SlideShare une entreprise Scribd logo
1  sur  35
Télécharger pour lire hors ligne
The Wisdom of Two Sages
----A Strategic Advertising and Marketing Model That Combines Sun Tzu and
Confucius
by
Qimei Chen
William D. Wells
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Minnesota
Published in
Asian Journal of Communication, 8(2): pp.168-193. (1998)
Corresponding:
111 Murphy Hall, 206 Church St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-624-2879
e-mail: chen0347@tc.umn.edu
Page 1
I. Introduction
Sun Tzu was a great military strategist and gifted marshal of 506 BC China. He
wrote the oldest and most respected military strategy book--Art of War--around 2,500 years
ago, much earlier than another warfare masterpiece--On War--written by Prussian general
Karl Von Clausewitz in 1832 (Handel, 1992). Sun Tzu supported the King of Wu, who
put his army under Sun Tzu’s command. Shih Chi--the first authentic history almanac--
summarized Sun Tzu’s achievements this way: “to the West the king defeated the powerful
state of Ch’u and advanced into Ying. To the North the King overawed Ch’i and Chin and
manifested his name among the feudal lords. This was due to Sun Tzu imparting power to
him.”
The 13 Chapters in Art of War are entitled: Initial Estimations, Waging War,
Planning Offensives, Military Disposition, Strategic Military Power, Vacuity and
Substance, Military Combat, Nine Changes, Maneuvering the Army, Configurations of
Terrain, Nine Terrains, Incendiary Attacks, and Employing Spies. Chinese military leaders
after Sun Tzu regarded studying these chapters a must. Ho and Choi (1997) observed that
“numerous warfare successes have been achieved by those who followed his (Sun Tzu’s)
strategies.”
Sun Tzu’s influence was not limited to China, but also spread to other Asian
countries. For example, Japanese leaders studied Sonshi--the Japanese term for Sun Tzu--
since AD 700 (Goldenberg, 1997). Western generals also studied Art of War. Rarick
(1996) asserted that Napoleon used Sun Tzu’s advice to defeat the armies of Europe.
Page 2
Today, though technology and weapons have changed, Sun Tzu’s strategies are still used
in modern battles (McNeilly 1996).
Sun Tzu’s military strategies have also been applied to business, especially
advertising and marketing. The Chinese saying “the marketplace is a battlefield” (Tung,
1994) best reflects the use of military principles in competition. Although applying Sun
Tzu’s strategies to business is not a new invention--Chinese businessmen have relied on Art
of War since 400 BC--the amount of discussion today is indeed unprecedented.
Applications of Art of War to advertising and marketing can be roughly classified
into four categories:
• Direct translation: One kind of translation is from ancient Chinese to contemporary
Chinese, sometimes in cartoon form such as in Sun Tzu Said, by Tsai Chih Chung
(Sept. 1990). The other is from ancient Chinese to modern English.
The most standard translation was by retired Marine Brigadier General Samuel B.
Griffith as part of his 1960 Oxford University doctoral dissertation. This translation was
regarded as the most privileged one until J. H. Huang’s Sun Tzu: The New Translation
appeared in 1993. But no matter how accurate and vivid those translations are, they
haven’t fully explored the spirit of Art of War in business applications (Goldenberg
1997).
• Interpretation with examples: These are mainly reorganizations of the 13 chapters
under different headings--such as strategic management, human resource management
and information management--to match modern business practices (Cheung, 1990).
Some writers, including McNeilly (1996), have abstracted the most important military
Page 3
instruction examples from Sun Tzu, offering real-world business and even military
applications.
• Business packages developed through Sun Tzu’s strategies: Authors of these packages
developed their own tools to give step-by-step instructions for accomplishing success in
advertising and marketing campaigns. Some but not all of them take the similarities and
differences between war and business into account (Yuan, 1991).
• “Winning models” evolved from Art of War: These studies compared Western
advertising and marketing strategies with Art of War and then designed models for
applying Sun Tzu’s thinking to commercial mass communication.
We regard the last category as the most important. A representative work in this
category is “Achieving Marketing Success Through Sun Tze’s Art of Warfare” by Samuel
K. Ho and Amy S.F. Choi (1997). They used Huge Davidson’s (1987) acronym POISE
(profitable, offensive, integrated, strategic and effectively executed) to analyze the
similarities and differences between Western business practices and Eastern warfare.
Based mainly on the Art of War, with some minor modification, Ho and Choi (1997)
proposed a “Winning model” to provide “effective guidelines on the deployment of the Sun
Tze Art of War in business.” We will discuss this model in more detail later.
Though war is still a favorite metaphor, changes have occurred in marketing.
Marketers now recognize the importance of establishing long-term cooperative
relationships with direct competitors--their once opponents. Examples can easily be found
in the computer and semiconductor industries. Today, IBM, Apple, and Motorola
collaborate to spread the risk of new technology development and establish broad-based
industry standards. In these and many other industries, the rising cost of new product
Page 4
development makes information sharing and joint research and development a necessity.
Therefore, a more modern metaphor is needed.
In “Marketing as Warfare: Reassessing a Dominant Metaphor,” Rindfleisch (1996)
said, “although this marketing-as-warfare metaphor may be widely held, it is based on a set
of fundamental assumptions about the nature of competitive interaction that are largely
incongruent with present-day environmental realities.” While many commentators still
explore the value of Sun Tzu’s strategy, Sun Tzu himself would probably urge that it is
time for marketers to question the appropriateness of the war analogy. As Rindfleish (1996)
said, “considering the conceptual limitations of the marketing-as-warfare metaphor,
strategists are faced with the need for alternative metaphorical perspectives in which to
frame their strategic marketing world views.”
In our view, merely to deny the profound meaning of the warfare metaphor is to lose
sight of a prominent aspect of business. We therefore propose a new framework to
supplement and complement the current metaphor--a combination of Sun Tzu’s strategy
with some key ideas drawn from modern Confucianism. We first examine Ho and Choi’s
(1997) “Winning Model” in some detail. We then show how this model can be
modernized.
II. “Ho and Choi’s Winning Model”
Ho and Choi ‘s (1997) “Winning model” is divided into an “outer ring” and an
“inside chain.”
Page 5
Figure #1. Winning Model Based on Sun Tzu
Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997)
The Outer Ring
The “outer ring” of the “Winning model” is linked to daily operations. It consists of
three parts: Analysis of Situations, Comparison Checklist, and Business Information
Systems.
1. Analysis of Situations
Whether in military warfare or marketing competition, discerning analyses of “the
external and internal environment are always essential steps before laying down a detailed
plan” (Ho and Choi, 1997). In Chapter III: Planning Offensive, Sun Tzu said:
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or
losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every
battle to be in peril (Griffith, 1960).
Applied to marketing competition, this advice means that one must know both
competitors and oneself before engagement.
The outer ring
1. Analysis of Situations
2. Comparison
Checklist
3. Business information
Systems
The inside chain
1. Goals and objectives
2. Formation of
strategies
3. Offensive strategy
4. Defensive Strategy
5. Implementation of
Winning Model
Based on Sun
Tzu
Page 6
2. Comparison Checklist
To organize this knowledge, Sun Tzu asked military leaders to study “five factors”--
Tao, Heaven, Earth, Generals, and Law:
The Tao causes the people to be fully in accord with the ruler, thus they will die with
him; they will live with him and not fear danger. Heaven encompasses yin and yang,
cold and heat, and the constraints of the seasons. Earth encompasses far or near,
difficult or easy, expansive or confined, fatal or tenable terrain. The general
encompasses wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness. The laws for
military organization and discipline encompass organization and regulation, the Tao of
command, and the management of logistics (Sawyer, 1996)
With minor modification, these “five factors” can be translated into a checklist and
evaluation tool for waging marketing warfare:
¨ Tao--efficient human resource management and campaign development
¨ Heaven--business climate and the right timing to proceed with combat
¨ Earth--marketing environment, including government policy and competitors’ strengths
and weaknesses.
¨ General--management’s internal structure, professional knowledge, capability and
reputation.
¨ Law--organizational regulation, and financial management systems
Sun Tzu organized these factors in “seven dimensions”:
Which ruler has the Tao?
Which general has greater ability?
Who has gained the advantages of Heaven and Earth?
Whose law and orders are more thoroughly implemented?
Whose forces are stronger?
Whose officers and troops are better trained?
Whose rewards and punishments are clearer?
Page 7
From these I will know victory and defeat (Sawyer, 1994).
Ho and Choi (1997) suggested that strategists use this list to allocate a score for each
dimension. Based on this suggestion, we propose the following self-evaluation list, where
the marketer assigns a 1 to 10 “own score” and “competitor’s score”--for each major
competitor--on each dimension.
Table #1: Seven Dimensions
Own
Scores
Seven
Dimensions
Competitor’s
Scores
_______
1. Whose marketing/advertising plan will be recognized and accepted by all
employees? ________
_______ 2. Whose creative directors are more capable? ________
_______ 3. Who can schedule marketing/advertising timing most effectively? ________
_______
4. Whose marketing objectives and strategies are more thoroughly targeted
and implemented? ________
_______ 5. Who has stronger manufacturing ability? ________
_______ 6. Whose sales force is better trained? ________
_______
7. Whose rewards and punishments are clearer for personal selling and
operations? ________
______ Total Own Scores Total Competitor’s Scores _______
Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997)
These dimensions can identify advantages and disadvantages, show whether the
overall environment is favorable or not, help marketers decide whether to launch a
campaign, and estimate which strategies will win. According to Sun Tzu, if one has more
advantages than disadvantages compared with the enemy, offensive planning is a sensible
Page 8
choice; otherwise, defensive planning is suitable. In chapter III: Planning Offensives, Sun
Tzu gave more suggestions on how to proceed with this evaluation:
In general, the strategy for employing the military is this: If your strength is ten times
theirs, surround them; if five, then attack them; if double, then divide your forces. If you
are equal in strength to the enemy, you can engage him. If fewer, you can circumvent
him. If outmatched, you can avoid him. Thus a small enemy that acts inflexibly will
become the captives of a large enemy (Sawyer, 1994).
3. Strategic Information Systems
Planners need well organized systems to obtain strategic information (Wrapp 1967).
Strategic information systems contain three kinds of information: 1. internal information; 2.
consumers’ attitudes and practices; 3. competitors’ strength and weakness. The first two
kinds of information can be obtained by organizational self-evaluation and consumer
research. The third kind--information about competitors--is most valuable yet most difficult
to get. The situation is the same in warfare. Sometimes information about enemies is
crucial. That’s what spies are for. Therefore, Sun Tzu devoted all of chapter XIII,
Employing Spies, to this topic.
Because military warfare differs from marketing competition, Ho and Choi (1997)
noted that “it is up to the organization itself to decide whether it should engage in this or
not.” However, even without employing spies in the literal sense, advertisers and
marketers can do much to learn about competitors’ strength and weaknesses, purposes and
interests. For instance, they can monitor competitors’ test markets, evaluate placement and
content of competitors’ advertising, and gauge consumer and trade reactions to sales
promotion and public relations campaigns. Intelligence of this kind allows both prompt
response and long-range consideration.
Page 9
The Inside Chain
The “inside chain” of Ho and Choi’s (1997) “Winning model” deals with the
formation of the particular winning strategy. Since Sun Tzu did not mention the sequence
of formulating strategy, Ho and Choi (1997) adopted the inside chain from Western
strategy formulation framework instead. Their inside chain consists of six links:
Figure #1. Winning Model--Inside Chain
Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997)
We will comment on some of the links later, but before that, we emphasize the most
important principle retrieved from the Art of War: Flexibility. In business as well as war,
actions are most effective when planned according to the strategic situation. In Chapter IV,
Military Disposition, Sun Tzu said:
Goals and Objectives
Formulation of strategies
Offensive strategy
Defensive strategy
Implementation of strategy
Evaluation
Page 10
Those who excel at defense bury themselves away below the lowest depths of Earth.
