How to Use the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck for Business
Planning
Robert Cantrell
Center For Advantage
www.centerforadvantage.com
[email protected]
(703) 379-9429
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Contents
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Innovation Planner Description
Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description
Basic Business Planning
1.
Identify the Problem
2.
Create a Cause and Effects Net
3.
Initial Problem Solving Effort
4.
Expanding the Solution
Center of Gravity
Decision Cycle
Games
Additional Resources
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy
Card Deck Description
The
Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy
Card Deck Description
Card Types
© Center For Advantage - 2005
The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card
Deck Description

The Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck is a
54 card set of competitive
strategies that helps
users make better
decisions faster by
considering all aspects of
their power to succeed
© Center For Advantage - 2005
The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card
Deck Description

It is based on Sun Tzu’ Art
of War and is derived from
the analysis of strategic
masterminds to include Sun
Tzu, Lao Tzu, Musashi,
Boyd, Kasporov, Lawrence,
the unknown author of the
classic Chinese strategies,
and the concepts behind
the classic strategy games
of Chess, Go, and Poker.
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Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card
Deck - Applicability to the Military
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The Art of War: Sun
Tzu Strategy Card
Deck is useful in
business for:
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Strategy education
Threat analysis
Business planning for
competitive strategy –
key topic of this brief
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Specifics on Business Planning
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Art of War cards in particular deal with the type of
business planning that goes on behind closed doors
to allow you to win in a competitive marketplace
Your goal is to legally and ethically create an “unfair”
advantage over your competition
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Card Types
There are 4 card themes in the Art of War: Sun Tzu
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Strategy Card Deck
Elimination – All spades involve eliminating something. That
something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time,
etc. You remove something from the contest.
Isolation – All diamonds involve isolating something. This
something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time,
etc. You separate something from something else.
Preparation of the Field of Contest – All clubs involve shaping
the field of contest. You create the conditions, such as
confusion on the part of your adversary, that better allow you to
win.
Preparation of Self – All hearts involve shaping yourself. You
set your disposition to that best suited to reach your goal and
present your adversary with appearances that cause him to act
against his best interests.
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Underlying Principle
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EIIN
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Eliminate
Isolate
Integrate
Negate
At the core of all
competitive strategy, you
are trying to win markets
while effecting at least one
of these EIIN on your
competitor
To win any conflict, you
have to be able to effect
at least one of these EIIN
on your competitor
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Definitions
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Elimination means your competitor has no effective
presence in the market
Isolation means your competitor has no effective
capacity to go beyond where he already has
Integration means you or your competitor are
effectively brought together in a mutually supportive
way
Negation means it no longer matters what your
competitor does because he cannot hurt you
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Basic Business Planning
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Basic Planning Steps
Steps 1 to 4
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Incorporate All Aspects of Power
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The Art of War cards provides a comprehensive tool
to assess, decide, and act on objectives with all
physical, psychological, and moral aspects of
innovative, economic, political, and social power
It is designed to supplement current planning
methods by increasing the menu of possibilities
considered for business planning
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Incorporate All Aspects of Power
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It also serves to make the powerful ideas behind
Effects Based Strategy tangible and useful
even to those without much training in EBS
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Basic Military Planning
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Basic Business
Planning involves the
Art of War cards and
any other planning
tools you might be
using
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Basic Business Planning
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
Business planning takes place to resolve problems
typically caused by an unmet opportunity or a
competitor’s actions and desires that go against
your best interests
Ask and answer:
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1.
2.
3.
What is the problem you wish to resolve?
What is the cause of the problem?
What is the effect of the problem?
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
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For example, consider
a problem involving
new competitors and
customer defection
Cause
Yields
New
Competitors
Effect
Defection
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
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The problem to you is not necessarily the new
competitors themselves, but the changes that new
competition will create*
The first level cause is the new competition
The first level effect of the new competition is
customer defection
*This is an important distinction in planning because
the best plans focus on the central problem, and you
can only focus on the central problem if you really
understand what it is
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
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The problem is a point of view and describes how a
cause or effect impacts you (the people leading the
new competition might be delighted by the change)
The cause and the effect, however, are objective
facts – i.e. in the absence of intervention, new
competition may or may not create customer
defections irrespective of your point of view on the
matter
Your goal is to change some aspect of the cause,
the causes of the cause, the effect, or the impact of
the effect so that you no longer have the central
problem
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Step 1: Identify the Problem
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Sometime knowing the problem, its cause, and its
effect provides enough information to resolve the
problem. If so, skip to step 3 of Basic Business
Planning
Sometime knowing the problem, cause, and effect is
not enough to solve the problem. If so, go to step 2
of Basic Business Planning
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Step 2: Create a Cause and
Effects Chain or Net
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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A basic problem has a cause and an effect
However this cause and effect does not take place
in isolation
Cause
Yields
New
Competition
Effect
Defection
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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Another cause yielded your cause and your effect
will act as a cause for another effect
Cause
Yields
New
Competition
Cause
Open
Market
Yields
Effect
New
Competition
Effect
Defection
Cause
Yields
Defection
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Effect
Lost Revenues
Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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Identify Root Causes – Think of your original cause
as an effect and describe its preceding cause
Identify Ripple Effects – Think of your original effect
as a cause for another effect and describe that next
effect
Repeat backwards and forwards from the original
problem as many times and with as many branches
as makes sense
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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A cause and effects net develops that is limitless in
depth
Root Causes
“Ripple” Effects
Cause
Yields
New
Competition
Effect
Defection
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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Your goal is to create your desired result as
effectively and efficiently as possible anywhere
along the cause and effects net that you can
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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For example – If your goal is to keep new competition
from causing undesired change, you could:
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Get to market with a better solution first
Buy out competition in advance
Provide alternatives in your product suite
Diminish the new competition through the legal system
Contain the defections to a specific segment
Increase your presence in the market to raise the stakes
Decrease commitment to the affected market
Embrace the competitor as a partner
Etc
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Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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Going through the cards helps you
to assemble such lists of
possibilities:
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Get to market with a better solution
first
Buy out competition in advance
Provide alternatives in your product
suite
Diminish the new competition
through the legal system
Contain the defections to a
specific segment
Increase your presence in the
market to raise the stakes
Decrease commitment to the
affected market
Embrace the competitor as a
partner
Etc
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects
Chain or Net
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The more extensive your cause and effects net, and
the earlier you deal with the problem, the more
options you have to resolve that problem
Ideally you will resolve the problem without a direct
market contest
If a market contest is necessary, you seek to win the
competition in the fastest, most effective, and most
efficient way possible
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Step 3: Initial Problem
Solving Effort
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Step 3: Initial Problem Solving
Effort
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In step 3, you start using the Art of War cards to help
you resolve the problem
Each card has bullet points that serve a specific
function
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Step 3: Initial Problem Solving
Effort
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Browse the Art of War
cards for ideas to
change the cause or
the effect
If you have set up a
cause and effects chain
or net in step 2,
consider any of the
causes or effects in the
system
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Step 3: Initial Problem Solving
Effort
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Consider each card:
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Is it useful?
Can you use it?
How might you use it?
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Step 3: Initial Problem Solving
Effort
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Sometimes the strategy and
basis provide enough
information to solve the
problem. If so, record your
solution and put it into the
plan
Sometimes the strategy and
basis do not provide
enough information to solve
the problem. If so, go to
step 4
If the strategy is not useful,
choose another card
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Step 4: Expanding the
Solution
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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Expanding the solution involves developing the
strategy or strategies chosen to resolve a problem
into the concept of a plan
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Situation
Goal and Objectives
Intent
Execution
Service & Support
Communication
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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For example, lets suppose
that two competitors have
postured to fight a price war
and threaten, therefore, to
cut into badly needed profits
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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The problem is economic harm to you that will
come from the disruption of a profitable market
environment
The cause of the problem is two competitors that
can find no better way to compete than to start
slashing prices
The effect is a disruption of market profitability that
your company needs for good business
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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If ‘Change the Scope of the
Engagement’ appears
useful for dealing with the
competitive moves, you
might ask how you will
implement ‘Change the
Scope of the Engagement’
You may already have an
idea, or you can seek out
another or additional ideas
on other cards
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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You might decide to
‘Change the Scope of
the Engagement’ by
choosing to take sides,
at least initially, by
creating a marketing
alliance
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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You might decide that
aiding the fortunes of
one competitor might
allow market forces to
eliminate the other
competitor’s effective
market presence
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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Or in fact, it might help
you eliminate both
adversaries, since you
can deal with the other
after you have dealt
with the one
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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This being the plan
behind the plan the
competitor you aided
does not see or cannot
do much about
Your planning does not
stop here…
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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The deck allow you do go to any level of detail you
intend to go
However, since the deck does have a military origin,
remember that in business all things you could do
may include things you should not do
Write each decided strategy into your plan
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Step 4: Expanding the Solution
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Keep in mind that the strategy on any given card
may serve as the answer to any other given card
The details of how to use a strategy require your
expertise in your particular domain, and a solid
understanding of other domains
‘Change the Scope of the Engagement’ may mean
something different to a marketing officer versus a
financial officer or member of the board, even
though the underlying principle is the same
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Center of Gravity
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Center of Gravity
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The Center of Gravity is
the element within a
system that, by creating
some change to that
element, will produce
your intended result
A key part of business
planning is knowing
where best to effect
change
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Center of Gravity
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The Center of Gravity
card prompts you to
consider all physical
and behavioral aspects
of a system in order to
achieve the desired
effect (resolved
problem) with the
minimal use of
resources
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Center of Gravity
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To illustrate the concept, if you
have a cup of cold water and an
objective to cool down a vat of
boiling water, you might best meet
your objective by using the water
to douse the fire under the vat
instead of pouring it into the vat
itself
The fire would be your center of
gravity for effecting the desired
change in that system
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Center of Gravity
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The ideal business
center of gravity opens
opportunity with a
minimal expenditure of
your own energy
The objective might
include to gain
innovative leadership
by raising the pace you
can introduce new
products to the market
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Center of Gravity
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Your ability to innovate
at a faster pace could
serve to cripple your
competitor’s capacity to
influence market trends
Or you might force him
to take action to defend
himself in a way you
have prepared to
receive him
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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All systems have elements and processes that turn
input into output
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
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Center of Gravity
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Your goal is to find the most effective and efficient
place in a system to effect a desired change
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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For example, all members of a business need to
communicate with each other and seek to improve
that element of control
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
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Center of Gravity
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A likely Center of Gravity is to turn this idea into a
decisive competitive advantage by improving how
market information is used for sales
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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Which means that anywhere you choose you can
respond and deliver to market needs faster than
your competitor
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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And your capacity to act or not act with some
measure of secrecy gives your company a larger
psychological presence than physical presence
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input
Subsystem
Output
System
Super system
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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Always keeping in mind, however, that your
competitor is intelligent and resourceful, and will,
given the opportunity and time, find a way to counter
your successes with some other form of competition
A key to defending against him is to stay one cycle
ahead of him in your planning (See Decision Cycle
coming up)
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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In a cause and effects net, you look for where you
can effect the most change with the least effort as a
prime location for a solution
You also look for areas where a competitor cannot
make easy adjustments
Root Causes
“Ripple” Effects
Cause
Fire
Yields
Effect
Boiling Water
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity
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The is an underlying
idea behind striking
with a borrowed hand
used successfully by
corporations that can
afford to employ
lobbyists to create their
best market
environment
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Center of Gravity

It is important to conduct business planning
against yourself to anticipate what a
competitor might target as a center of gravity
against you
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Center of Gravity

Bottom line: Use the Center of Gravity card to
consider all aspects of where to best position a
solution for opportunities and threats
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Decision Cycle
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Decision Cycle
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Winning in business involves resolving problems for
prospective customers and directly or indirectly
causing problems for your competitors
For example, a plan that gives you control of a key
market creates a problem for a competitor that no
longer leads that market
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Decision Cycle
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Your objective is to win the race of decision cycles
whereby your plan can not only work, but work
despite active opposition to your success
You accomplish this by creating situations that your
competitor cannot deal with at your pace, which has
the byproduct of causing him to make exploitable
mistakes
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Decision Cycle
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The intent behind the Art of War
cards is to accelerate
transitions in thought
You make better decisions
faster because you:
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
Do not have to reinvent strategies
that are already known before you
use them
Are not limited, in a crisis, to
selecting only those strategies at
the top of your mind
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Decision Cycle
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Bottom Line: You will have opposition when your
solutions create a problem for someone else
For Business Planning, you want to create rapid
transitions that delight customers and keep
competitors off balance
What appears to be the best decision is
generally not your best decision if your
competitor can anticipate it
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Games
Art of War Cards Games
Description
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Strateffects™
Strategy Sparring
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Games Description Art of War Cards
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Strateffects™ provides a game for seeking problems
along a cause and effects net
Other games act like sparring for the mind and
improve strategic mental agility
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Strateffects™ A game for the world as
it is…
1. Select a strategic problem to solve.
2. Describe what the problem is and what the problem means.
3. Build a cause and effects chain forward and backward from the
problem. For example, if the problem is “I do not have outside
support, meaning I will have to proceed on my own,” you might
go forward with “I will have to proceed on my own, meaning I will
have to succeed with the resources I have,” and then “I will have
to succeed with the resources I have, meaning I will have only
one chance to reach my objective.” You might go backward with
“I have moved beyond the capacity of my support to reach me,
meaning I do not have outside support,” and before that, “my
objective is remote, meaning I have to move beyond the capacity
of my support to reach me.” Go forward and backward at least
two steps from the central problem; branches are
acceptable. (Within reason, the broader your cause and effects
chain or net, the better your potential result.)
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Strateffects™ A game for the world as
it is…
4. Deal at least five Strategy cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck to each player.
5. Allow each player, on successive turns, to apply a Strategy card
anywhere along the cause and effects chain – to include
supporting previously played cards – in a way that supports the
resolution of the original strategic problem. For the example in
#2 above, the card 10 of Diamonds, FEINT IN THE EAST, ACT
IN THE WEST, evokes the possibility that you might draw an
adversary away from your objective thereby eliminating your
need for support at the objective. Queen of Hearts, CREATE
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING, evokes the possibility you might
cause your adversary to believe you have support even though
you do not. You might further develop the Queen of Hearts by
playing the 3 of Clubs, SOW A DISCORD, that evokes the
possibility you might allow your adversaries to discover “secrets”
that are actually false – the secret in this example being that your
support has greater reach than it does.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Strateffects™ A game for the world as
it is…
6. Draw cards to replace those used.
7. Play until you have a plan, succeed at a plan, or until cards run
out.
8. For real world problems, play is continuous as the situation
changes.
9. You win as a team by solving the strategic problem, though a
moderator or group consensus can award the designation of
winner for training games.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Strategy Sparing
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
Strategy Sparring™ is a game developed with Foreign Services
officers. Just like physical martial arts sparing, there is no winner per
say in this game. The goal is to improve the thinking skills under fire of
both participants. You use the cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck to exercise your mind and develop real-time
strategic agility on your feet.
Shuffle the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck, and draw five
cards each. Decide who goes first. Draw another card from the deck
and place the card face up on the table. In less than 10 seconds, have
the first player select a counterstrategy from his card deck, place that
card face up on the table, and draw a replacement card from the
deck. In less than 10 seconds, have the second player select a counter
strategy to the first player’s card, place that card face up on the table,
and draw a replacement card from the deck. Continue this sparing
cycle until you go through the entire deck. (If you have a chess clock or
two stop watches, you can use them to keep up the pace and make the
sparing more competitive.)
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Additional Resources
This concludes How to Use the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck for Business Planning
Additional resources appear at
www.centerforadvantage.com
www.artofwarcards.com
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Also by Robert Cantrell
Heartland Reviews
As a retired military intelligence professional
and conflict theorist, I must say this is the
best interpretation of Sun Tzu’s classic
work I have read. The author focuses on
the meanings behind this ancient
Chinese war philosopher’s writings. He
puts them into a modern context, making
them easy to understand. Apparently the
Department of Defense agrees with me
on this, since they have selected Mr.
Cantrell’s book as a text for the National
War College in Washington DC. This is a
must read for all military officers and
business leaders. It rated a perfect five
hearts.
Bob Spear
Chief Reviewer for Heartland Reviews,
Leavenworth, KS
© Center For Advantage - 2005