Sun Tzu Ping Fa and its relevance to contemporary management: An introduction

Abstract

The Chinese general Sun Tzu stands as a leviathan in the annals of military thought. However, what is possibly less well recognised by Western managers is that the ideas contained within the treatise Sun Tzu Ping Fa have and continue to shape business thinking in the East to a profound degree. In this article we discuss the problems of authorship of the treatise and provide an overview of Sun Tzu's philosophy. The philosophy is then related to Western military thinking and parallels are drawn with contemporary perspectives on strategic management. Finally, the problems of interpreting and applying ancient texts to contemporary management are discussed.