Those who excel at offense move from above the greatest heights of Heaven. Thus they
are able to preserve themselves and attain complete victory (Sawyer, 1994).
Here is a classic example of flexibility: When Seven-Up decided to enter the “Cola
War,” they understood that their fledging strength was not suitable for head-to-head combat
with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Hence, they evaded direct engagement. In 1968, they
positioned their lemon-lime beverage as “the Uncola.” “The strategy was to make 7-Up the
alternative to Coke and Pepsi. Sales went up 15 percent the first year” (Ries and Trout,
1986).
A more contemporary example can be found in the “Greater China” market (Frith
1996). When Singapore company Eu Yan Sang faced stagnation in their customer base,
they brought traditional Chinese medicines into the modern age, blending old and new by
selling ancient herbal remedies to the younger generation using modern packaging and
marketing techniques. This flexibility doubled their sales in Singapore (McGrath 1995).
According to Sun Tzu, flexibility can be either orthodox or unorthodox--that is,
normal or unexpected. When all the competitors are using orthodox strategy, launching an
attack with unorthodox strategy can achieve surprisingly successful effects. As Sun Tzu
noted in Chapter V, Strategy Military Power:
What enable the masses of the Three Armies invariably to withstand the enemy without
being defeated are the unorthodox and orthodox...In general, in battle one engages with
the orthodox and gains victory through the unorthodox (Sawyer, 1994).
In the “Burger Wars,” McDonald’s had all the strength of the “orthodox”--
“Uniformity, instant delivery, and inexpensiveness.” In this sense, McDonald’s defense
appeared to be seamless. According to Sun Tzu, when all your competitors are
Page 11
“orthodox,” “unorthodox” will be effective. Burger King ambushed McDonald’s with
“Have it your way”--this campaign showed that Burger King was created for every specific
customer, then “Broiling Vs. Frying”--in response to the trend toward health consciousness
(Ries and Trout, 1986). Hence, flexibly applying the unorthodox shaped a stronger Burger
King in the battlefield.
Subsequently, Taco Bell attacked both McDonald’s and Burger King by using an
until-then unorthodox pricing strategy. Armed with the knowledge that McDonald’s and
Burger King’s prices had been increasing steadily, and that consumers resented food price
inflation, Taco Bell embarked on a low-price strategy that took a significant share of the
fast food business from its rivals. This strategy was based on all three types of marketing
intelligence: 1. Knowledge that competitors’ prices has been increasing dramatically. 2.
Knowledge that consumers were resisting these increases. 3. Self-knowledge--knowledge
that the lower cost of Taco Bell ingredients would produce a profit even at lower price
points. Taco Bell’s “99 c” campaign, based on its then-unorthodox pricing strategy,
changed the competitive landscape and forced both McDonald’s and Burger King to revise
their practices.
Similarly, unorthodox advertising gained a substantial advantage for the Hong Kong
Tourist Association. In spite of common anxiety during the 1997 transfer of sovereignty,
its “Hong Kong--Wonders Never Cease” campaign cheerfully addressed the transition
through an integrated framework that included mass media and Internet advertising, public
relations, merchandising, direct mail and customer service. In this campaign, a potential
liability--anxiety over the transition--was converted into an asset by emphasizing the
preciousness of the opportunity to witness the event.
Page 12
The success of Mao-Tai---a famous Chinese alcohol also relied on an unorthodox
promotion strategy. In the International Liquor Exhibition, nobody even took a look at
Mao-Tai because of its poor packing. In view of this, the Chinese delegates broke a bottle
of Mao-Tai on purpose. The aroma attracted a large audience, and from then on, Mao-Tai
became well-known globally (Luo 1994).
A marketing strategist must combine ordinary strategies with creative ones, so as to
develop infinite methods to win customers. In Art of War, Sun Tzu used musical notes,
colors and flavors to portray the transition and development of orthodox and unorthodox:
The musical notes are only five in number but their melodies are so numerous that one
cannot hear them all. The primary colors are only five in number but their combinations
are so infinite that one cannot visualize them all. The flavors are only five in number but
their blends are so various that one cannot taste them all. In battle there are only
orthodox and unorthodox forces, but their combinations are limitless; none can
comprehend them all. For these two forces are mutually reproductive; their interaction
as endless as that of interlocked rings. Who can determine where one ends and the other
begins? (Griffith, 1960)
Coca-Cola recently undertook a “secret and unorthodox” study that solicited
advice from “ten unconventional thinkers” including Peter Drucker, Ted Levitt, and Arthur
Nielsen in an attempt to reorient its advertising. Brainstorming from spring 1992 through
October, this team devised over 100 ideas for the 1993 global campaign, finally winnowing
the list to 24. When the campaign was unveiled in 1992, it was praised as “innovative,
sexy, playful and breathtaking” and was rated tops among all campaigns by consumers
(Sellers, 1993).
In Singapore, Saatchi & Saatchi won the Agency of the Year title for its unorthodox
advertising for Singapore’s navy. Unlike the usual seriousness in military ads with the
Page 13
theme of fighting for country, a humorous 60-second TV spot proved to be a “tremendous”
success in both raising public awareness and increasing interest in enlistment. This ad
began by “looking and sounding like a trailer for an action thriller. A submarine
commander oversees a tense control room as it approaches an enemy ship. The periscope
goes up, and the viewer looks for the sub’s antagonist, expecting to see a battleship
menacing nearby. Instead, floating on the water is a large yellow duck, followed by a shot
of the ‘commander’ reclining in his bathtub as he plays with a toy submarine and a plastic
rubber duck. ‘Prepare to board,’ says the happy daydreamer of life in the navy” (Madden
1998).
Flexibility requires the leader to avoid the strength and attack the weakness of
opponents. Sun Tzu used water to describe this point vividly:
When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an
infinite variety of ways. Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water
avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength (the
substantial) and strikes weakness (the vacuous). And as water shapes its flow in
accordance with the ground, so an army managers its victory in accordance with the
situation of the enemy. And as water has no constant form, there are in war no constant
conditions (Graffith, 1960).
In advertising and marketing, one can replicate this military approach and create a
situation where the company’s strengths “are applied against the competitor’s weaknesses”
(McNeilly, 1996) by finding the weakest part of the opponent’s value chain and attacking
it--as Taco Bell did in its price campaign.
Sun Tzu advises, if there are several competitors, isolate and attack them one at a
time. This was Wal-Mart’s strategy against Sears, Kmart and other large retailers. Instead
of directly attacking its competitors in major markets, Wal-Mart used its huge buying power
Page 14
to overwhelm opponents one by one in small towns, thus “attack the enemy where he did
not expect it” (McNeilly, 1996).
Last, but not least, in response of the current debate on whether advertising and
marketing strategists should settle on standardization/generalization or
specialization/customization when globalizing a business, Sun Tzu’s emphasis on flexibility
can be translated as “Global Tastes, Local Trimmings” (Holburt 1996). That is, utilize
standardization/generalization to build global brands with clear and consistent equity, while
allowing room for local tailoring (Wehling 1998).
III. Combining the Wisdom of Two Sages
We now turn to a discussion of how modern Confucianism can supplement Sun
Tzu’s military ideas. Confucius, the most important scholar of China, lived five hundred
years before Christ and preceded Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He derived his ethical
principles from the study of the ancients and from realistic observations of human needs
and passions (Rogers, 1993). Though Confucius and Sun Tzu lived in almost the same
era, they are seldom mentioned together, let alone combined. One possible explanation is
that Sun Tzu’s strategy is strictly military while Confucianism is “part religion, part ethical
code, part social ritual and part political philosophy” (Tu 1995).
Unlike Sun Tzu, Confucius was not appreciated much when he was alive. “It was
more than 300 years after his death before his philosophy found acceptance. The fifth Han
Emperor, Wu (147 BC) found Confucianism well suited to the conditions of ancient
China” (Jacobs, Gao and Herbig, 1995). From then on, Confucianism became the
Page 15
dominant ideology in China. Tung Chung-shu--a famous Confucian scholar in AD 134--
proposed the banning of all schools of thought except the Confucian school and further
established the Confucius patriarchal hegemony: rulers guide subjects, fathers guide sons,
and husbands guide wives. Hence, Confucianism was esteemed and promoted by the
emperors in the next 2,000 years. Dynasties changed from time to time, but not the
hegemony of Confucianism, which ensured the emperors’ supreme command in China
from about 150 BC until the beginning of this century.
In spite of this successful record, Confucianism was not always trouble-free. In
China, it was criticized during the 1911 revolution and again during the socialist revolution
of 1949 when feudalism was overturned (Jacobs, Gao, and Herbig, 1995). In the cultural
revolution, the Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius Campaign of 1974-1975 denounced
Confucianism as the evil root of feudalism and women’s oppression (Groll, 1977).
Confucianism in Macro Economic Growth
When Confucianism reached its nadir in its birthplace--China--it was brought into
vogue by other East Asian countries. For instance, Japan used Confucianism to achieve
economic growth. Values such as the sense of duty, acceptance of hierarchical structures,
development of an elite based on an examination system, and a faith in rationality,
contributed to the economic magic that occurred in Japan after World War II (Kreiner,
1996). Some scholars believe Confucian values are partly responsible for the recent
economic success of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lee Kuan Yew, the
founding father of Singapore, acknowledged its importance in nation building (Bary 1995).
Page 16
Lately, under the economic reform and open door policy proposed by Deng, China
has begun to take a renewed interest in Confucianistic principles. President Jiang Zemin
and other Communist Party officials now seem to rely as much on Confucianism as on
party discipline. They realize that “the public, alarmed by the corruption, crime, and sheer
greed that have accompanied China’s economic takeoff, wants its moral compass restored.”
To be more specific, “Traditional values have been talked up in Jiang’s recent
anticorruption sweep.” China’s official news agency--Xinhua--recently prescribed a
revival of Confucianism as “good medicine” to treat the “crisis of morality” that it blamed
on Deng’s market reforms (Reed, 1995).
Although many factors explain economic growth--including education, population,
nutrition, technological progress, capital formation and international trade (Meier, 1989) --
important scholars, including Hofstede and Bond (1988) believe that Confucianistic
principles are at least partly responsible. Though researchers like Hofheinz and Calder
(1982) argued that a stable political environment and market-oriented economic policies
were the decisive factors, they also asserted that “culture in the form of certain dominant
values is a necessary (but not a sufficient) condition for economic growth” (Hofstede,
1991). In particular, other scholars point to the Confucian emphasis on individual savings,
and the impact of individual savings on capital formation (Hagen 1980).
They also point to the role Confucian emphasis on education plays in technological
progress. Cheng (1991) concluded that “Confucianistic humanism is totally compatible
with science and technology, and the Confucianists are in a good position to make the best
use of science and technology” (p.333). Thus, many observers--including journalists,
politicians and Asianist scholars--agree that Confucianism has contributed to the economic
Page 17
success of the Asian Five Dragons (Chen and Chung, 1994). Some liken the influence of
Confucianism in the East to the influence of the Protestant Work Ethic in the West.
A survey of cultural values by The Chinese Culture Connection (CCC 1987)
“locates the Five economic Dragons of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and
Singapore at the top” of the value dimension of Confucian Work Dynamism. This survey
provides evidence that fundamental aspects of Confucian social philosophy have
contributed to the stunning economic development of oriental cultures with a Chinese
heritage (Hicks & Redding, 1983a, 1983b; Kahn, 1979; MacFarquhar, 1980).
Confucianism in Advertising and Marketing Strategy
In this paper, we focus mainly (though not exclusively) on the application of
Confucianism to advertising and marketing strategy. We argue that the optimized
framework for modern marketing is with Confucianism in the kernel, acting as the ethical
spirit, while Sun Tzu’s strategies form the inside chain and outer ring. This model
