★ Eastern strategic wisdom spanning 2,500 years, broken down into 67 core business strategy topics.
★ Innovative “dialogue” format: in‑depth conversations between scholars and entrepreneurs, directly addressing practical pain points in business.
★ Authoritative author: Professor from a top Chinese business school + 30 years of research on applying Sun Tzu’s Art of War to business + training experience for hundreds of well‑known companies.
★ An excellent bridge between Eastern strategic classics and modern business management – filling a gap in the market.
★ Wide target audience: entrepreneurs, start‑up founders, executives, MBA/EMBA students, and strategy researchers.

The series includes 2 volumes:
"Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business Strategy"
"Decoding Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business: Dialogues Between Scholars and Entrepreneurs"

Can The Art of War be practically tested in enterprises? In which companies has it been successfully applied?
How exactly should we understand and use The Art of War from a business perspective?
How can we transform external uncertainty into internal certainty?
A simulated victory is not guaranteed, but a simulated defeat is certain – what lessons can we draw from this?
From what angles can we draw wisdom from this classic to address business competition and development issues?

This book interprets The Art of War chapter by chapter from the perspective of business competition and development strategy, dividing it into 67 sections according to thematic ideas. Each section consists of three parts: literal interpretation of the original text, business interpretation from the perspective of business competition and development, and dialogues between scholars and entrepreneurs (including entrepreneurs’ evaluation of how well the business interpretation fits actual practice, their personal experience and case studies, questions raised, and conversations between scholars and entrepreneurs).

Using concise language and micro‑case studies, the author provides business interpretations. Through dialogues with entrepreneurs, the book aims to help readers better understand The Art of War from a business perspective, master its strategic theories, and effectively apply them to business competition and development.

This book is written for entrepreneurs, start‑up founders, senior and middle managers, MBA/EMBA/DBA students, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers of Sun Tzu’s Art of War in business, strategic management teachers, corporate employees, self‑employed individuals, and all readers interested in reading The Art of War from the perspective of business competition and development.

Chen Dezhi

Professor of Strategy and Doctoral Supervisor at Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Director of the International Sun Tzu’s Art of War Business Application Research Center at SJTU.

Member of “China Management 50” and “China Management 50+”, rotating chairman. His main research areas include Sun Tzu’s Art of War for business strategy, strategic management, innovation and entrepreneurship, and organizational change management. He has led three projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and four key projects funded by the Shanghai Soft Science Program.

He has published over 100 papers in CSSCI and SSCI journals. He has authored 9 books, including "Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business Strategy" and "Decoding Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business: Dialogues Between Scholars and Entrepreneurs". He has studied and taught Sun Tzu’s Art of War strategy for 30 years and has taught the “Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business Strategy” course to hundreds of companies, including Hisense Group, Alibaba Group, China Eastern Air Group, Wuliangye Group, and many others.

Foreword 1 – Yu Mingyang
Foreword 2 – Zhou Nan
Foreword 3 – Jia Shaoqian
Preface

Chapter 1: Strategic Assessments (Ji)
1.1 The Great Significance of Studying Competition / 003
1.2 Analysis of Competitive Strength Across Five Strategic Elements / 009
1.3 Analysis of Competitive Strength Across Eight Strategic Elements / 019
1.4 Selecting Leading Talent – Criteria for a General Manager / 023
1.5 Principles for Appointing a General Manager / 026
1.6 Flexible and Adaptive Strategy and Tactics / 029
1.7 The Size of Competitive Strength Determines Victory / 032

Chapter 2: Waging War (Zuo Zhan)
2.1 Seeking Truth and Pragmatism in Pursuing Efficiency / 037
2.2 The Battle for Competitive Resources / 046
2.3 Incentives and Rewards for Employees Who Achieve Results / 053

Chapter 3: Strategic Attack (Mou Gong)
3.1 The Most Perfect Victory: “Winning Without Fighting” / 061
3.2 Choosing Competitive Strategies in Ascending Order of Cost / 066
3.3 The Principle of Achieving Complete Victory Without Depleting Competitive Strength / 076
3.4 The Greatest Fear: Interference from Top Leaders / 083
3.5 Unity Is the Core of Victory / 087
3.6 The Prerequisite for Avoiding Total Defeat: Know the Enemy and Yourself / 090

Chapter 4: Disposition of Forces (Xing)
4.1 Accumulate Strength, Then Seize the Opportunity to Win / 097
4.2 The Winner Wins Without Fighting; The Loser Fights to Survive / 102
4.3 Pitting Absolute Competitive Advantage Against Absolute Competitive Disadvantage / 107
4.4 Flexible Use of Competitive Strength / 110

Chapter 5: Momentum (Shi)
5.1 How to Win in Multi‑Dimensional Competition / 117
5.2 Every Competitor Should Integrate Conventional and Unconventional Moves / 123
5.3 Skilled Competitors Seize the Right Moment, Act Quickly, and Achieve Results / 129
5.4 Skilled Competitors Are Good at Seeking, Creating, and Leveraging Momentum / 134

Chapter 6: Emptiness and Fullness (Xu Shi)
6.1 Skilled Competitors Always Seize Strategic Initiative / 144
6.2 Implement Unpredictable Tactics of Emptiness and Fullness / 148
6.3 Focus on Niche Markets to Gain Competitive Advantage / 154
6.4 Constantly Master Competitive Intelligence to Win / 161
6.5 Methods to Constantly Understand Competitors’ Strategic Actions / 163
6.6 The Entrepreneur Who Can Win by Adapting to Competitors and Environmental Changes Is a God of Management / 168

