In battle, use the direct forces to match the enemy, and use the indirect forces to win the enemy. Therefore, the person who is adept at using indirect forces can use them in ways as infinite as the ever-changing forces and elements of nature and the incessant flow of water in rivers and streams. Chapter Five, Sun Tzu’s Art of War
In the first sentence, Sun Tzu mentioned the use of direct force to equalize the enemy and the use of indirect force to win over the enemy. And in the following sentences, he mentioned that the combinations of these two types of forces are infinite and their interactions can produce wonderful results. So how do we apply this wisdom in business?
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The direct forces in war would be analogous to the quality (or price) of your services or products in business. Indirect forces in warfare would be analogous to intangibles like branding (the feelings you want your consumer to associate with when using your product or service) or level of service in business. Now quality and price can be easily imitated, but it is the intangibles that are hard to replicate, it usually gives a company a sustainable competitive advantage over its rivals and allows for easy differentiation between products and services, that’s why I called indirect forces. .
For example, if you want a good meal with a romantic setting, would you go to Burger King or McDonalds? If you want cheap food, would you like to go to a high-class restaurant with dedicated waiters? What makes you prefer a certain restaurant to others when what you are served is basically steaks?
Let’s dig into the restaurant example. Imagine there are two restaurants, they serve good sirloin steaks, Kobe beef, very good sauce and the same price. But one is dirty and the other is extremely clean, almost no dust. What restaurant would you go to? Keep in mind that it doesn’t cost much to have a clean restroom in your restaurant, but think of the immense attraction it would have on hygiene-conscious customers. So this is a way of using indirect forces to win over your business rivals.
With that in mind, you can see that there are endless areas of application of direct and indirect forces in your business. Use direct forces to replicate what your rivals have and use indirect forces to differentiate yourself from your rivals.
By having different combinations of direct and indirect force usage, you can have endless strategies for your business.