maintains that Confucianism and Sun Tzu’s strategies are compatible. Additionally, by
introducing Confucianism into the marketing metaphor, this framework acknowledges the
complexities of modern marketing. In a way, it compensates for the insufficiencies of Sun
Tzu’s strategies.
♦ Modern Confucianism
Tung Chung-shu--a famous Confucian scholar in the Hang Dynasty--made
Confucianism cater to the needs and self-interests of the rulers. Thus “political use of
Confucianism in the past has given it a fixed image and a fixed role to stand as a symbol for
close mindedness and conservatism of the ruling class and the politically privileged”
Page 18
(Cheng 1991, p.23). However the Japanese interpreted Confucius’s doctrines as
nationalistic and militaristic. Consequently, “a nationalist-capitalist economy was
eventually established, based on a seniority system, lifetime employment, the loyalty of
employees to their company and the share-holding system, which fully suits the ethos of
Japanese Confucianism” (Morishima, 1987).
We therefore use a more modern version of Confucianism to supplement Sun Tzu’s
strategy. Building on such ready models as “Post-Confucian characteristics” (MacFarquhar,
1980) and “Neo-Confucian philosophy” (Cheng, 1991), we choose those doctrines that
are most suitable to current marketing exchanges.
♦ The Kernel of the Marketing Model
Figure #3. Marketing Model (Combination of Sun Tzu and Confucius)
The outer ring
1. Analysis of Situations
2. Comparison Checklist
3. Business Information
systems
The inside chain
1. Goals and objectives
2. Formation of
strategies
3. Offensive strategy
4. Defensive strategy
5. Implementation of Confucianism
Ethical
Spirit
Sun Tzu’s
Strategies
Sun Tzu’s
Analysis
The Kernel :
1.Yi and LI
• Goal
• Leadership
2. hierarchy
• unity
Page 19
Figure #3 is the marketing model we propose to modify the model created by Ho and
Choi (1997). The main difference is that we add a kernel--the ethical spirit--into their
model. The ethical spirit consists of five disciplines based on Confucius’ doctrines. They
are: 1. Goals; 2. Leadership; 3. Hierarchy; 4. Thrift; 5. Learning. The first of these five
disciplines is designed to rectify some of the ideology in Sun Tzu’s Art of War. The other
four are intended to supplement and complement the art of business. It’s worth noting that
the disciplines we propose embrace Ordering relationships, Thrift, and Persistence--factors
embedded in CCC’s Confucian work dynamism (1987).
1. Yi and Li
Yi and Li are among the most prominent principles in Confucianism. “Yi is the
fundamental principle of morality that confers qualities of right and wrong of human
actions” (Cheng 1991), while Li is defined as an institution of social rules which serves to
“nourish man’s desires” and “satisfy man’s demands” and thus “enable desires not to
exhaust things and things not to be bent by desires” (Analects, Li-Lun). In the modern
advertising and marketing world, the goals of management need to be modified by these
two principles. We will illustrate the benefits of applying these two principles--and the
penalties associated with ignoring them--with current examples.
• Goals
Page 20
Sun Tzu saw conquering the enemy as the ultimate goal of warfare. Several scholars
followed this goal in business strategy design. For example, McNeilly (1996) regards
overcoming the competitor and obtaining market dominance as the ultimate goal of
business. Although this goal might serve military warfare, it is quite “incongruent with the
present-day environmental realities” (Rindfleisch, 1996). It cannot reflect the new trend of
collaboration among direct competitors, and it mistakes the true purpose of marketing
strategy. As Ohmae (1988) states, “strategy is not about beating the competition, it is about
creating real value for the customer.”
We introduce Confucius’ yi to rectify the goal of business. Yi can be interpreted as
righteousness or integrity, which is “the very principle which should make a person’s
conduct morally acceptable to others and which should justify the morality of human
action.” With yi, material gains will be acceptable, and lacking of yi causes gains to be
meaningless (Cheng, 1991). In the ethical kernel of our advertising and marketing model,
yi is interpreted as “real value for the consumer” and “morality in doing business.” Based
on the principle of yi, “a business can expand long-term profits while eliminating the
destructive consequences of illegal profit seeking and unfair competition” (Jacobs, Gao and
Herbig, 1995).
The principle of yi is far from universal in today’s Chinese advertising. A survey by
the State Administration for Industry and Commerce revealed that about one-third of 900
broadcast ads debased women or claimed that children would be stronger or smarter after
using certain products. Some ads even concealed potentially dangerous side effects of the
products. These findings reveal need to use yi to rectify those ads, to promote truth-in-
Page 21
advertising, so as to protect consumers and build faith and loyalty among consumers
(Bangsberg 1995).
In the advertising and marketing world, as Confucius said, “excess and deficiency are
equally at fault.” Therefore, li, a Confucian value emphasizing adequacy and
appropriateness, is also introduced to get balance. The success of Nokia--the world’s
second largest mobile phonemaker--shows the importance of using “li” in marketing.
Martti Laine, managing director of Nokia Mobile Phones in Asia-Pacific and Gulf region,
listed their key issue as to “keep the growth somewhat reasonable,” which reflects the main
target Nokia’s management tries to fulfill--i.e. to deal with the challenges of being a
growing business and yet at the same time not expand too quickly.
• Leadership
Among the “Five Factors” in Chapter I, Sun Tzu regarded the qualifications of the
leader as the essence of success. He listed five characteristics a leader should encompass:
“wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness.” In modern advertising and
marketing, the capability of management is equally crucial to the smooth running of the
organization. Confucianism established five constant virtues for human beings:
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and fidelity. In these five virtues,
righteousness and propriety are used to replace courage and strictness proposed by Sun
Tzu. To guide the conduct of marketing management, we propose to combine Sun Tzu’s
evaluation and Confucius’ five virtues. Hence, we end with seven essential qualifications
for advertising and marketing leaders: righteousness, propriety, wisdom, credibility,
benevolence, courage and strictness.
Page 22
The addition of righteousness (yi) is quite crucial, since it is “the basis and foundation
of all virtues (Cheng, 1991). This point is particularly clear when considering that a
disposition of character will not be a virtue if it lacks the element of yi” (Cheng, 1991).
Confucius says:
if a superior man has courage but no yi, he will make trouble; if a small man has
courage but no yi, he will become a bandit (Analects, Yang-ho).
Therefore, yi is the foundation of the other six virtues. By restraining inclinations
toward short-term expediency, yi contradicts corruption and bribery. “Even centrally
planned economies from China to Vietnam have realized that they can’t run state-owned
enterprises based on nepotism, inefficiency, poorly selected managers” based on the “iron
rice bowl” concept (Chia 1995).
The other virtue required by Confucius--propriety (li)--was briefly addressed by Sun
Tzu:
There are five traits that are dangerous in a commander: If he has a reckless disregard for
life, he can be killed; if he is determined to live at all costs, he can be captured; if he has
a volatile temper, he can be provoked; if he is a man of uncompromising honor, he is
open to insult; if he loves his people, he can be easily troubled and upset. These five
traits are generally faults in a commander, and can prove disastrous in the conduct of
war (VIII. Nine Changes).
However, it was Confucius who proposed the balance between extremes by
emphasizing Li--adequacy and appropriateness.
Yi and Li demand that a leader (1) care about the company’s benefit in a long-term
view; (2) care about the customers’ benefit; (2) care more about the organization than his
own performance and achievement.
Page 23
In the “Greater China” market (Frith. 1996), leaders have realized the importance of
righteousness and propriety. Paul Cheng--the Chairman of Hong Kong-based Inchcape
Pacific--called Chinese managers “merchants rather than corporate people.” Many Chinese
believe that all merchants are evil--a belief that condemned merchants for thousands of
years. Application of Confucian principles asks Chinese to completely change their minds.
Advertising and marketing leaders equipped with the virtues we propose put the
consumer’s benefit in first place. This change will build brand loyalty among consumers,
hence benefiting the business. Just as described by Nelson An-ping Chang, president of
one of Taiwan’s largest cement manufacturers, the view of the marketing leader should be
long-term, “not worry so much about the size of the next dividend but willing to take some
risk for future gain” ( Asian Business, January 1995). Roger Ting, Director of Qualidux
Industrial Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong), also emphasized the importance of this kind of leadership
by saying “History can’t be held responsible for our future, but the leaders of today can.”
2. Hierarchy
As a moral system, Confucianism focuses on five hierarchical relationships between
father and son, ruler and ruled, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and
friend and friend (this pair is equal in position). According to Confucius, everyone has a
fixed position in society (Jacobs, Gao and Herbig, 1995) and society is seen as a
hierarchical pyramid of roles which “entail fairly well established norms governing how
people should act and behave in relation to people in other roles” (Xing, 1995).
Page 24
However, when we introduce Confucian ideals into our business model, with a view
toward global application, we focus not on hierarchy but on unity, which acts as an internal
force to keep advertising and marketing powerful and efficient.
Unity means solidarity, which is included within another Confucius doctrine---
familyism. Unity asks that all the employees share the same values. “Organizations with a
strong sense of mission and a corporate culture reinforcing that mission are in better
position to defend themselves from attack and to successfully attack the competition”
(Rarick, 1996). Examples can be found in the difference between Southwest Airlines and
now defunct Eastern Airlines, or Wal-Mart and Kmart. In these cases, a main reason for
marketing success or failure was whether the employees shared the same organizational
purpose.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp. in Hong Kong serves as a contemporary
example. This company changed its corporate culture to one which combined customer
satisfaction and continuous improvement. Each employee was involved in developing the
mission, vision and core values. This participation built tighter connections between the
company and employees. As a result, the company is ranked as one of the corporate
giants in Asia (Far Eastern Economic Review, January 9, 1997).
Unity promotes organizational learning, “one of the few assets that grows most--
usually exponentially--when shared” (Quinn 1992). Organizational learning won’t occur
without unity (Day, 1991).
3. Thrift
Thrift is usually treated as one of Confucius’ doctrines instead of Sun Tzu’s
strategies. However, Sun Tzu did mentioned this virtue. In Chapter II, Waging the War,
Page 25
Sun Tzu illustrated the enormous expense of employing the military and then suggested
“securing provisions from the enemy” (Sawyer, 1994). This was Sun Tzu’s thrift.
Confucianism emphasizes a different form of thriftiness, which encourages individual
saving and, consequently, capital formation. When combined with li and yi, thrift doesn’t
mean to reduce the benefit of employees, or to raid competitors to get resources. The true
definition of thrift is multifold: firstly, it requires careful appraisal of investment; secondly,
it prevents waste of organizational resources; thirdly, it asks feasible decrease of costs;
finally, it encourages economical and creative marketing.
The Heng Seng Bank provides a current example of the virtues of Confucian thrift.
Even though the Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong) is ranked as one of the top banking
business in Asia, it never takes financial prosperity as the excuse of being extravagant. On
the contrary, it maintains strict expense discipline, which makes it continuously profitable,
with a return on average shareholders’ funds at 20.3% in 1995 (Far Eastern Economic
Review, Jan 9, 1997).
4. Learning
In his mid-fifties, Confucius diligently wandered about the Chinese states, seeking
out and instructing those who were eager to learn (Rogers, 1993). He divided study into
two stages: hsueh (learning) and shih-hsueh (practice learning). He said: “To learn and
frequently practice what one has learned--is this not a pleasure?”
From a managerial perspective, the fundamental assumption is that learning will
improve future performance (Fiol and Lyles 1985; Senge 1990; Garvin 1993). In line with
Confucian principles, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has established a wide variety of
professional, managerial and consumer-service training programs. “This is continuously
Page 26
increasing the knowledge and skills of the staff and giving them new tools to enhance their
competence in discharging their responsibility.” (Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 9,
1997). In fact, some executives and scholars have suggested that in competitive markets,
