Marketing warfare strategies

Marketing warfare strategies represent a type of strategy, used in commerce and marketing, that tries to draw parallels between business and warfare, and then applies the principles of military strategy to business situations, with competing firms considered as analogous to sides in a military conflict, and market share considered as analogous to territory in dispute. This view of marketing argues that in mature, low-growth markets, and when real GDP growth is negative or low, commerce operates as a zero-sum game. One participant's gain is possible only at another participant's expense. Success depends on battling competitors for market share.

Strategy is the organized deployment of resources to achieve specific objectives, something that business and warfare have in common. In the 1980s business strategists realized that there was a vast knowledge base stretching back thousands of years that they had barely examined. They turned to military strategy for guidance. Military strategy books like The Art of War by Sun Tzu, On War by von Clausewitz, and The Little Red Book by Mao Zedong became business classics.

From Sun Tzu they learned the tactical side of military strategy and specific tactical proscriptions. In regard to what business strategists call "first-mover advantage", Sun Tzu said: "Generally, he who occupies the field of battle first and awaits an enemy is at ease, he who comes later to the scene and rushes into the fight is weary." From Von Clausewitz they learned the dynamic and unpredictable nature of military strategy. Clausewitz felt that in a situation of and confusion, strategy should be based on flexible principles. Strategy comes not from formula or rules of engagement, but from adapting to what he called "friction" (minute by minute events). From Mao Zedong they learned the principles of guerrilla warfare.

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