Think Tank—Beyond the Five Forces Model and Blue Ocean Strategy: An Integrative Perspective From Sun Zi Bingfa

Abstract

The 2,300‐year‐old military treatise Sun Zi Bingfa has been extensively applied to the business arena over the years. A study of Michel Porter's five forces model regarding competitive strategy and the blue ocean strategy espoused by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne shows that key concepts contained in both theories hark back to the ancient philosophy of Sun Zi. In his work, he urged leaders to proactively attack an undefended or weakly defended area while maintaining a proactive defense. An analysis of this holistic perspective in addressing competitive challenges offers useful guidance to forward‐thinking 21st‐century strategists in both the East and the West. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ambivalence in networked intimacy: Observations from gay men using mobile dating apps

“…This similarity between app users’ strategy and Sun Tzu’s teaching is not accidental: the teaching of Sun Tzu has already been integrated into contemporary management and economic teaching and practices (e.g. Rarick, 1996; Wee, 2016). The mentality of “open to” is an extension of the neoliberal business strategy that emphasizes changes and flexibility.…”

The Effect of Value Innovation in the Superior Performance and Sustainable Growth of Telecommunications Sector: Mediation Effect of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

“…These research results are consistent with the findings of previous studies. The majority of peer-reviewed articles have viewed value innovation as an effective strategy for achieving superior performance, a competitive advantage, and sustainable growth, and this has a positive impact on firm performance, profitability, and growth [107][108][109][110][111][112][113]. Furthermore, consistently with earlier studies which validated the positive effect of innovation on a firm's long-term success and sustainable growth [3,6,23,26,27,37,47,48,74,79,88,108,[113][114][115][116][117], the results of this study enabled us to conclude that there is a direct and indirect effect of value innovation on sustainable growth.…”

“…The majority of peer-reviewed articles have viewed value innovation as an effective strategy for achieving superior performance, a competitive advantage, and sustainable growth, and this has a positive impact on firm performance, profitability, and growth [107][108][109][110][111][112][113]. Furthermore, consistently with earlier studies which validated the positive effect of innovation on a firm's long-term success and sustainable growth [3,6,23,26,27,37,47,48,74,79,88,108,[113][114][115][116][117], the results of this study enabled us to conclude that there is a direct and indirect effect of value innovation on sustainable growth. Overall, the findings of this empirical study, in line with the major trends of the literature on value innovation, demonstrated that the value innovation approach could result in superior performance, a competitive advantage, or sustainable growth.…”

Using Porter's Five Forces analysis to drive strategy

“…The Five Forces analysis, first proposed by Porter in his paper in Harvard Business Review (1979), is one of the most frequently used analytical tools by strategy students, scholars, and practitioners (Gray, 2021; Grundy, 2006; Mizik & Balogh, 2022; Wellner & Lakotta, 2020; Wee, 2017). At the time, scholars and managers assessed industry attractiveness by factors such as industry growth rate and competitive intensity, the latter proxied by the distribution of market shares within the industry.…”