learning may be the only source of sustainable competitive advantage (Slater and Narver,
1994).
Learning is especially important for foreign companies who are beginning to put their
eyes on “Greater China.” For example, Kodak gained leadership when it adopted a two-
sided learning strategy. Internally, it trained local staff for customer service, technical
support and general business; externally, it studied its customers. In the course of studying
its customers, Kodak discovered that Chinese people like to travel during April, to mark the
start of spring, and September, before cold weather sets in. Using this information, Kodak
introduced coupons to accelerate seasonal sales. Beyond this, they learned that “handing-
out scratch cards with purchases of film is one way to attract the average Chinese
consumer--but only if the card gives a guaranteed instant win.” These efforts heralded the
“Kodak Moment” in the “Greater China” market (Snee 1998).
Confucian scholars have underlined the importance of shih-hsueh (practice learning).
For example, Chu Hsu said:
Knowing and practice are mutually dependent: like eyes without feet cannot walk, feet
without eyes cannot see. On the question of priority, knowing should be first. On the
question of importance, practice should be more important (Shu Ching-ssu lu, p.38).
That’s why the stringent definition of a “learning organization” eliminates
organizations that are adept at creating or acquiring new knowledge but unable to apply
that knowledge to their own activities (Slater and Narver, 1994).
Page 27
AShih-hsueh also implies continuous updates of ideas and strategies. Beh (1995)
points out that in many companies in Asia, “new systems and old ideas are a poor mix.”
Despite dramatic changes in the way goods and services are now marketed, traditional
patterns of organizing the advertising and sales force have become so ingrained that it is
difficult to conceive of work being accomplished in any other way. Over the past 10 years,
competition has grown enormously, consumers have become more sophisticated,
distribution channels have multiplied and retailers have grabbed more power. Yet many
Asian advertising and marketing departments are run as though none of this has happened.
“They muddle on with the some management structure and control mechanisms just the
same as they always were.” In keeping with shih-hsueh, advertising/marketing departments
must change with the times, junking old ways of working and adopting new structures,
systems, job descriptions and control mechanisms, and must “use the revolution in
information technology not to automate existing processes, but to create new ones” (Beh
1995b).
V. Conclusion
In this commentary, we have supplemented Ho and Choi’s (1997) “Winning model”
by combining Sun Tzu’s military strategies with Confucius’ humanism.. The Confucian
Kernel contains: 1. Goals; 2. Leadership; 3. Hierarchy (unity, harmony, loyalty); 4. Thrift;
5. Learning. In the process of redesigning the model, we found that the thoughts of these
two 2,500-year-ago sages, though not previously joined, complement each other.
Page 28
Now the question is, can a model based upon two ancient Chinese sages fit
modern markets? And, can a model imbued with oriental ideas helps Western marketers
who want to conduct business in Eastern markets, especially, “Greater China”? We
believe that the answer to those questions are positive for four reasons:
1. Ho and Choi’s (1997) model already encompasses modern strategy formulation in its
inside chain.
2. Ho and Choi (1997) tested their “Winning Model” against modern business strategies.
3. Cheng (1991) has shown that Confucianistic humanism is compatible with modern
science and technology.
4. Kreiner (1996) pointed out that preoccupation with completely materialistic concepts has
led to persistent social dislocations, which Asian societies may be able to avoid by relying
on the spiritual values of Confucianism.
Today’s Asia is facing a new need to return to Confucian values. Patrick Wang,
Chairman of Microelectronics Technology Inc., commented that “One of Asia’s
advantages in the past was the predominance of small and medium sized enterprises--they
tend to be very flexible and aggressive, and that contributes a lot to economic growth.
Now these small and medium-sized firms are growing larger, and the challenge is how they
can maintain their entrepreneurship (and their) flexibility and competitiveness.” (Jan. 1995
Asian Business). Return to Confucian value can help them meet the challenge.
Korea Herald (10 February 98) observed that corruption was partially responsible
for Korea’s economic crisis. Korea’s Corruption Perception Index score increased seven
places from the previous year. And Kim Chan-kon, an executive with the Audit and
Inspections Bureau at Seoul City Hall, concluded that this result reinforced “foreign media
Page 29
reports which contended that it was corrupt bureaucrats, businessmen and bankers who
took South Korea to the brink of default.” Hence, we see the price paid for not following
Confucius’s ethical doctrines.
Even though Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s all remained in the top three of
Far Eastern Business Review’s 1996 leading companies rankings, they all showed
deterioration in the attributes of “High-quality services/products” and “Innovative in
responding to customer needs” (Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 9, 1997). These
ominous changes suggest that blindly following Sun Tzu’s aggressive strategy and
neglecting the long-term benefits of Confucianistic ideals may be harming the reputations
of these--and presumably other--companies. The present model, by adding the humanistic
wisdom of Confucius to the military aggressiveness of Sun Tzu, provides Western as well
as Eastern managers with ethical and practical guides that will promote long-term
prosperity.
REFERENCES
Bangsberg, P. T. (1995). ‘China Regulators Grapple with Truth in Advertising’, Journal of
Commerce and Commercial Mar 22, 403(28437), 4.
Bary, Wm. (1995). ‘The New Confucianism in Beijing. (China’s Renewed Interest in
Confucianism)’, Cross Currents 45(4), 479-93.
Beh, Harris. (1995a). ‘Cash Flow Matters More Than Profits’, Asian Business September
1995, 77.
Beh, Harris. (1995b). ‘New Systems and Old Ideas are A Poor Mix’, Asian Business July
1995, 67.
Bovee, L. Courtland et al. (1987). Advertising Excellence. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Page 30
Chen, Guo-Ming. and Chung, Jensen. (1994). ‘The Impact of Confucianism on
Organizational Communication’, Communication Quarterly 42(2), 930106.
Cheng, Chung-ying (1991). New Dimensions of Confucian and Neo-Confucian
Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Cheung, M. (ed.) (1990). Sun Tze’s Art of Warfare in Business Practice. Taiwan: Cheung
Moon Publishing.
Chia, Robert. (1995). ‘The New Leaders That Asia Needs’, Asian Business September
1995, 56-8.
Davidson, H. (1987). Offensive Marketing or How to Make Your Competitors Followers.
Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Day, George S. (1991). ‘Learning About Markets’, Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science
Institute, Report No. 91-117.
Dickenson, Nicole. (1996). ‘Hitching up to the Tiger Boom’, Campaign June 7, pS3(2).
Fannin, A. Rebecca et. la. (1998). ‘Some Markets Shrug off crisis’, Advertising Age
International March 9, 1998, 4.
Fiol, C. Marlene, and Lyles, Marjorie (1985). ‘Organizational Learning’, Academy of
Management Review 10(4), 803-813.
Frith, T. Katherine (1996). ‘The concept of “Greater China” and the Future of
Advertising’, American Academy of Advertising .
Garvin, David A. (1993). ‘Building a Learning Organization’, Harvard Business Review
(July-Aug.), 78-91.
Goldenberg, David I. (1997). ‘From 400 B.C. to A.D. 2000: Applying the Wisdom of Sun
Tzu’, Strategy & Leadership 25(1), 38-40.
Groll, E. (1977). ‘The Movement to Criticize Confucius and Lin Piao: A Comment on The
Women of China’, Signs 2(1), 721-726.
Hagen, E. (1980). The Economics of Development. Homewood, III: Irwin.
Hamel, Gary. and C.K. Prahalad (1989), ‘Strategic Intent’, Harvard Business Review 67
(May-June), 63-76.
Handel, Michael I. (1992). Masters of War: Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Jomini. London:
Frank Cass.
Page 31
Heilbroner, Robert. (1972). The Worldly Philosophers. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Hicks. G. and Redding. S. G. (1983a), ‘The Story of the East Asian Economic Miracle: I.
Economic Theory be Damned”, Euro-Asian Business Review 2, 24-32.
Hicks. G. and Redding. S. G. (1983b), ‘The Story of the East Asian Economic Miracle: II.
The Culture Connection”, Euro-Asian Business Review 2, 18-22.
Ho, Samuel K. and Choi, Amy S.F. (1997). ‘Achieving Marketing Success Through Sun
Tze’s Art of Warfare’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning 15(1), 38-48.
Hofheinz, Roy. and Calder, Kent. (1982). The Eastasia Edge. New York: Basic Books.
Hofstede, Geert. and Bond, Michael. (1988). ‘The Confucius Connection: From Cultural
Roots to Economic Growth’, Organizational Dynamics 16(4), 4-21.
Hofstede, Geert. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London:
McGraw.
Holburt, Jonathan. (1996), ‘Global Tastes, Local Trimmings”, Far Eastern Economic
Review, Dec. 26, 1996, 24.
Hou, Wee Chow. (1995). ‘From Battleground to Marketplace’, Asian Business April
1995, 42-3.
Jacobs, L. Gao, Guopei. and Herbig, P. (1995). ‘Confucian Roots in China: a Force for
Today’s Business’, Management Decision 33(9), 29-35.
Kahn. H. (1979). World Economic Development: 1979 and beyond London: Croom Helm.
Kedia, Ben L. and Bhagat, Rabi s. (1988). ‘Cultural Constraints on Transfer of
Technology Across Nations: Implications for Research in International and Comparative
Management’, Academy of Management Review 13(4), 559-71.
Kinnunen, Mikko. (1995). ‘Asia Ignites Nokia Sales’, Asian Business October 1995, 68-9.
Koranteng, Juliana. (1998). ‘Reebok finds its second wind as it pursues global presence’,
Advertising Age International Jan. 1998, 20.
Kreuner, Josef. (ed) (1996). The Impact of Traditional Thought on Present-Day Japan.
Munich: Indicium-Verl.
Kuznets, Simon. (1973). ‘Modern Economic Growth: Findings and Reflections’, American
Economic Review 63(3): 247-58.
Page 32
Levitt, Barbara, and James G. (1988), ‘Organizational Learning’, Annual Review of
Sociology 14, 319-340.
Loomis, Carol J. (1993). ‘Dinosaurs?’ Fortune May 9 (127), 36-42.
Luo, Jie-pu. (1994). Shang Zhan Sun Tzu. Taiwan: Yuan Liu Press.
MacFarquhar, R. (1980), ‘The post-Confucian Challenge’, The Economist Feb. 9, 67-72.
Madden, Normandy (1998). ‘International Agency of the Year’, Advertising Age
International March 30, 1998, 3.
Martin, J. G. (1991). ‘Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning’, Harvard
Business Review 71, 81-94.
McGrath, Neal. (1995). ‘Modern Cures Boost Ancient Medicines’, Asian Business
October 1995, 10.
McNeilly, Mark. (1996). Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for
Managers. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meier, Gerald. (1989). Leading Issues in Economic Development. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Morishima, Michio. (1987). ‘Confucius and Capitalism: a Cultural Explanation of Japan’s
Economic Performance’, UNESCO Courier Dec. 1987, 34-8.
Ohmae, K. (1988). ‘Getting Back to Strategy’, Harvard Business Review 66, 88-95.
Quinn, James B. (1992). intelligent Enterprise. New York: The Free Press.
Rarick, Charles A. (1996). ‘Ancient Chinese Advice for Modern Business Strategists’,
SAM Advanced Management Journal 61(1), 38-44.
Reed, Stanley. (1995). ‘China: Move Over, Karl Marx--Here Comes Confucius’, Business
Week 3426, 53-4.
Ries, Al & Trout, Jack. (1986). Marketing Warfare. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company.
Rindfleisch, Aric. (1996). ‘Marketing as Warfare: Reassessing a Dominant Metaphor’.
Business Horizons 39(5), 3-11.
Page 33
Rogers, Gerald F. (1993). ‘Confucius, the first teacher of humanism?’, Free Inquiry 13(2),
46-50.
Rostow, Walt. (1960). The Stages of Economic Growth. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
University Press.
Sawyer, Ralph D. (1996). The Complete Art of War: Sun Tzu, Sun Pin. Oxford:
WestviewPress.
Sellers, Patricia (1993). ‘Do You Need Your Ad Agency?’ Fortune (Nov. 15), 147-164.
Schumpeter, Joseph. (1934). The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press.
Senge, Peter M. (1990). ‘The Leader’s New Work: Building Learning Organizations’.
Sloan Management Review (Fall), 7-23.
Slater, Stanley F. and Narver, John C. (1994). ‘Market Oriented Isn’t Enough: Build a
Learning Organization’, Marketing Science Institute Report No. 94-103.
Snee, Audrey(1998). ‘Kodak divides up China in order to conquer it’, Advertising Age
International Jan. 1998, 20.
Stalk, George. Philip Evans. and Lawrence E. Shulman (1992). ‘Competing on
Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy’, Harvard Business Review 70
(March-April), 57-69.
The Chinese Culture Connection. (1987). ‘Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free
Dimensions of Cultural’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 18(2), 143-63.
Tsai, Chih-Chung (1990). Sun Tzu Said. Taipei: Times Press.
Tu, Weiming (ed) (1995). The Confucian World Observed. Hawaii: East-West Center.
Tung, R. (1994). ‘Strategic Management Thought in East Asia’, Organizational Dynamics
17, 55-65.
Wehling, L. Robert. (1998). ‘Even at P&G, Only 3 Brands Make Truly Global Grade So
Far”, Advertising Age International Jan. 1998, 8.
Wrapp, H. Edward (1967). ‘Good Managers Don’t Make Policy Decisions’, Harvard
Business Review (Sept.--Oct.), 91-99.
Xing, Fan. (1995). ‘The Chinese Cultural System: Implications for Cross-Cultural
Management’, SAM Advanced Management Journal 60(1), 14-21.
Page 34
Yuan, G. (1991). Lure the Tiger out of the Mountains: The 36 Stratagems of Ancient
China. London: Judy Piatkus Ltd.

Contenu connexe

Similaire à The wisdom of two sages

A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospects
A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospectsA.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospects
A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospectsSemalytix
 
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptx
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptxStrategic Advantage Overview.pptx
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptxWilliam Bahr
 
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptxORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx09MahfujChowdhury
 
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it Difficult
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it DifficultAY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it Difficult
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it DifficultBob Poling
 
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdf
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdfCCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdf
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdfEmaan37
 
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategic
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategicMilitary origin of strategy and evolution of strategic
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategicsksbatish
 
Adversarial Problem Solving Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory Coherence
Adversarial Problem Solving  Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory CoherenceAdversarial Problem Solving  Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory Coherence
Adversarial Problem Solving Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory CoherenceJoe Andelija
 
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:Tristan Wiggill
 
Depression war and cold war by higgs
Depression war and cold war by higgsDepression war and cold war by higgs
Depression war and cold war by higgsTaxScout Inc.
 
Military lessons for business managers
Military lessons for business managersMilitary lessons for business managers
Military lessons for business managersJayadeva de Silva
 
Princples of war relivance ada435689
Princples of war relivance ada435689Princples of war relivance ada435689
Princples of war relivance ada435689Dave McGinnis
 
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examples
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examplesSolution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examples
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examplesSamantha Brown
 
Sun tzu zhao yanan
Sun tzu   zhao yananSun tzu   zhao yanan
Sun tzu zhao yananYanan Zhao
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartmarlontmartinez
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartmarlontmartinez
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartmarlontmartinez
 

Similaire à The wisdom of two sages (20)

A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospects
A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospectsA.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospects
A.T. Kearney: History of strategy and its future prospects
 
Research Gate: Sun Tzu
Research Gate: Sun TzuResearch Gate: Sun Tzu
Research Gate: Sun Tzu
 
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptx
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptxStrategic Advantage Overview.pptx
Strategic Advantage Overview.pptx
 
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptxORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx
ORIGIN OF STATEGY AND THREE LEVELS OF STRATEGY..pptx
 
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it Difficult
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it DifficultAY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it Difficult
AY15 FS 6401 - Strategy, What is it, Why is it Difficult
 
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdf
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdfCCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdf
CCSEApplicationofProphetBattleStrategiesinBusiness2015.pdf
 
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategic
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategicMilitary origin of strategy and evolution of strategic
Military origin of strategy and evolution of strategic
 
Adversarial Problem Solving Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory Coherence
Adversarial Problem Solving  Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory CoherenceAdversarial Problem Solving  Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory Coherence
Adversarial Problem Solving Modeling An Opponent Using Explanatory Coherence
 
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:
The Art of War and Supply Chain Management:
 
Depression war and cold war by higgs
Depression war and cold war by higgsDepression war and cold war by higgs
Depression war and cold war by higgs
 
Military lessons for business managers
Military lessons for business managersMilitary lessons for business managers
Military lessons for business managers
 
Princples of war relivance ada435689
Princples of war relivance ada435689Princples of war relivance ada435689
Princples of war relivance ada435689
 
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examples
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examplesSolution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examples
Solution Essay. Business paper: Problem solving essay examples
 
Future war
Future warFuture war
Future war
 
Rma
RmaRma
Rma
 
Sun tzu zhao yanan
Sun tzu   zhao yananSun tzu   zhao yanan
Sun tzu zhao yanan
 
On [Business] War
On [Business] WarOn [Business] War
On [Business] War
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hart
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hart
 
Strategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hartStrategy by liddell hart
Strategy by liddell hart
 

Plus de brandsynapse

Bain brief healthcare_2020
Bain brief healthcare_2020Bain brief healthcare_2020
Bain brief healthcare_2020brandsynapse
 
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibef
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibefHealthcare sector update march 2013 ibef
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibefbrandsynapse
 
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?brandsynapse
 
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Company
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & CompanyHealthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Company
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Companybrandsynapse
 
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketing
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of MarketingEssentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketing
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketingbrandsynapse
 
The coming era of on demand marketing
The coming era of on demand marketingThe coming era of on demand marketing
The coming era of on demand marketingbrandsynapse
 
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culture
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate cultureGivers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culture
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culturebrandsynapse
 
Comparing urbanization in china and india
Comparing urbanization in china and indiaComparing urbanization in china and india
Comparing urbanization in china and indiabrandsynapse
 
Can india lead the mobile internet revolution
Can india lead the mobile internet revolutionCan india lead the mobile internet revolution
Can india lead the mobile internet revolutionbrandsynapse
 
Indias internet opportunity
Indias internet opportunityIndias internet opportunity
Indias internet opportunitybrandsynapse
 
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013brandsynapse
 
Art of war sun tzu
Art of war   sun tzuArt of war   sun tzu
Art of war sun tzubrandsynapse
 
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...brandsynapse
 
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand image
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand imageImpact of celebrity endorsement on brand image
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand imagebrandsynapse
 
Literature review brand building
Literature review   brand buildingLiterature review   brand building
Literature review brand buildingbrandsynapse
 
Pwc emerging mhealth report
Pwc emerging mhealth reportPwc emerging mhealth report
Pwc emerging mhealth reportbrandsynapse
 
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibilitybrandsynapse
 
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibilitybrandsynapse
 
Top 100 brands 2012
Top 100 brands 2012Top 100 brands 2012
Top 100 brands 2012brandsynapse
 

Plus de brandsynapse (20)

Bain brief healthcare_2020
Bain brief healthcare_2020Bain brief healthcare_2020
Bain brief healthcare_2020
 
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibef
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibefHealthcare sector update march 2013 ibef
Healthcare sector update march 2013 ibef
 
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?
Pharmaceutical Marketing - Whats in store for patients?
 
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Company
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & CompanyHealthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Company
Healthcare 2020 - an analytical report by BAIN & Company
 
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketing
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of MarketingEssentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketing
Essentials of Branding - The big Book of Marketing
 
The coming era of on demand marketing
The coming era of on demand marketingThe coming era of on demand marketing
The coming era of on demand marketing
 
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culture
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate cultureGivers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culture
Givers take all the hidden dimension of corporate culture
 
Comparing urbanization in china and india
Comparing urbanization in china and indiaComparing urbanization in china and india
Comparing urbanization in china and india
 
Can india lead the mobile internet revolution
Can india lead the mobile internet revolutionCan india lead the mobile internet revolution
Can india lead the mobile internet revolution
 
Indias internet opportunity
Indias internet opportunityIndias internet opportunity
Indias internet opportunity
 
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013
Mgi disruptive technologies_full_report_may2013
 
Art of war sun tzu
Art of war   sun tzuArt of war   sun tzu
Art of war sun tzu
 
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...
Executive summary india healthcare inspiring possibilities and challenges mck...
 
Brand map
Brand mapBrand map
Brand map
 
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand image
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand imageImpact of celebrity endorsement on brand image
Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand image
 
Literature review brand building
Literature review   brand buildingLiterature review   brand building
Literature review brand building
 
Pwc emerging mhealth report
Pwc emerging mhealth reportPwc emerging mhealth report
Pwc emerging mhealth report
 
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
 
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility2013 ka wi   india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
2013 ka wi india's demographic divident - asset or laibility
 
Top 100 brands 2012
Top 100 brands 2012Top 100 brands 2012
Top 100 brands 2012
 

The wisdom of two sages

  • 1. The Wisdom of Two Sages ----A Strategic Advertising and Marketing Model That Combines Sun Tzu and Confucius by Qimei Chen William D. Wells School of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Minnesota Published in Asian Journal of Communication, 8(2): pp.168-193. (1998) Corresponding: 111 Murphy Hall, 206 Church St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 Phone: 612-624-2879 e-mail: chen0347@tc.umn.edu
  • 2. Page 1 I. Introduction Sun Tzu was a great military strategist and gifted marshal of 506 BC China. He wrote the oldest and most respected military strategy book--Art of War--around 2,500 years ago, much earlier than another warfare masterpiece--On War--written by Prussian general Karl Von Clausewitz in 1832 (Handel, 1992). Sun Tzu supported the King of Wu, who put his army under Sun Tzu’s command. Shih Chi--the first authentic history almanac-- summarized Sun Tzu’s achievements this way: “to the West the king defeated the powerful state of Ch’u and advanced into Ying. To the North the King overawed Ch’i and Chin and manifested his name among the feudal lords. This was due to Sun Tzu imparting power to him.” The 13 Chapters in Art of War are entitled: Initial Estimations, Waging War, Planning Offensives, Military Disposition, Strategic Military Power, Vacuity and Substance, Military Combat, Nine Changes, Maneuvering the Army, Configurations of Terrain, Nine Terrains, Incendiary Attacks, and Employing Spies. Chinese military leaders after Sun Tzu regarded studying these chapters a must. Ho and Choi (1997) observed that “numerous warfare successes have been achieved by those who followed his (Sun Tzu’s) strategies.” Sun Tzu’s influence was not limited to China, but also spread to other Asian countries. For example, Japanese leaders studied Sonshi--the Japanese term for Sun Tzu-- since AD 700 (Goldenberg, 1997). Western generals also studied Art of War. Rarick (1996) asserted that Napoleon used Sun Tzu’s advice to defeat the armies of Europe.
  • 3. Page 2 Today, though technology and weapons have changed, Sun Tzu’s strategies are still used in modern battles (McNeilly 1996). Sun Tzu’s military strategies have also been applied to business, especially advertising and marketing. The Chinese saying “the marketplace is a battlefield” (Tung, 1994) best reflects the use of military principles in competition. Although applying Sun Tzu’s strategies to business is not a new invention--Chinese businessmen have relied on Art of War since 400 BC--the amount of discussion today is indeed unprecedented. Applications of Art of War to advertising and marketing can be roughly classified into four categories: • Direct translation: One kind of translation is from ancient Chinese to contemporary Chinese, sometimes in cartoon form such as in Sun Tzu Said, by Tsai Chih Chung (Sept. 1990). The other is from ancient Chinese to modern English. The most standard translation was by retired Marine Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith as part of his 1960 Oxford University doctoral dissertation. This translation was regarded as the most privileged one until J. H. Huang’s Sun Tzu: The New Translation appeared in 1993. But no matter how accurate and vivid those translations are, they haven’t fully explored the spirit of Art of War in business applications (Goldenberg 1997). • Interpretation with examples: These are mainly reorganizations of the 13 chapters under different headings--such as strategic management, human resource management and information management--to match modern business practices (Cheung, 1990). Some writers, including McNeilly (1996), have abstracted the most important military
  • 4. Page 3 instruction examples from Sun Tzu, offering real-world business and even military applications. • Business packages developed through Sun Tzu’s strategies: Authors of these packages developed their own tools to give step-by-step instructions for accomplishing success in advertising and marketing campaigns. Some but not all of them take the similarities and differences between war and business into account (Yuan, 1991). • “Winning models” evolved from Art of War: These studies compared Western advertising and marketing strategies with Art of War and then designed models for applying Sun Tzu’s thinking to commercial mass communication. We regard the last category as the most important. A representative work in this category is “Achieving Marketing Success Through Sun Tze’s Art of Warfare” by Samuel K. Ho and Amy S.F. Choi (1997). They used Huge Davidson’s (1987) acronym POISE (profitable, offensive, integrated, strategic and effectively executed) to analyze the similarities and differences between Western business practices and Eastern warfare. Based mainly on the Art of War, with some minor modification, Ho and Choi (1997) proposed a “Winning model” to provide “effective guidelines on the deployment of the Sun Tze Art of War in business.” We will discuss this model in more detail later. Though war is still a favorite metaphor, changes have occurred in marketing. Marketers now recognize the importance of establishing long-term cooperative relationships with direct competitors--their once opponents. Examples can easily be found in the computer and semiconductor industries. Today, IBM, Apple, and Motorola collaborate to spread the risk of new technology development and establish broad-based industry standards. In these and many other industries, the rising cost of new product
  • 5. Page 4 development makes information sharing and joint research and development a necessity. Therefore, a more modern metaphor is needed. In “Marketing as Warfare: Reassessing a Dominant Metaphor,” Rindfleisch (1996) said, “although this marketing-as-warfare metaphor may be widely held, it is based on a set of fundamental assumptions about the nature of competitive interaction that are largely incongruent with present-day environmental realities.” While many commentators still explore the value of Sun Tzu’s strategy, Sun Tzu himself would probably urge that it is time for marketers to question the appropriateness of the war analogy. As Rindfleish (1996) said, “considering the conceptual limitations of the marketing-as-warfare metaphor, strategists are faced with the need for alternative metaphorical perspectives in which to frame their strategic marketing world views.” In our view, merely to deny the profound meaning of the warfare metaphor is to lose sight of a prominent aspect of business. We therefore propose a new framework to supplement and complement the current metaphor--a combination of Sun Tzu’s strategy with some key ideas drawn from modern Confucianism. We first examine Ho and Choi’s (1997) “Winning Model” in some detail. We then show how this model can be modernized. II. “Ho and Choi’s Winning Model” Ho and Choi ‘s (1997) “Winning model” is divided into an “outer ring” and an “inside chain.”
  • 6. Page 5 Figure #1. Winning Model Based on Sun Tzu Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997) The Outer Ring The “outer ring” of the “Winning model” is linked to daily operations. It consists of three parts: Analysis of Situations, Comparison Checklist, and Business Information Systems. 1. Analysis of Situations Whether in military warfare or marketing competition, discerning analyses of “the external and internal environment are always essential steps before laying down a detailed plan” (Ho and Choi, 1997). In Chapter III: Planning Offensive, Sun Tzu said: Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril (Griffith, 1960). Applied to marketing competition, this advice means that one must know both competitors and oneself before engagement. The outer ring 1. Analysis of Situations 2. Comparison Checklist 3. Business information Systems The inside chain 1. Goals and objectives 2. Formation of strategies 3. Offensive strategy 4. Defensive Strategy 5. Implementation of Winning Model Based on Sun Tzu
  • 7. Page 6 2. Comparison Checklist To organize this knowledge, Sun Tzu asked military leaders to study “five factors”-- Tao, Heaven, Earth, Generals, and Law: The Tao causes the people to be fully in accord with the ruler, thus they will die with him; they will live with him and not fear danger. Heaven encompasses yin and yang, cold and heat, and the constraints of the seasons. Earth encompasses far or near, difficult or easy, expansive or confined, fatal or tenable terrain. The general encompasses wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness. The laws for military organization and discipline encompass organization and regulation, the Tao of command, and the management of logistics (Sawyer, 1996) With minor modification, these “five factors” can be translated into a checklist and evaluation tool for waging marketing warfare: ¨ Tao--efficient human resource management and campaign development ¨ Heaven--business climate and the right timing to proceed with combat ¨ Earth--marketing environment, including government policy and competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. ¨ General--management’s internal structure, professional knowledge, capability and reputation. ¨ Law--organizational regulation, and financial management systems Sun Tzu organized these factors in “seven dimensions”: Which ruler has the Tao? Which general has greater ability? Who has gained the advantages of Heaven and Earth? Whose law and orders are more thoroughly implemented? Whose forces are stronger? Whose officers and troops are better trained? Whose rewards and punishments are clearer?
  • 8. Page 7 From these I will know victory and defeat (Sawyer, 1994). Ho and Choi (1997) suggested that strategists use this list to allocate a score for each dimension. Based on this suggestion, we propose the following self-evaluation list, where the marketer assigns a 1 to 10 “own score” and “competitor’s score”--for each major competitor--on each dimension. Table #1: Seven Dimensions Own Scores Seven Dimensions Competitor’s Scores _______ 1. Whose marketing/advertising plan will be recognized and accepted by all employees? ________ _______ 2. Whose creative directors are more capable? ________ _______ 3. Who can schedule marketing/advertising timing most effectively? ________ _______ 4. Whose marketing objectives and strategies are more thoroughly targeted and implemented? ________ _______ 5. Who has stronger manufacturing ability? ________ _______ 6. Whose sales force is better trained? ________ _______ 7. Whose rewards and punishments are clearer for personal selling and operations? ________ ______ Total Own Scores Total Competitor’s Scores _______ Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997) These dimensions can identify advantages and disadvantages, show whether the overall environment is favorable or not, help marketers decide whether to launch a campaign, and estimate which strategies will win. According to Sun Tzu, if one has more advantages than disadvantages compared with the enemy, offensive planning is a sensible
  • 9. Page 8 choice; otherwise, defensive planning is suitable. In chapter III: Planning Offensives, Sun Tzu gave more suggestions on how to proceed with this evaluation: In general, the strategy for employing the military is this: If your strength is ten times theirs, surround them; if five, then attack them; if double, then divide your forces. If you are equal in strength to the enemy, you can engage him. If fewer, you can circumvent him. If outmatched, you can avoid him. Thus a small enemy that acts inflexibly will become the captives of a large enemy (Sawyer, 1994). 3. Strategic Information Systems Planners need well organized systems to obtain strategic information (Wrapp 1967). Strategic information systems contain three kinds of information: 1. internal information; 2. consumers’ attitudes and practices; 3. competitors’ strength and weakness. The first two kinds of information can be obtained by organizational self-evaluation and consumer research. The third kind--information about competitors--is most valuable yet most difficult to get. The situation is the same in warfare. Sometimes information about enemies is crucial. That’s what spies are for. Therefore, Sun Tzu devoted all of chapter XIII, Employing Spies, to this topic. Because military warfare differs from marketing competition, Ho and Choi (1997) noted that “it is up to the organization itself to decide whether it should engage in this or not.” However, even without employing spies in the literal sense, advertisers and marketers can do much to learn about competitors’ strength and weaknesses, purposes and interests. For instance, they can monitor competitors’ test markets, evaluate placement and content of competitors’ advertising, and gauge consumer and trade reactions to sales promotion and public relations campaigns. Intelligence of this kind allows both prompt response and long-range consideration.
  • 10. Page 9 The Inside Chain The “inside chain” of Ho and Choi’s (1997) “Winning model” deals with the formation of the particular winning strategy. Since Sun Tzu did not mention the sequence of formulating strategy, Ho and Choi (1997) adopted the inside chain from Western strategy formulation framework instead. Their inside chain consists of six links: Figure #1. Winning Model--Inside Chain Source: Based on Ho and Choi (1997) We will comment on some of the links later, but before that, we emphasize the most important principle retrieved from the Art of War: Flexibility. In business as well as war, actions are most effective when planned according to the strategic situation. In Chapter IV, Military Disposition, Sun Tzu said: Goals and Objectives Formulation of strategies Offensive strategy Defensive strategy Implementation of strategy Evaluation
  • 11. Page 10 Those who excel at defense bury themselves away below the lowest depths of Earth. Those who excel at offense move from above the greatest heights of Heaven. Thus they are able to preserve themselves and attain complete victory (Sawyer, 1994). Here is a classic example of flexibility: When Seven-Up decided to enter the “Cola War,” they understood that their fledging strength was not suitable for head-to-head combat with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Hence, they evaded direct engagement. In 1968, they positioned their lemon-lime beverage as “the Uncola.” “The strategy was to make 7-Up the alternative to Coke and Pepsi. Sales went up 15 percent the first year” (Ries and Trout, 1986). A more contemporary example can be found in the “Greater China” market (Frith 1996). When Singapore company Eu Yan Sang faced stagnation in their customer base, they brought traditional Chinese medicines into the modern age, blending old and new by selling ancient herbal remedies to the younger generation using modern packaging and marketing techniques. This flexibility doubled their sales in Singapore (McGrath 1995). According to Sun Tzu, flexibility can be either orthodox or unorthodox--that is, normal or unexpected. When all the competitors are using orthodox strategy, launching an attack with unorthodox strategy can achieve surprisingly successful effects. As Sun Tzu noted in Chapter V, Strategy Military Power: What enable the masses of the Three Armies invariably to withstand the enemy without being defeated are the unorthodox and orthodox...In general, in battle one engages with the orthodox and gains victory through the unorthodox (Sawyer, 1994). In the “Burger Wars,” McDonald’s had all the strength of the “orthodox”-- “Uniformity, instant delivery, and inexpensiveness.” In this sense, McDonald’s defense appeared to be seamless. According to Sun Tzu, when all your competitors are
  • 12. Page 11 “orthodox,” “unorthodox” will be effective. Burger King ambushed McDonald’s with “Have it your way”--this campaign showed that Burger King was created for every specific customer, then “Broiling Vs. Frying”--in response to the trend toward health consciousness (Ries and Trout, 1986). Hence, flexibly applying the unorthodox shaped a stronger Burger King in the battlefield. Subsequently, Taco Bell attacked both McDonald’s and Burger King by using an until-then unorthodox pricing strategy. Armed with the knowledge that McDonald’s and Burger King’s prices had been increasing steadily, and that consumers resented food price inflation, Taco Bell embarked on a low-price strategy that took a significant share of the fast food business from its rivals. This strategy was based on all three types of marketing intelligence: 1. Knowledge that competitors’ prices has been increasing dramatically. 2. Knowledge that consumers were resisting these increases. 3. Self-knowledge--knowledge that the lower cost of Taco Bell ingredients would produce a profit even at lower price points. Taco Bell’s “99 c” campaign, based on its then-unorthodox pricing strategy, changed the competitive landscape and forced both McDonald’s and Burger King to revise their practices. Similarly, unorthodox advertising gained a substantial advantage for the Hong Kong Tourist Association. In spite of common anxiety during the 1997 transfer of sovereignty, its “Hong Kong--Wonders Never Cease” campaign cheerfully addressed the transition through an integrated framework that included mass media and Internet advertising, public relations, merchandising, direct mail and customer service. In this campaign, a potential liability--anxiety over the transition--was converted into an asset by emphasizing the preciousness of the opportunity to witness the event.
