Create something from nothing

“Make believe” is a business manoeuvre that can be practised by new entrant to the market or a medium company facing a giant in business competition. The central theme here is to simulate an illusory idea and introduce it into the enemy quarter and allow him to wonder what all is about.

One good example of this business manoeuvre is to spread false info that a takeover bid is eminent over the strong enemy by a consortium of firms whose identity is not disclosed.  The idea here is to sell a lie as truth. The falsehood is repeated 3 or 4 times without any effort to actualize the takeover. At this moment, enemy considers that it is plain rumour or fake news and go about his normal routine as if nothing happened and nothing would happen in the near future. 

The theorem “create something from nothing” is the seventh one in the Chinese “36 stratagem” that discusses how to fight an enemy using an intrigue and simulate it as truth so that enemy believes it is serious initially, and when nothing further happens after few occasions, lowers his guard and concentrates elsewhere. Following a pattern of false-false-false suddenly it becomes true. Now the takeover bid is done at such speed that the target firm has no wherewithal to fight back.  Most InfoTech companies are taken over or acquired by this process.

In Chinese folk lore there is an incident that is celebrated giving rise to this stratagem. In 756 AD, General Ling Hu Chao of the Qin state attacked Yongqui that resulted in Qin state exhausting all its arrows. General Chang Sun defending the fortress found two imperatives: one he need to replenish lost arrows secondly he need to contrive a manoeuvre to defeat the invaders. So he ordered his men to lower straw mannequins in front of the Qin army few times.

Consequently Qin army fired several volleys of arrows. After lowering 3 straw mannequins General Sun got enough arrows. By this time General Chao of Qin state, thought there is no point raining down arrows. When the fourth straw mannequin was lowered he ignored at his peril. In fact the fourth time, it was highly trained warriors who emerged from the mannequin and made short work of the Qin Army in no time!

 

Cheers! 

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist