Eastern promises: a philosophical exploration of decision making under 'unconventional' and asymmetric competition Online publication date: Thu, 28-Aug-2014
by Udechukwu Ojiako; Yue Liu; Johnnie Johnson
International Journal of Business Environment (IJBE), Vol. 5, No. 1, 2012
Abstract: Bingfa, most popularly recognised in Western literary circles as the art of war, was an ancient Chinese treatise on strategy probably produced around 515-512 BC. Representing perhaps one of the most concise and comprehensive works on Eastern military strategy and decision making it primarily advocates indirect engagement with competitors, particularly where absolute certainty of success is limited. In this paper, utilising a series of propositions, the authors conduct a philosophical exploration into how Sun Tzu's work may possibly inform thinking on strategic decision making (hereafter SDM). The authors discuss how a sizeable body of literature exists which outlines how Sun Tzu may be applied to strategic decision making in the West. The reality however is that a large majority of such works remains largely conceptual in nature. Following these traditions, in this study the authors seek to utilise theories associated with social interpretation (hermeneutics) to relate Sun Tzu's work to SDM.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Business Environment (IJBE):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook