The Art of the Advantage

• Book Title: The Art of the Advantage – 36 Strategies to seize the competitive edge
• Author: Kaihan Krippendorff
• Year written/published: 2003
• Summary: Explanation of the 36 strategems on the business and corporate!
• My Comments: I really loved this book. The author was able to link ancient philosophies to the present day corporate world giving real life example of companies such as Sony, Coke and Microsoft. I also loved the little diagrams that each of the 36 stratagems had and it further illustrated the strategy.
• Some extracts:

Stratagem 1: To catch something, first let it go

Most businesses in the West focus on beating their competition, but this assumes that we are better off without our competition. The polarity principle implies that optimal success depends on our competitor’s success, or at least its continued existence.

Stratagem 5: Befriend the distant enemy to attack one nearby

We increasingly find allies among competitors, and competitors among seemingly unrelated companies. This creates opportunities. We can look for – even create – ‘distant’ enemies to achieve common goals.

Stratagem 16: Sometimes running away is the best strategy

In 1980, when Jack Welch became CEO of General Electric, the company was reliable but average American conglomerate. Jack wanted to change this, so he gave the first challenge: GE would be number 1 or number 2 in each of its businesses, or it would exit that business. In other words, it is better to retreat than to surrender or lose.