"The
greatest change in corporate culture - and the way business is
being conducted - may be the accelerated growth of relationships
based... on partnership."
Peter F. Drucker
"Businesses
once grew by one of two ways; grass roots up, or by acquisition...
Today businesses grow through alliances - all kinds of dangerous
alliances. Joint ventures and customer partnerings which, by the way, very few people understand."
Peter
F. Drucker
"Those who establish adaptable formations
will survive even if they are small.
While those who establish unadaptable formations shall perish
- even if they are large. So it
has been since the beginning of time."
From The Ancient Book of the Huainan Masters
(a 2000 year old Chinese war text)
"The man
who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how
much he can give for a dollar instead of how little he can give
for a dollar, is bound to succeed."
Henry Ford
"What
enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and
conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men,
is foreknowledge."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"The
relative size of your force as against that of your adversary
is by itself of no consequence. What controls is the relative
size of your force at the point where you join in battle. You
can strike with the few and be many if you strike your adversary
in his gaps. Seek out places where the defense is not strict,
the place not tightly guarded, the generals weak, the troops disorderly,
the supplies are scarce and the forces are isolated."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"Be
the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies
the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares
of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access
to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting
ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances
you are in peril."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"We
cannot enter into informed alliances until we are acquainted with
the designs of our neighbors and the plans of our adversaries.
_ When entering enemy territory, in order to lead your army, you
must know the face of the country - its mountains and forests,
its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. Without local
guides, you are unable to turn to your account the natural advantages
to be obtained from the land. Without local guides, your enemy
employs the land as a weapon against you."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"Unless
you know the mountains and the forests, the defiles and impasses,
the lay of the marshes and swamps, you cannot maneuver with an
armed force. Unless you use local guides, you cannot get the advantages
of the land."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"So
in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what
is weak. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the
ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory
in relation to the foe whom he is facing."
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"...collaboration
has become a dominant dimension of competitive strategy. Competition
will always be there, as yin will always be there for yang. But
companies that were previously fixated on how they could gain
advantage from another's loss are now instinctively looking to
see how they can gain from another's gain."
UPSIDE Magazine.
"In war
everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult."
General Carl Von Clausewitz