Introduction
As Ansoff (1990) puts it, “strategic studies is the study of statecraft as it relates to military power and war is an activity that has been pursued with great earnestness by billions of humans over millennia.” International affairs have largely been shaped by the fact that war is inexistent. There is also the danger of having some activities that take place worldwide been short-sighted when they are secluded from certain interesting subjects such as economics, art, anthropology or any other field (p.19).
More often than not, strategist behaviour is well shaped by the substantial level of human nature as well as the international system. Additionally, every strategic problem is normally a sui generis which basically means that it is almost impossible to construct a rather candid guidebook, to say the least, that will act as a guardian to any leader in whatever situation towards victory (Freedman, 1994, p.89).
Times may have changed; however, the means and ways used in strategizing in the ancient world or rather years back will always be important in contemporary planning and strategizing. This basically means that the at whatever level, contemporary strategic planners need to borrow a leaf or two from the famous ancient strategists like Sun Tzu, Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, Antoine-Henri de Jomini and Niccolo Machiavelli amongst others. Given that no organization or government whatsoever can ever achieve its goals without sufficient planning, there are various opinions as well as themes that the mentioned individuals brought out.
Sun Tzu
Contemporary Strategic Planners have a lot to teach from Sun Tzu, the Chinese warrior who is famous for writing the book ‘Art of war ‘about 2000 years ago. In this book, written in speech form, there are a lot of formulae that any type of leader can use in order to achieve success at any given time. Some of the principles mentioned by sun Tzu are that of winning without any battle. This principle basically means that one might not necessarily have the same resources that the opponent has; however; this does not mean that one has to fail.
Thus he advises the individual not to put to overexpose themselves to danger, but they can retreat so as to be able to reevaluate their strategies (Chaliand, 1994, p.62). More so, contemporary strategic planners can get to know the strengths as well as the weaknesses of their opponents. This enables them to come up with a viable plan that will ensure they achieve success by using both their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses against them.
Another principle that contemporary strategic planners can pick from
Sun Tzu is that of knowledge. In this particular principle, he advises that there one should not ignore their enemy at any particular time. As a matter of fact, they should endeavour to study their opponents inside out. He goes ahead to mention that the chances of winning or losing that are as a result of ignorance are equal. Hence one is never assured of success due to the lack of information that will enable one to come up with a good plan against the enemy. This is the reason why some contemporary strategic planners for instance managers of large as well as small organizations go ahead and use the SWOT analysis which means they evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as the crucial elements in order to achieve success.
Sun Tzu also goes ahead to encourage people always to be prepared. He goes ahead to mention that lack of preparedness is one of the greatest crimes. Therefore, contemporary strategic planners need to understand that being well equipped in terms of finances and other important resources is of paramount importance before attempting any activity or mission. This is meant to avoid wastage and most importantly, the massive damage that unexpected events can cause. By being prepared, he also implies that the results may not be earned immediately, but in the long run, it serves as a significant investment.
Carl von Clausewitz
This was a Prussian Military theorist who was also a writer. One of the books he wrote was ‘on war’ which became very popular during his lifetime in the late 18th century. Many people, including some thoughtful soldiers such as Field Marshal Helmut von Moltke, used this book as their daily source of guidance. The success of the book and the principles it upholds have clearly been brought out by the stunning victories that this soldier had in various wars (Clausewitz, 1988, p. 77).
There are various principles that Clausewitz can offer to contemporary strategic planners this includes the evaluation of the remote environment. By this, he actually meant that the whole army should be well prepared and aware of the components used by humans to influence any decisions made this also includes the civilians, the army itself most importantly the commander (Gaddis, 2005, p.33). Given that this is a battle zone setting, contemporary strategic planners must understand that the concerns of the civilians in the war are analogous to the stakeholders and the employees in ay organization. Therefore, for the organization to perform at its best, these important components of the organization have to be taken care of (William 1991, 278).
Another important principle that he puts out is that of ensuring that the internal environment within any organization is carefully assessed. This basically means that the firms and organizations need to assess themselves, their weaknesses as well as their strengths to ensure that they meet the requirements for success that the external environment possesses for them. This helps to avoid the unwanted surprises that may lead to the wastage of resources and more so, confusion in the organization.
In addition to this, the contemporary strategic planners are required to set a clear strategic intent. This is meant to clearly illustrate the path the organization is to take towards success, including the resources that will be required (Dan 2003, 236). The intent, as Von Clausewitz mentions, is meant to prepare an organization and its members to take the appropriate actions. This is the long run will assist in the achievement of not only the short term goals but the long term goals as well
Antoine-Henri de Jomini
This was a Swiss-born individual who was a militant in the Russian Army. In the long run, he ended up in Napoleon’s army. It was during his time that warfare was considered to have evolved into a scientific affair. This particular individual was keen on having ensuring success during wars and tried to convince Napoleon and his counterparts to apply the principles.
Therefore one of these principles is that of using a good number of forces upon a certain decisive point. This clearly illustrates the importance of unity amongst people working towards a common goal (Paul, 1991, p.68). It is therefore important that the contemporary strategic planners take to apply this principle. This is mainly because the unity from a good number of people ensures that the workload is made light. Hence the achievement of certain set goals may not be very hard, although not assured.
Niccolo Machiavelli
In this day and age, “Machiavellian’ is normally used when referring to various shrewd opportunists who would do anything to achieve their goals whether they follow the legal or illegal path. Being a great believer in the various virtues that a republic brings forth, Machiavelli went ahead to write a book in 1531 while he lived in Florence, Italy. In this book, there were various principles he brought on planning and strategizing. Most of the principles brought out by Machiavelli were written in his book the ‘prince’ (Gilbert, 1986, p.22).
Some of the principles, as mentioned by Gulick (1967) that the contemporary planner can pick from Niccolo include the creation of a vision. Given that Machiavelli mostly concentrated on the change that was taking place at the time, his writings were mostly concentrated change and its effect on the surrounding people. A vision is a tool that gives people in the organization a sense of direction (p.111). It creates harmony too as people know what they have to do day in day out as the members of a particular country or organization get to see the objectives they need to achieve. This helps avoid the involvement of the organization in dubious activities which includes the confusing projects that never bear fruit (Paret, 1986, p.97).
The contemporary planners need to understand that a sense of urgency should be put in place. This means that reevaluation one’s position before taking the necessary steps is very necessary. More so, he encourages that the subordinates be given the right information on matters concerning where the organization really stands (Smith, 2002, p.58). Therefore, if their position is at a bad place where the competitors are taking over, one can be able to use this as a motivation to work harder. In any setting it therefore very important that the threats that come with any step taken are discussed openly amongst the members.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the various ancient writers are very inspirational, especially to contemporary strategic planners. However, there are those that do not have very much to offer the planners an example being Jomini and Clausewitz. Machiavelli and Sun Tzu seem to be very resourceful to the planners. Their principles were used by most famous theorists as well as the military commanders who without a doubt, ended up winning the various wars. These principles can be applied in the contemporary world and time does not change what needs to be done in order to achieve success.
It is also evident that most of the principles seem to overlap each other even though the main theme is the same: success. The formulas given for success include unity, planning, preparedness and reevaluation of both the internal and the external environments. This enables the leaders in various levels to avoid unnecessary shocks that may lead to wastage of precious time as well as resources trying to cover up for their mistakes.
References
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