Competitor Intelligence and Strategy in the context of Chinese and Japan

photo by WTGR

COMPETITOR INTELLIGENCE and STRATEGY
- China, Japan,
and Korea and Taiwan

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Updated 2012 Dec 04

Competition
	Competitor Intelligence	witiger.com/ecommerce/competitorintelligence.htm
	Competitor Intelligence - Asia	witiger.com/ecommerce/competitorintelligence-asia.htm
	Competition	witiger.com/ecommerce/competition.htm
	Competition Types	witiger.com/marketing/typesofcompetition.htm
	Cannibilization	witiger.com/ecommerce/cannibalization.htm

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INTRODUCTION

Not just North Americans and Europeans ...

Sometimes .... the study of business strategy in some colleges and universities has had a "eurocentric perspective".

As North Americans increasingly see the

economic environment
political regulatory legal environment
social-cultural environment
competitive environment
technological environment

effected by enterprises and governments in Asia, it makes sense to look at how enterprises and governments in Asia think about strategy, and in turn have some ideas as to how competitor intelligence should be understood in that context.

WTGR

photo by WTGR, Deoksugung Palace Guard, Seoul

DISCLAIMER

Analysis of Asian historical figures, in the context of contemporary business and strategy influences is an enourmously complex task requiring complete fluency in the documents and scrolls that are in evidence for that period, as well as being able to comprehend how the influences of those people were carried forward through the ages - in the case of Sun Tsu in China, 2,500 years, in the case of Miyamoto Musashi in Japan, 500 years.

It is not the goal of this webpage to accomplish such an intimidating task, rather it is intended that the reader (undergraduate students in business and marketing) may see how the heritage of the "social-cultural environment", then, and now, has a significant influences on the behaviour of companies and company leaders.

Secondly, it is hoped that some students will appreciate that when considering business strategies in other regions of the world, "big data" and web based information can be useful, but sometimes a bit of historical knowledge and some cultural background can also be very advantageous to know.

WTGR

Competitor
Intelligence

Historical
Perspective

The strategies of Chinese and Japanese companies

Whereas Canada's largest trading partners (aside from the United States) are China and Japan, with additional large amounts of business with companies in South Korea and Taiwan
Whereas the competitiveness of Canadian companies doing business in Asia depends on understanding the strategies of the leading Asian companies
Whereas Chinese and Japanese companies are world leaders in global trade growth inside, and outside Asia
Whereas specific historical personalities in Chinese and Japanese culture have had a lasting impact on business practices and strategies in contemporary times
... it makes sense to try to understand the philosophical and social-cultural backgrounds of business strategy in Chinese and Japanese companies
We will briefly look at a number of ancient military strategists who have been studied in "modern times" for the way that these strategies can be applied in a business context.

Competitor
Intelligence

Historical
Perspective

Sun Tzu - author of "The Art of War"
- Chinese military strategist 544-496 BC

Several web sites explain that almost nothing is known about his life except that he was a Chinese military general who helped the King Ho-lu capture the city of Ying, bringing about the fall of the Ch'u state in 506 B.C.E. Sun Tzu is best known today for a collection of essays called The Art of War, which scholars believe is the world's oldest military writing on strategy. The book was translated by Father J. J. M. Amiot, a French Jesuit priest.

Some of the principles in the book that are used by strategists are phrases such as

"All warfare is based on deception,"
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,"
"If you know yourself, but not your enemy, for every battle won, you will suffer a loss."

A number of quotable quotes are used by Sun Tzu in business all over the world.
For example, to justify early entry to the market, one web site says
"Those who arrive early at the battlefield will be in a position to take the initiative."
- like Pepsi getting into the Russian market after glasnost, before Coke
- like Google scanning books, before Yahoo
- like Mapquest preceding Google Earth

Many companies have a "first mover advantage" - the expression used all around the world is
"the early bird gets the worm"

however there is another expression
"the second mouse gets the cheese", which is an encouragement to companies that do NOT have first mover advantage - they can use competitor intelligence and develop business and marketing plans and strategies to avoid the mistakes of the big first movers and industry leaders and develop a competitive market segment

Competitor
Intelligence

Historical
Perspective

Jan 13th 2011

Received an interesting email from Mark S. in MGD415 at UTM saying

Over the winter holiday I read The Art of War, by Sun Tzu ... the link between his war strategies and business is clear.

Two particular quotes that I recently came across are "Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays," and "Order or disorder depends upon organization." Both of these relate directly to the GOPST and Business Model sections of the course, and maybe MGD415 as a whole, because it is a Strategies course.
These quotes succinctly express that planning for the future of war, as in business, it does not have to overly extend the pursuit of successful business operations. Setting out the GOPST of a business team should be the first step in planning the operations of a business, though it is only preliminary and can be altered along the way. GOPST helps to focus the direction of the team, showing it what it wants, and how it wants to achieve it.

In class MGTC41 at UTSC 2012 Oct 29th, WTGR challenged a group of students to take his copy of "The Art of War" and using this book, plus various sources, come up with some information that may help students understand "Chinese corporate strategy" (if such a thing can be discerned) based on the historical influence of Sun Tsu as it may be applied in contemporary Chinese companies and state controlled enterprises.

youtube.com/watch?v=AuagH_F
_kBc&feature=youtu.be

In class MGTC41 at UTSC 2012 Nov 26th students presented a video based on their review of "The Art of War" and using this book, plus various sources, come up with some information that may help students understand "Chinese corporate strategy"

Version "C-A"

Version "C-B" is the video incorporating some of the ideas from the students in MGTC41 who added in suggestions based on having watched the Version "A" in class Nov 26th.

Competitor
Intelligence

Historical
Perspective

Miyamoto Musashi
- Japanese warrior philosopher, author of Go Rin No Sho - Book of Five Rings
- born 1584

"To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts" fromGo Rin No Sho - Book of Five Rings a very popular book on wall street in the early 1990's

- this website http://www.samurai.com/5rings/ contained the translation by Victor Harris and was HTML'd by Bryan Fullerton (link not functional Oct 2012)

- "... must study fully other arts"
- a interpretation of this phrase could mean that to be really good in e-commerce you need to also study sociology, geography, economics, history, religion etc. - especially if you are selling a consumer product in a multi-cultural marketplace

** - Prof. Richardson lived in Japan and has a black belt in iaido, the art of the Japanese sword

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In class MGTC41 at UTSC 2012 Oct 29th, WTGR challenged a group of students to take his copy of "The Japanese Negotiator" by the late Prof. Robert March bobmarch.com (who also wrote a book on Chinese negotiating) using this book, plus various sources about Miyamoto Musahi et al, come up with some information that may help students understand "Japanese corporate strategy" (if such a thing can be discerned) based on the historical influence of Miyamoto Musashi and the heritage of the Samurai as it may be applied in contemporary Japanese trading companies (sogoshosha) and conglomerates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z22exnBBAzc&feature=youtu.be

In class MGTC41 at UTSC 2012 Nov 26th students presented a video based on their review of the Robert March book plus additional research.

The scenario was based on playing poker utilizing the principles of Japanese negotiation based on the influence of Japanese culture and samurai influences.

Version "J-A" 5 min 16 sec
youtube.com/watch?v=z22exnBBAzc&feature=youtu.be

Version "J-B" 7 min 37 sec (uploaded Dec 3rd 2012)
youtube.com/watch?v=qhrHcaFa9PA&feature=youtu.be
is the video incorporating some of the ideas from the students in MGTC41 who added in suggestions based on having watched the Version "A" in class Nov 26th.

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