Military principles of chinese origin to improve competitivenes

The growth of China’s economy and paralleling that, its construction market, and the improved performance of Chinese construction firms in international market make the study of Chinese firms’ competitiveness a worthwhile endeavor. The aim of this paper is to review the relevance of Chinese military strategies in general, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War in particular to improve business competitiveness. To achieve this objective, four steps were adopted. Firstly, traditional Chinese military principles were identified. Secondly, a comparison among seven Chinese military principles was made and one strategy, Sun Tzu’s Art of War was identified as representative of Chinese military principles. Thirdly, Sun Tzu’s Art of War was reviewed in detail and its relevance to business competition was investigated. Finally, a brief comparison between Sun Tzu’s military principle and Porter’s (1980) general strategy for competitiveness was made. The purpose of this paper is to identify useful military principles that can be used in business competition in China.