The 36 Stratagems for Business. Trick Techniques and Cunning Behaviors of Strategy. Six categories of Cunning Techniques. Four Ethical Categories of Cunning.

May 16, 2011 by smsadmin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business Strategy

The 36 Stratagems
According to the treatise 36 Stratagems: The Secret Book of the Art of War (Sanshiliu Ji: Miben Bingfa) from circa AD 1500.
1. Crossing the sea while deceiving the heaven/Deceiving the emperor [by inviting him to a house by the sea that is really a disguised ship] and [thus causing him to] cross the sea
2. Besieging [the undefended capital of the country of] Wei to rescue Zhao [the country that has been attacked by the Wei forces]
3. Killing with a borrowed knife
4. Awaiting at one’s ease the exhausted enemy
5. Taking advantage of a conflagration to commit robbery
6. Clamor in the east, attack in the west
7. Creating something out of nothing
8. Openly repairing the [burned wooden] walkway, in secret [before completing the repairs] marching to Chencang [to attack the enemy]
9. Observing the fire burning on the opposite shore [seemingly uninvolved]
10. Hiding the dagger behind a smile
11. Letting the plum tree wither in place of the peach tree
12. [Quick-wittedly] leading away the sheep [that unexpectedly crosses one’s path]
13. Beating the grass to startle the snakes
14. Borrowing a corpse for the soul’s return
15. Luring the tiger down from the mountain [onto the plain]
16. If one wishes to catch something, one has first to let it go
17. Tossing out a brick to attract jade
18. Catching the bandits by first catching the ringleader
19. Removing the firewood from under the cauldron
20. Clouding the water to catch the fish [robbed of their clear sight]
21. The cicada casts off its skin of gleaming gold
22. Shutting the door to capture the thief
23. Befriending a distant enemy to attack an enemy nearby
24. Borrowing a route [through the country of Yu] for an attack against [its neighboring country of] Guo [, in order to capture Yu after the conquest of Guo]
25. Stealing the beams and replacing the pillars [on the inside, while leaving the facade of the house unchanged]
26. Cursing the acacia, [while] pointing at the mulberry tree
27. Feigning madness without losing the balance
28. Removing the ladder after [the opponent] has climbed onto the roof
29. Decorating a [barren] tree with [artificial] flowers
30. Turning [the role of] the guest into [that of] the host
31. The stratagem of the beautiful man/woman
32. The stratagem of opening the gates [of a city that is unprepared
for self-defense]
33. The special agent stratagem/The stratagem of sowing discord
34. The stratagem of the suffering flesh
35. The linking stratagem/Stratagem-linking
36. [When the situation is growing hopeless,] running away [in good time] is the best stratagem

Stratagem and strategy
These two words are frequently confused. “Stratagem” is another word for “ruse,” or “artifice.” By “strategy” managers usually understand “long-term planning with regard to basic company targets,” as opposed to “tactics” in the sense of “short-term planning.” Long-term plans—strategies—and likewise short-term plans—tactics—can be completely free of cunning. For this reason, one should differentiate between a stratagem, a strategy, and a tactic.

A stratagem may be used strategically, that is, with a long-term objective relevant to the basic company targets, but also tactically, that is, short-term, as well as operatively, involving the overarching planning of several tactical steps. A distinction must therefore be made between a strategic, operative, and tactical use of stratagem.

Stratagem and deception
Stratagem is a neutral word for “trickery” or “cunning.” So an explanation must be given of what a “trick” is. Trickery is often equated with deception. But it is important to get away from this narrow definition of trickery. The best Chinese description of a “trick” is “Create something unusual to achieve a victory” (Chu qi zhi sheng). This saying corresponds to the Duden* definition of a trick: “a means by which one (by deceiving others) tries to achieve something that could not be achieved by normal means.” Duden puts “deceiving others” in parentheses because deception is not essential for trickery.
So there is also a form of trickery that is free of deception. In short, trickery is an artful, unusual, cunning means of solving problems, which sometimes—but by no means always—entails the use of deception.

Stratagem and wisdom
If you strike on an unconventional solution to a problem that surprises an opponent, the Chinese perceive this as a sign of cleverness and resourcefulness. So it is no surprise that the main Chinese character for “wisdom” and “intelligence,” among others denoting a Confucian cardinal virtue, namely, (zhi), also means “stratagem.” Knowledge of stratagem, thus, appears as a sign of intelligence. The wise person might or, rather, ought to be familiar with tricks, and in particular to be able to see through them—and is admired for that.
Blindness to cunning is seen as stupidity and is ridiculed. Of course, the intelligence of the cunning person is always relative. Compared to someone who is even stupider, a stupid person may be a little bit cleverer and capable of outsmarting them with his “small intelligence” (xiao congming).

Six categories of cunning techniques

As the 36 stratagems are derived from a broad concept of cunning, which also includes ruses that are free from deceit, they encompass a diverse range of behaviors. The first step is to carry out a rough stratagemic analysis, allocating each ruse to one of six basic 36 Six categories of cunning techniques 33 categories of cunning. A refined stratagemic analysis can then be
performed, attributing them to one of several of the 36 stratagems.
Using this technique helps one to better understand ruses intellectually and, therefore, also on a practical level.
The Chinese “keyboard” of strategemical techniques with its 36 keys can be roughly divided into six basic categories.

1. Concealment stratagems: Their purpose is to hide an existing reality, for example, stratagem 10, “Hiding the dagger behind a smile.”
2. Simulation stratagems: Their purpose is to lead someone to believe in something that does not exist, for example, stratagem 29, “Decorating a [barren] tree with [artificial] flowers.”
3. Disclosure stratagems: Their purpose is to uncover something that cannot easily be ascertained, for example,
stratagem 13, “Beating the grass to startle the snakes.”
4. Exploitation stratagems: Their purpose is to make use of a situation that one has instigated oneself, or that just happens to have occurred, for example, stratagem 20, “Clouding the water to catch the fish [robbed of their clear sight].”
5. Stratagem-linking: Two or more stratagems used cumulatively, or one after the other, lead to the goal.
6. Escape stratagems: Their purpose is self-protection by avoiding a precarious situation, for example, stratagem 36, “[When the situation is growing hopeless,] running away [in good time] is the best stratagem.”

In the case of the technically hybrid stratagems that do not only belong to one of the six categories, I do not give them their own individual category. It should be noted that only the stratagems belonging to categories 1 and 2 are based on deception. I call them “deception stratagems.” However, the stratagems in categories 3 to 5 are not intrinsically based on deception. They are “presence 34 16 Building Blocks of the Art of Stratagem stratagems,” which rely on the skillful manipulation of ambiguous multileveled and multifaceted reality, full of opportunities. Anyone who equates cunning with lies/deception/cheating/untruth/dishonesty encourages partial blindness to cunning, because they are unable to recognize the rich wealth of stratagems that are devoid of deception.

Four Ethical Categories of Cunning

Cunning in itself is merely a tool. In the same way that a car can be used as a life-saving means to transport a critically ill patient to hospital, but also for a bank robbery, cunning can serve good, but also bad, purposes. The fact that here in the West we actually all accept trickery that is used for good purposes can be demonstrated by our reaction to Grimm’s fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel use cunning to kill off the witch. Even the brave tailor kills the two giants using trickery. In cases like this, the use of cunning does not bother anybody. This shows that we also see cunning as a morally neutral instrument, just like a car. This remark has nothing to do with a theoretical justification of the sentence “The end justifies the means,” but points only to the fact that in the Western world the use of cunning that serves a good purpose is spontaneously applauded. In fact, we take it for granted that trickery that serves the good is mostly approved. It is just when Westerners start theorizing that they often feel uneasy, because they perceive cunning in itself as a horrible, fiendish tool. However, this unrealistic theoretical Western condemnation of cunning by no means reflects life in the Western world itself, which is full of cunning. However, Western cunning is unfortunately mainly the result of a gut instinct, and thus without reflection and without theory, with no regard to wisdom and intelligence, and with no scientific foundation.

In considering the purpose of cunning from an ethical point of view, four different categories can be distinguished.

1. Damage stratagems: The destructive egotistical element prevails.
Example: the stratagems used by white-collar criminals.
2. Service stratagems: These have a constructive purpose.
Example: the quick-witted use of the kairos stratagem 12, “Leading the sheep away,” for the purpose of recognizing and exploiting business opportunities.
3. Joke stratagems: In this case, ruses are used to amuse.
Example: joke articles stocked by a department store. Joke stratagems in business still appear to be barely recognized and developed, particularly in the area of advertising, which is generally much too serious.
4. Ethically hybrid stratagems: This is an area where it really isn’t clear whether the stratagem is destructive or constructive, whether one should laugh or cry.
Example: certain Benetton advertising campaigns. These caused a sensation because of their cunning shock tactics (use of stratagem 13, “Beating the grass to startle the snakes”), and were successful in this respect, but they did make people feel uneasy.