Chapter 7: Maneuvering (Jun Zheng)
7.1 Arriving Late but First: Mastering Indirect Strategies / 174
7.2 The Risk of Insufficient Resource Reserves / 180
7.3 Methods to Seize Strategic Initiative / 185
7.4 Team Coordination: No Individual Recklessness or Retreat / 191
7.5 Managing Morale, Mindset, Physical Condition, and Adaptability / 193
7.6 Eight Principles for Utilizing Competitive Resources / 197

Chapter 8: Nine Variations (Jiu Bian)
8.1 Strategies for Five Competitive Environments / 205
8.2 Contingency Strategies: Adapting to Circumstances, Flexible Trade‑offs / 211
8.3 Weighing Benefits and Harms: Balancing Gains and Risks / 216
8.4 Character Flaws of Executives and Their Harmful Effects / 220

Chapter 9: Marching (Xing Jun)
9.1 Competitive Strategies for Four Types of Competitive Environments / 228
9.2 32 Observational Methods: Investigating and Analyzing Competitors During Competition / 239
9.3 Strategies to Engage Employees / 242

Chapter 10: Terrain (Di Xing)
10.1 Competitive Strategies for Six Types of Market Terrain / 250
10.2 Six Types of General Manager Failure / 260
10.3 Resource Assurance Is the Foundation of Competitive Victory / 265
10.4 The Conduct of an Excellent General Manager / 267
10.5 Care for Employees to Face Difficulties Together / 269
10.6 Establish a Comprehensive Intelligence Network / 272

Chapter 11: Nine Grounds (Jiu Di)
11.1 Nine Strategies for Cross‑Border (Cross‑Regional) Competition / 279
11.2 Goal‑Oriented: Move When Beneficial, Stop When Not / 286
11.3 Deep Focus Is the Principle of Victory in Cross‑Border Competition / 288
11.4 Coordination Like a Snake: Flexible and Resilient Competition / 291
11.5 Systems and Culture Unite the Entire Workforce / 293
11.6 Managing a Company Requires Calmness, Concealed Strength, Fairness, and Precision / 295
11.7 Revisiting the Nine Cross‑Border Competition Strategies / 297
11.8 Motivating and Engaging Employees / 304
11.9 Calm and Secretive, Swift in Attack / 308

Chapter 12: Fire Attack (Huo Gong)
12.1 Three Methods of Fire Attack: Destroying Personnel, Supplies, and Logistics / (page number missing)

(Note: The original table of contents appears to be missing Chapter 13: Use of Spies (Yong Jian), which would be included in the complete book.)

Preface

The Art of War is a classic of warfare written over 2,500 years ago. Its ancient Chinese language and military context differ significantly from today’s simplified Chinese and the context of business competition and development.

Although people often say that business is like war, the marketplace is not a battlefield, and business competition differs from military warfare in many ways. Therefore, for contemporary readers using simplified Chinese, there remains considerable difficulty in systematically and deeply reading, mastering, and effectively applying Sun Tzu’s strategic theories to business practice.

During my 30 years of studying The Art of War, I have often heard entrepreneurs and managers say: “I can’t really understand it” or “I understand the annotations and modern translations, but when it comes to applying them to my business, I struggle.” When teaching my “Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Business Strategy” course at Antai College of Economics and Management (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and other MBA/DBA programs, my teaching content is based on business strategy theories derived from Sun Tzu’s strategic thinking, rather than a chapter‑by‑chapter business interpretation. During class, I also noticed that some students lacked a deep and thorough understanding of The Art of War from a business perspective – even after reading modern translations or listening to my audio interpretations (which were literal interpretations, not business interpretations). This to some extent hindered their deep understanding and mastery of Sun Tzu’s business strategy theories.

While there are many books that translate and annotate the original text of The Art of War, few provide a chapter‑by‑chapter business interpretation from the perspective of business competition and development. These factors motivated me to write this business interpretation of The Art of War, aiming to help entrepreneurs, business managers, business school students, and anyone interested in applying Sun Tzu’s Art of War to business – to more easily read, master, and effectively apply Sun Tzu’s strategic theories from the perspective of business competition and development, so that this military classic can become a classic for business warfare as well.

This book is structured according to modern book chapters and divides The Art of War into 67 sections based on thematic ideas. The first half of each section title is the original quote from The Art of War, and the second half is an interpretation of that quote. Each section consists of three parts: (1) Original interpretation – literal interpretation of the original text; (2) Business interpretation – interpretation from the perspective of business competition and development; (3) Dialogue – inviting entrepreneurs to evaluate whether the author’s business interpretation fits actual business practice, and to further interpret the strategic ideas of that section using their own experience or cases. The author provides concise answers, comments, and discussions to the questions raised by the entrepreneurs.

Systematically interpreting The Art of War chapter by chapter from the perspective of business competition and development is a challenging and pioneering endeavor. Although I have founded and served as director and general manager of industrial companies, as well as founded a management consulting firm providing strategic management consulting services – experiencing firsthand the intensity of business competition, the joy of success, and the regret, sorrow, and helplessness of failure – business competition and development are both long‑term and complex. Moreover, competition and development vary greatly across industries, and my personal knowledge and practical experience are limited. Therefore, errors or imperfections in this book are inevitable. I welcome readers’ corrections. If this book inspires readers to study and research Sun Tzu’s Art of War strategy more deeply from the perspective of business competition and development, then I will consider it a success in sparking further insight.

Chen Dezhi