Business strategy and market share capture is somewhat similar in many ways to war strategy. How come you ask? The similarities are listed below for your consideration. And before I introduce them to you, I’m not suggesting that war is good or bad. I think it’s just a formality of the political impasse between human beings and good or bad is irrelevant, as it is.
Surely it would be better not to have wars and killing one’s own species seems a bit troublesome and yet if your enemy is trying to kill you sometimes defending that leads to unfortunate circumstances.
Now here are some business and war parallels below and perhaps they are of value to you for the philosophical discussion.
1.) In war you have an opponent and your opponent wants what you have or you are trying to get what he has; market share.
2.) In war, you fight many battles in the course of the war in many territories or markets.
3.) In war, intelligence of your opponent is very important and in business you need to estimate the next move of your competitors.
4.) In war, there are many aspects that you need to control such as air, land, and sea; in business, you are also interested in controlling multiple market segments and better serving those customers.
5.) In war you must be efficient with your supplies; such fuel, food and such; in business efficiency means higher profits.
6.) In war you must keep the territories you capture. In business, you have to maintain market share once you achieve it.
7.) In war you must defend your army and your country. In business, you have to defend your brand name and price points, using many different methods.
The next time you’re thinking about business strategy, gaining markets and market share, and then defending what you’ve achieved, consider whether you’re going to do so in relation to war strategy. By doing so, you can see the game from another perspective and this can help your business. Think about this in 2006.