great strategy mastermind Sun Tzu was with us today. Imagine that he, like a lot of career military men and women, went into business later in life as a CEO or joined the executive team of a small business. How would he adapt his principles from The Art of War to wage war and peace for his small business and build it into an empire?

Thats the question at the heart of The Art of War for Small Business.

The military principles of Sun Tzus classic, The Art of War, are timeless. Theyre adapted and brought to life daily by the companies and executives that use them. Sound strategists frequently bring Sun Tzu to life, often without necessarily recognizing the origins of their strategy in the sages words from more than 2,500 years ago. How much more effective would they be if they studied Sun Tzus direction and were able to apply it more intentionally? How much more effective would you be?

Small-business leaders must be smarter and stealthier than their larger, better-established adversaries. Theyll fail if they try to match the big players tool for tool and move for move. And theyll wither on the vine if they just attempt to weather storms. This is particularly true in competitive industries with small and shrinking margins. Small businesses must win battles and achieve success with very lean budgets and comparatively few resources. The great news is that if interpreted and explained well, Sun Tzu provides profound insight to direct and inspire the moves of small-business leaders so that they can defeat their competition and dominate their markets.

To make Sun Tzu as relevant as possible, The Art of War for Small Business is filled with examples of his strategies put into play by small businesses. In most (though not all) cases, the practitioners have probably emulated our hero unwittingly, but theyve been rewarded for their movements all the same. Some of these businesses have missed the mark later in their evolution, and others may fall from grace, either temporarily or permanently, in the future. But dont mistake future pitfalls with performance thats worth learning from and perhaps emulating.

The Art of War for Small Business is for current and aspiring entrepreneurs and small-business practitioners who are battling Goliaths, and who one day seek to become powerhouses in their respective industries. Its also for those who study Sun Tzu and are looking for a new adaptation uniquely for smaller forces. This book is a comprehensive study of Sun Tzus masterpiece, targeted to applications for small armies and illustrated with success stories. The Art of War is very much the playbook that smaller forces can use for domination. This book is your guide to its application.

I took my very first martial arts lesson in 1990. I was fifteen, and it was a defining moment. Most people take a lesson in karate, tae kwon do, jujitsu, or another martial art and, if they like it, declare that they want to get a black belt. Not me. It was during that very first Tang Soo Do class at the now-defunct Rising Sun Karate Club that I knew I wanted to do martial arts. I wanted to study and to train and teach. I knew the very first night that I would one day have my own school. More than twenty years and several black belts later, Im pleased to say that dreams come true and that passion can continue to burn. I teach at a small dojo (training hall) in my home to a select group of students. But the story hasnt gone as planned.

In those early days, I was fortunate to find an excellent karate school, run by two wonderful instructors, John Weaver and Jack Lynch, both of whom have long since retired from teaching. They started me out on my pursuit of martial arts. I was extremely committed to karate and took that training very, very seriously. I was young and limber, and got pretty good at performing the kicks and punches. I also got quite good at