  • 13. Page 12 The success of Mao-Tai---a famous Chinese alcohol also relied on an unorthodox promotion strategy. In the International Liquor Exhibition, nobody even took a look at Mao-Tai because of its poor packing. In view of this, the Chinese delegates broke a bottle of Mao-Tai on purpose. The aroma attracted a large audience, and from then on, Mao-Tai became well-known globally (Luo 1994). A marketing strategist must combine ordinary strategies with creative ones, so as to develop infinite methods to win customers. In Art of War, Sun Tzu used musical notes, colors and flavors to portray the transition and development of orthodox and unorthodox: The musical notes are only five in number but their melodies are so numerous that one cannot hear them all. The primary colors are only five in number but their combinations are so infinite that one cannot visualize them all. The flavors are only five in number but their blends are so various that one cannot taste them all. In battle there are only orthodox and unorthodox forces, but their combinations are limitless; none can comprehend them all. For these two forces are mutually reproductive; their interaction as endless as that of interlocked rings. Who can determine where one ends and the other begins? (Griffith, 1960) Coca-Cola recently undertook a “secret and unorthodox” study that solicited advice from “ten unconventional thinkers” including Peter Drucker, Ted Levitt, and Arthur Nielsen in an attempt to reorient its advertising. Brainstorming from spring 1992 through October, this team devised over 100 ideas for the 1993 global campaign, finally winnowing the list to 24. When the campaign was unveiled in 1992, it was praised as “innovative, sexy, playful and breathtaking” and was rated tops among all campaigns by consumers (Sellers, 1993). In Singapore, Saatchi & Saatchi won the Agency of the Year title for its unorthodox advertising for Singapore’s navy. Unlike the usual seriousness in military ads with the
  • 14. Page 13 theme of fighting for country, a humorous 60-second TV spot proved to be a “tremendous” success in both raising public awareness and increasing interest in enlistment. This ad began by “looking and sounding like a trailer for an action thriller. A submarine commander oversees a tense control room as it approaches an enemy ship. The periscope goes up, and the viewer looks for the sub’s antagonist, expecting to see a battleship menacing nearby. Instead, floating on the water is a large yellow duck, followed by a shot of the ‘commander’ reclining in his bathtub as he plays with a toy submarine and a plastic rubber duck. ‘Prepare to board,’ says the happy daydreamer of life in the navy” (Madden 1998). Flexibility requires the leader to avoid the strength and attack the weakness of opponents. Sun Tzu used water to describe this point vividly: When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways. Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength (the substantial) and strikes weakness (the vacuous). And as water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army managers its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy. And as water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions (Graffith, 1960). In advertising and marketing, one can replicate this military approach and create a situation where the company’s strengths “are applied against the competitor’s weaknesses” (McNeilly, 1996) by finding the weakest part of the opponent’s value chain and attacking it--as Taco Bell did in its price campaign. Sun Tzu advises, if there are several competitors, isolate and attack them one at a time. This was Wal-Mart’s strategy against Sears, Kmart and other large retailers. Instead of directly attacking its competitors in major markets, Wal-Mart used its huge buying power
  • 15. Page 14 to overwhelm opponents one by one in small towns, thus “attack the enemy where he did not expect it” (McNeilly, 1996). Last, but not least, in response of the current debate on whether advertising and marketing strategists should settle on standardization/generalization or specialization/customization when globalizing a business, Sun Tzu’s emphasis on flexibility can be translated as “Global Tastes, Local Trimmings” (Holburt 1996). That is, utilize standardization/generalization to build global brands with clear and consistent equity, while allowing room for local tailoring (Wehling 1998). III. Combining the Wisdom of Two Sages We now turn to a discussion of how modern Confucianism can supplement Sun Tzu’s military ideas. Confucius, the most important scholar of China, lived five hundred years before Christ and preceded Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He derived his ethical principles from the study of the ancients and from realistic observations of human needs and passions (Rogers, 1993). Though Confucius and Sun Tzu lived in almost the same era, they are seldom mentioned together, let alone combined. One possible explanation is that Sun Tzu’s strategy is strictly military while Confucianism is “part religion, part ethical code, part social ritual and part political philosophy” (Tu 1995). Unlike Sun Tzu, Confucius was not appreciated much when he was alive. “It was more than 300 years after his death before his philosophy found acceptance. The fifth Han Emperor, Wu (147 BC) found Confucianism well suited to the conditions of ancient China” (Jacobs, Gao and Herbig, 1995). From then on, Confucianism became the
  • 16. Page 15 dominant ideology in China. Tung Chung-shu--a famous Confucian scholar in AD 134-- proposed the banning of all schools of thought except the Confucian school and further established the Confucius patriarchal hegemony: rulers guide subjects, fathers guide sons, and husbands guide wives. Hence, Confucianism was esteemed and promoted by the emperors in the next 2,000 years. Dynasties changed from time to time, but not the hegemony of Confucianism, which ensured the emperors’ supreme command in China from about 150 BC until the beginning of this century. In spite of this successful record, Confucianism was not always trouble-free. In China, it was criticized during the 1911 revolution and again during the socialist revolution of 1949 when feudalism was overturned (Jacobs, Gao, and Herbig, 1995). In the cultural revolution, the Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius Campaign of 1974-1975 denounced Confucianism as the evil root of feudalism and women’s oppression (Groll, 1977). Confucianism in Macro Economic Growth When Confucianism reached its nadir in its birthplace--China--it was brought into vogue by other East Asian countries. For instance, Japan used Confucianism to achieve economic growth. Values such as the sense of duty, acceptance of hierarchical structures, development of an elite based on an examination system, and a faith in rationality, contributed to the economic magic that occurred in Japan after World War II (Kreiner, 1996). Some scholars believe Confucian values are partly responsible for the recent economic success of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore, acknowledged its importance in nation building (Bary 1995).
  • 17. Page 16 Lately, under the economic reform and open door policy proposed by Deng, China has begun to take a renewed interest in Confucianistic principles. President Jiang Zemin and other Communist Party officials now seem to rely as much on Confucianism as on party discipline. They realize that “the public, alarmed by the corruption, crime, and sheer greed that have accompanied China’s economic takeoff, wants its moral compass restored.” To be more specific, “Traditional values have been talked up in Jiang’s recent anticorruption sweep.” China’s official news agency--Xinhua--recently prescribed a revival of Confucianism as “good medicine” to treat the “crisis of morality” that it blamed on Deng’s market reforms (Reed, 1995). Although many factors explain economic growth--including education, population, nutrition, technological progress, capital formation and international trade (Meier, 1989) -- important scholars, including Hofstede and Bond (1988) believe that Confucianistic principles are at least partly responsible. Though researchers like Hofheinz and Calder (1982) argued that a stable political environment and market-oriented economic policies were the decisive factors, they also asserted that “culture in the form of certain dominant values is a necessary (but not a sufficient) condition for economic growth” (Hofstede, 1991). In particular, other scholars point to the Confucian emphasis on individual savings, and the impact of individual savings on capital formation (Hagen 1980). They also point to the role Confucian emphasis on education plays in technological progress. Cheng (1991) concluded that “Confucianistic humanism is totally compatible with science and technology, and the Confucianists are in a good position to make the best use of science and technology” (p.333). Thus, many observers--including journalists, politicians and Asianist scholars--agree that Confucianism has contributed to the economic
  • 18. Page 17 success of the Asian Five Dragons (Chen and Chung, 1994). Some liken the influence of Confucianism in the East to the influence of the Protestant Work Ethic in the West. A survey of cultural values by The Chinese Culture Connection (CCC 1987) “locates the Five economic Dragons of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore at the top” of the value dimension of Confucian Work Dynamism. This survey provides evidence that fundamental aspects of Confucian social philosophy have contributed to the stunning economic development of oriental cultures with a Chinese heritage (Hicks & Redding, 1983a, 1983b; Kahn, 1979; MacFarquhar, 1980). Confucianism in Advertising and Marketing Strategy In this paper, we focus mainly (though not exclusively) on the application of Confucianism to advertising and marketing strategy. We argue that the optimized framework for modern marketing is with Confucianism in the kernel, acting as the ethical spirit, while Sun Tzu’s strategies form the inside chain and outer ring. This model maintains that Confucianism and Sun Tzu’s strategies are compatible. Additionally, by introducing Confucianism into the marketing metaphor, this framework acknowledges the complexities of modern marketing. In a way, it compensates for the insufficiencies of Sun Tzu’s strategies. ♦ Modern Confucianism Tung Chung-shu--a famous Confucian scholar in the Hang Dynasty--made Confucianism cater to the needs and self-interests of the rulers. Thus “political use of Confucianism in the past has given it a fixed image and a fixed role to stand as a symbol for close mindedness and conservatism of the ruling class and the politically privileged”
  • 19. Page 18 (Cheng 1991, p.23). However the Japanese interpreted Confucius’s doctrines as nationalistic and militaristic. Consequently, “a nationalist-capitalist economy was eventually established, based on a seniority system, lifetime employment, the loyalty of employees to their company and the share-holding system, which fully suits the ethos of Japanese Confucianism” (Morishima, 1987). We therefore use a more modern version of Confucianism to supplement Sun Tzu’s strategy. Building on such ready models as “Post-Confucian characteristics” (MacFarquhar, 1980) and “Neo-Confucian philosophy” (Cheng, 1991), we choose those doctrines that are most suitable to current marketing exchanges. ♦ The Kernel of the Marketing Model Figure #3. Marketing Model (Combination of Sun Tzu and Confucius) The outer ring 1. Analysis of Situations 2. Comparison Checklist 3. Business Information systems The inside chain 1. Goals and objectives 2. Formation of strategies 3. Offensive strategy 4. Defensive strategy 5. Implementation of Confucianism Ethical Spirit Sun Tzu’s Strategies Sun Tzu’s Analysis The Kernel : 1.Yi and LI • Goal • Leadership 2. hierarchy • unity
  • 20. Page 19 Figure #3 is the marketing model we propose to modify the model created by Ho and Choi (1997). The main difference is that we add a kernel--the ethical spirit--into their model. The ethical spirit consists of five disciplines based on Confucius’ doctrines. They are: 1. Goals; 2. Leadership; 3. Hierarchy; 4. Thrift; 5. Learning. The first of these five disciplines is designed to rectify some of the ideology in Sun Tzu’s Art of War. The other four are intended to supplement and complement the art of business. It’s worth noting that the disciplines we propose embrace Ordering relationships, Thrift, and Persistence--factors embedded in CCC’s Confucian work dynamism (1987). 1. Yi and Li Yi and Li are among the most prominent principles in Confucianism. “Yi is the fundamental principle of morality that confers qualities of right and wrong of human actions” (Cheng 1991), while Li is defined as an institution of social rules which serves to “nourish man’s desires” and “satisfy man’s demands” and thus “enable desires not to exhaust things and things not to be bent by desires” (Analects, Li-Lun). In the modern advertising and marketing world, the goals of management need to be modified by these two principles. We will illustrate the benefits of applying these two principles--and the penalties associated with ignoring them--with current examples. • Goals
  • 21. Page 20 Sun Tzu saw conquering the enemy as the ultimate goal of warfare. Several scholars followed this goal in business strategy design. For example, McNeilly (1996) regards overcoming the competitor and obtaining market dominance as the ultimate goal of business. Although this goal might serve military warfare, it is quite “incongruent with the present-day environmental realities” (Rindfleisch, 1996). It cannot reflect the new trend of collaboration among direct competitors, and it mistakes the true purpose of marketing strategy. As Ohmae (1988) states, “strategy is not about beating the competition, it is about creating real value for the customer.” We introduce Confucius’ yi to rectify the goal of business. Yi can be interpreted as righteousness or integrity, which is “the very principle which should make a person’s conduct morally acceptable to others and which should justify the morality of human action.” With yi, material gains will be acceptable, and lacking of yi causes gains to be meaningless (Cheng, 1991). In the ethical kernel of our advertising and marketing model, yi is interpreted as “real value for the consumer” and “morality in doing business.” Based on the principle of yi, “a business can expand long-term profits while eliminating the destructive consequences of illegal profit seeking and unfair competition” (Jacobs, Gao and Herbig, 1995). The principle of yi is far from universal in today’s Chinese advertising. A survey by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce revealed that about one-third of 900 broadcast ads debased women or claimed that children would be stronger or smarter after using certain products. Some ads even concealed potentially dangerous side effects of the products. These findings reveal need to use yi to rectify those ads, to promote truth-in-
  • 22. Page 21 advertising, so as to protect consumers and build faith and loyalty among consumers (Bangsberg 1995). In the advertising and marketing world, as Confucius said, “excess and deficiency are equally at fault.” Therefore, li, a Confucian value emphasizing adequacy and appropriateness, is also introduced to get balance. The success of Nokia--the world’s second largest mobile phonemaker--shows the importance of using “li” in marketing. Martti Laine, managing director of Nokia Mobile Phones in Asia-Pacific and Gulf region, listed their key issue as to “keep the growth somewhat reasonable,” which reflects the main target Nokia’s management tries to fulfill--i.e. to deal with the challenges of being a growing business and yet at the same time not expand too quickly. • Leadership Among the “Five Factors” in Chapter I, Sun Tzu regarded the qualifications of the leader as the essence of success. He listed five characteristics a leader should encompass: “wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness.” In modern advertising and marketing, the capability of management is equally crucial to the smooth running of the organization. Confucianism established five constant virtues for human beings: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and fidelity. In these five virtues, righteousness and propriety are used to replace courage and strictness proposed by Sun Tzu. To guide the conduct of marketing management, we propose to combine Sun Tzu’s evaluation and Confucius’ five virtues. Hence, we end with seven essential qualifications for advertising and marketing leaders: righteousness, propriety, wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness.
  • 23. Page 22 The addition of righteousness (yi) is quite crucial, since it is “the basis and foundation of all virtues (Cheng, 1991). This point is particularly clear when considering that a disposition of character will not be a virtue if it lacks the element of yi” (Cheng, 1991). Confucius says: if a superior man has courage but no yi, he will make trouble; if a small man has courage but no yi, he will become a bandit (Analects, Yang-ho). Therefore, yi is the foundation of the other six virtues. By restraining inclinations toward short-term expediency, yi contradicts corruption and bribery. “Even centrally planned economies from China to Vietnam have realized that they can’t run state-owned enterprises based on nepotism, inefficiency, poorly selected managers” based on the “iron rice bowl” concept (Chia 1995). The other virtue required by Confucius--propriety (li)--was briefly addressed by Sun Tzu: There are five traits that are dangerous in a commander: If he has a reckless disregard for life, he can be killed; if he is determined to live at all costs, he can be captured; if he has a volatile temper, he can be provoked; if he is a man of uncompromising honor, he is open to insult; if he loves his people, he can be easily troubled and upset. These five traits are generally faults in a commander, and can prove disastrous in the conduct of war (VIII. Nine Changes). However, it was Confucius who proposed the balance between extremes by emphasizing Li--adequacy and appropriateness. Yi and Li demand that a leader (1) care about the company’s benefit in a long-term view; (2) care about the customers’ benefit; (2) care more about the organization than his own performance and achievement.
  • 24. Page 23 In the “Greater China” market (Frith. 1996), leaders have realized the importance of righteousness and propriety. Paul Cheng--the Chairman of Hong Kong-based Inchcape Pacific--called Chinese managers “merchants rather than corporate people.” Many Chinese believe that all merchants are evil--a belief that condemned merchants for thousands of years. Application of Confucian principles asks Chinese to completely change their minds. Advertising and marketing leaders equipped with the virtues we propose put the consumer’s benefit in first place. This change will build brand loyalty among consumers, hence benefiting the business. Just as described by Nelson An-ping Chang, president of one of Taiwan’s largest cement manufacturers, the view of the marketing leader should be long-term, “not worry so much about the size of the next dividend but willing to take some risk for future gain” ( Asian Business, January 1995). Roger Ting, Director of Qualidux Industrial Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong), also emphasized the importance of this kind of leadership by saying “History can’t be held responsible for our future, but the leaders of today can.” 2. Hierarchy As a moral system, Confucianism focuses on five hierarchical relationships between father and son, ruler and ruled, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend (this pair is equal in position). According to Confucius, everyone has a fixed position in society (Jacobs, Gao and Herbig, 1995) and society is seen as a hierarchical pyramid of roles which “entail fairly well established norms governing how people should act and behave in relation to people in other roles” (Xing, 1995).
  • 25. Page 24 However, when we introduce Confucian ideals into our business model, with a view toward global application, we focus not on hierarchy but on unity, which acts as an internal force to keep advertising and marketing powerful and efficient. Unity means solidarity, which is included within another Confucius doctrine--- familyism. Unity asks that all the employees share the same values. “Organizations with a strong sense of mission and a corporate culture reinforcing that mission are in better position to defend themselves from attack and to successfully attack the competition” (Rarick, 1996). Examples can be found in the difference between Southwest Airlines and now defunct Eastern Airlines, or Wal-Mart and Kmart. In these cases, a main reason for marketing success or failure was whether the employees shared the same organizational purpose. The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp. in Hong Kong serves as a contemporary example. This company changed its corporate culture to one which combined customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Each employee was involved in developing the mission, vision and core values. This participation built tighter connections between the company and employees. As a result, the company is ranked as one of the corporate giants in Asia (Far Eastern Economic Review, January 9, 1997). Unity promotes organizational learning, “one of the few assets that grows most-- usually exponentially--when shared” (Quinn 1992). Organizational learning won’t occur without unity (Day, 1991). 3. Thrift Thrift is usually treated as one of Confucius’ doctrines instead of Sun Tzu’s strategies. However, Sun Tzu did mentioned this virtue. In Chapter II, Waging the War,
  • 26. Page 25 Sun Tzu illustrated the enormous expense of employing the military and then suggested “securing provisions from the enemy” (Sawyer, 1994). This was Sun Tzu’s thrift. Confucianism emphasizes a different form of thriftiness, which encourages individual saving and, consequently, capital formation. When combined with li and yi, thrift doesn’t mean to reduce the benefit of employees, or to raid competitors to get resources. The true definition of thrift is multifold: firstly, it requires careful appraisal of investment; secondly, it prevents waste of organizational resources; thirdly, it asks feasible decrease of costs; finally, it encourages economical and creative marketing. The Heng Seng Bank provides a current example of the virtues of Confucian thrift. Even though the Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong) is ranked as one of the top banking business in Asia, it never takes financial prosperity as the excuse of being extravagant. On the contrary, it maintains strict expense discipline, which makes it continuously profitable, with a return on average shareholders’ funds at 20.3% in 1995 (Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 9, 1997). 4. Learning In his mid-fifties, Confucius diligently wandered about the Chinese states, seeking out and instructing those who were eager to learn (Rogers, 1993). He divided study into two stages: hsueh (learning) and shih-hsueh (practice learning). He said: “To learn and frequently practice what one has learned--is this not a pleasure?” From a managerial perspective, the fundamental assumption is that learning will improve future performance (Fiol and Lyles 1985; Senge 1990; Garvin 1993). In line with Confucian principles, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has established a wide variety of professional, managerial and consumer-service training programs. “This is continuously
  • 27. Page 26 increasing the knowledge and skills of the staff and giving them new tools to enhance their competence in discharging their responsibility.” (Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 9, 1997). In fact, some executives and scholars have suggested that in competitive markets, learning may be the only source of sustainable competitive advantage (Slater and Narver, 1994). Learning is especially important for foreign companies who are beginning to put their eyes on “Greater China.” For example, Kodak gained leadership when it adopted a two- sided learning strategy. Internally, it trained local staff for customer service, technical support and general business; externally, it studied its customers. In the course of studying its customers, Kodak discovered that Chinese people like to travel during April, to mark the start of spring, and September, before cold weather sets in. Using this information, Kodak introduced coupons to accelerate seasonal sales. Beyond this, they learned that “handing- out scratch cards with purchases of film is one way to attract the average Chinese consumer--but only if the card gives a guaranteed instant win.” These efforts heralded the “Kodak Moment” in the “Greater China” market (Snee 1998). Confucian scholars have underlined the importance of shih-hsueh (practice learning). For example, Chu Hsu said: Knowing and practice are mutually dependent: like eyes without feet cannot walk, feet without eyes cannot see. On the question of priority, knowing should be first. On the question of importance, practice should be more important (Shu Ching-ssu lu, p.38). That’s why the stringent definition of a “learning organization” eliminates organizations that are adept at creating or acquiring new knowledge but unable to apply that knowledge to their own activities (Slater and Narver, 1994).
  • 28. Page 27 AShih-hsueh also implies continuous updates of ideas and strategies. Beh (1995) points out that in many companies in Asia, “new systems and old ideas are a poor mix.” Despite dramatic changes in the way goods and services are now marketed, traditional patterns of organizing the advertising and sales force have become so ingrained that it is difficult to conceive of work being accomplished in any other way. Over the past 10 years, competition has grown enormously, consumers have become more sophisticated, distribution channels have multiplied and retailers have grabbed more power. Yet many Asian advertising and marketing departments are run as though none of this has happened. “They muddle on with the some management structure and control mechanisms just the same as they always were.” In keeping with shih-hsueh, advertising/marketing departments must change with the times, junking old ways of working and adopting new structures, systems, job descriptions and control mechanisms, and must “use the revolution in information technology not to automate existing processes, but to create new ones” (Beh 1995b). V. Conclusion In this commentary, we have supplemented Ho and Choi’s (1997) “Winning model” by combining Sun Tzu’s military strategies with Confucius’ humanism.. The Confucian Kernel contains: 1. Goals; 2. Leadership; 3. Hierarchy (unity, harmony, loyalty); 4. Thrift; 5. Learning. In the process of redesigning the model, we found that the thoughts of these two 2,500-year-ago sages, though not previously joined, complement each other.
  • 29. Page 28 Now the question is, can a model based upon two ancient Chinese sages fit modern markets? And, can a model imbued with oriental ideas helps Western marketers who want to conduct business in Eastern markets, especially, “Greater China”? We believe that the answer to those questions are positive for four reasons: 1. Ho and Choi’s (1997) model already encompasses modern strategy formulation in its inside chain. 2. Ho and Choi (1997) tested their “Winning Model” against modern business strategies. 3. Cheng (1991) has shown that Confucianistic humanism is compatible with modern science and technology. 4. Kreiner (1996) pointed out that preoccupation with completely materialistic concepts has led to persistent social dislocations, which Asian societies may be able to avoid by relying on the spiritual values of Confucianism. Today’s Asia is facing a new need to return to Confucian values. Patrick Wang, Chairman of Microelectronics Technology Inc., commented that “One of Asia’s advantages in the past was the predominance of small and medium sized enterprises--they tend to be very flexible and aggressive, and that contributes a lot to economic growth. Now these small and medium-sized firms are growing larger, and the challenge is how they can maintain their entrepreneurship (and their) flexibility and competitiveness.” (Jan. 1995 Asian Business). Return to Confucian value can help them meet the challenge. Korea Herald (10 February 98) observed that corruption was partially responsible for Korea’s economic crisis. Korea’s Corruption Perception Index score increased seven places from the previous year. And Kim Chan-kon, an executive with the Audit and Inspections Bureau at Seoul City Hall, concluded that this result reinforced “foreign media
  • 30. Page 29 reports which contended that it was corrupt bureaucrats, businessmen and bankers who took South Korea to the brink of default.” Hence, we see the price paid for not following Confucius’s ethical doctrines. Even though Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s all remained in the top three of Far Eastern Business Review’s 1996 leading companies rankings, they all showed deterioration in the attributes of “High-quality services/products” and “Innovative in responding to customer needs” (Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 9, 1997). These ominous changes suggest that blindly following Sun Tzu’s aggressive strategy and neglecting the long-term benefits of Confucianistic ideals may be harming the reputations of these--and presumably other--companies. The present model, by adding the humanistic wisdom of Confucius to the military aggressiveness of Sun Tzu, provides Western as well as Eastern managers with ethical and practical guides that will promote long-term prosperity. REFERENCES Bangsberg, P. T. (1995). ‘China Regulators Grapple with Truth in Advertising’, Journal of Commerce and Commercial Mar 22, 403(28437), 4. Bary, Wm. (1995). ‘The New Confucianism in Beijing. (China’s Renewed Interest in Confucianism)’, Cross Currents 45(4), 479-93. Beh, Harris. (1995a). ‘Cash Flow Matters More Than Profits’, Asian Business September 1995, 77. Beh, Harris. (1995b). ‘New Systems and Old Ideas are A Poor Mix’, Asian Business July 1995, 67. Bovee, L. Courtland et al. (1987). Advertising Excellence. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
  • 31. Page 30 Chen, Guo-Ming. and Chung, Jensen. (1994). ‘The Impact of Confucianism on Organizational Communication’, Communication Quarterly 42(2), 930106. Cheng, Chung-ying (1991). New Dimensions of Confucian and Neo-Confucian Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press. Cheung, M. (ed.) (1990). Sun Tze’s Art of Warfare in Business Practice. Taiwan: Cheung Moon Publishing. Chia, Robert. (1995). ‘The New Leaders That Asia Needs’, Asian Business September 1995, 56-8. Davidson, H. (1987). Offensive Marketing or How to Make Your Competitors Followers. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Day, George S. (1991). ‘Learning About Markets’, Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute, Report No. 91-117. Dickenson, Nicole. (1996). ‘Hitching up to the Tiger Boom’, Campaign June 7, pS3(2). Fannin, A. Rebecca et. la. (1998). ‘Some Markets Shrug off crisis’, Advertising Age International March 9, 1998, 4. Fiol, C. Marlene, and Lyles, Marjorie (1985). ‘Organizational Learning’, Academy of Management Review 10(4), 803-813. Frith, T. Katherine (1996). ‘The concept of “Greater China” and the Future of Advertising’, American Academy of Advertising . Garvin, David A. (1993). ‘Building a Learning Organization’, Harvard Business Review (July-Aug.), 78-91. Goldenberg, David I. (1997). ‘From 400 B.C. to A.D. 2000: Applying the Wisdom of Sun Tzu’, Strategy & Leadership 25(1), 38-40. Groll, E. (1977). ‘The Movement to Criticize Confucius and Lin Piao: A Comment on The Women of China’, Signs 2(1), 721-726. Hagen, E. (1980). The Economics of Development. Homewood, III: Irwin. Hamel, Gary. and C.K. Prahalad (1989), ‘Strategic Intent’, Harvard Business Review 67 (May-June), 63-76. Handel, Michael I. (1992). Masters of War: Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Jomini. London: Frank Cass.
  • 32. Page 31 Heilbroner, Robert. (1972). The Worldly Philosophers. New York: Simon and Schuster. Hicks. G. and Redding. S. G. (1983a), ‘The Story of the East Asian Economic Miracle: I. Economic Theory be Damned”, Euro-Asian Business Review 2, 24-32. Hicks. G. and Redding. S. G. (1983b), ‘The Story of the East Asian Economic Miracle: II. The Culture Connection”, Euro-Asian Business Review 2, 18-22. Ho, Samuel K. and Choi, Amy S.F. (1997). ‘Achieving Marketing Success Through Sun Tze’s Art of Warfare’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning 15(1), 38-48. Hofheinz, Roy. and Calder, Kent. (1982). The Eastasia Edge. New York: Basic Books. Hofstede, Geert. and Bond, Michael. (1988). ‘The Confucius Connection: From Cultural Roots to Economic Growth’, Organizational Dynamics 16(4), 4-21. Hofstede, Geert. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw. Holburt, Jonathan. (1996), ‘Global Tastes, Local Trimmings”, Far Eastern Economic Review, Dec. 26, 1996, 24. Hou, Wee Chow. (1995). ‘From Battleground to Marketplace’, Asian Business April 1995, 42-3. Jacobs, L. Gao, Guopei. and Herbig, P. (1995). ‘Confucian Roots in China: a Force for Today’s Business’, Management Decision 33(9), 29-35. Kahn. H. (1979). World Economic Development: 1979 and beyond London: Croom Helm. Kedia, Ben L. and Bhagat, Rabi s. (1988). ‘Cultural Constraints on Transfer of Technology Across Nations: Implications for Research in International and Comparative Management’, Academy of Management Review 13(4), 559-71. Kinnunen, Mikko. (1995). ‘Asia Ignites Nokia Sales’, Asian Business October 1995, 68-9. Koranteng, Juliana. (1998). ‘Reebok finds its second wind as it pursues global presence’, Advertising Age International Jan. 1998, 20. Kreuner, Josef. (ed) (1996). The Impact of Traditional Thought on Present-Day Japan. Munich: Indicium-Verl. Kuznets, Simon. (1973). ‘Modern Economic Growth: Findings and Reflections’, American Economic Review 63(3): 247-58.
  • 33. Page 32 Levitt, Barbara, and James G. (1988), ‘Organizational Learning’, Annual Review of Sociology 14, 319-340. Loomis, Carol J. (1993). ‘Dinosaurs?’ Fortune May 9 (127), 36-42. Luo, Jie-pu. (1994). Shang Zhan Sun Tzu. Taiwan: Yuan Liu Press. MacFarquhar, R. (1980), ‘The post-Confucian Challenge’, The Economist Feb. 9, 67-72. Madden, Normandy (1998). ‘International Agency of the Year’, Advertising Age International March 30, 1998, 3. Martin, J. G. (1991). ‘Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning’, Harvard Business Review 71, 81-94. McGrath, Neal. (1995). ‘Modern Cures Boost Ancient Medicines’, Asian Business October 1995, 10. McNeilly, Mark. (1996). Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Meier, Gerald. (1989). Leading Issues in Economic Development. New York: Oxford University Press. Morishima, Michio. (1987). ‘Confucius and Capitalism: a Cultural Explanation of Japan’s Economic Performance’, UNESCO Courier Dec. 1987, 34-8. Ohmae, K. (1988). ‘Getting Back to Strategy’, Harvard Business Review 66, 88-95. Quinn, James B. (1992). intelligent Enterprise. New York: The Free Press. Rarick, Charles A. (1996). ‘Ancient Chinese Advice for Modern Business Strategists’, SAM Advanced Management Journal 61(1), 38-44. Reed, Stanley. (1995). ‘China: Move Over, Karl Marx--Here Comes Confucius’, Business Week 3426, 53-4. Ries, Al & Trout, Jack. (1986). Marketing Warfare. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Rindfleisch, Aric. (1996). ‘Marketing as Warfare: Reassessing a Dominant Metaphor’. Business Horizons 39(5), 3-11.
  • 34. Page 33 Rogers, Gerald F. (1993). ‘Confucius, the first teacher of humanism?’, Free Inquiry 13(2), 46-50. Rostow, Walt. (1960). The Stages of Economic Growth. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Sawyer, Ralph D. (1996). The Complete Art of War: Sun Tzu, Sun Pin. Oxford: WestviewPress. Sellers, Patricia (1993). ‘Do You Need Your Ad Agency?’ Fortune (Nov. 15), 147-164. Schumpeter, Joseph. (1934). The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Senge, Peter M. (1990). ‘The Leader’s New Work: Building Learning Organizations’. Sloan Management Review (Fall), 7-23. Slater, Stanley F. and Narver, John C. (1994). ‘Market Oriented Isn’t Enough: Build a Learning Organization’, Marketing Science Institute Report No. 94-103. Snee, Audrey(1998). ‘Kodak divides up China in order to conquer it’, Advertising Age International Jan. 1998, 20. Stalk, George. Philip Evans. and Lawrence E. Shulman (1992). ‘Competing on Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy’, Harvard Business Review 70 (March-April), 57-69. The Chinese Culture Connection. (1987). ‘Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Cultural’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 18(2), 143-63. Tsai, Chih-Chung (1990). Sun Tzu Said. Taipei: Times Press. Tu, Weiming (ed) (1995). The Confucian World Observed. Hawaii: East-West Center. Tung, R. (1994). ‘Strategic Management Thought in East Asia’, Organizational Dynamics 17, 55-65. Wehling, L. Robert. (1998). ‘Even at P&G, Only 3 Brands Make Truly Global Grade So Far”, Advertising Age International Jan. 1998, 8. Wrapp, H. Edward (1967). ‘Good Managers Don’t Make Policy Decisions’, Harvard Business Review (Sept.--Oct.), 91-99. Xing, Fan. (1995). ‘The Chinese Cultural System: Implications for Cross-Cultural Management’, SAM Advanced Management Journal 60(1), 14-21.
  • 35. Page 34 Yuan, G. (1991). Lure the Tiger out of the Mountains: The 36 Stratagems of Ancient China. London: Judy Piatkus Ltd.