Business warfare, symmetrical asymmetrical response

When business warfare breaks out between two powerful companies, the first to open the salvo gets only a temporary advantage that too in the short run. In the long run the other firm could choose between either symmetrical or asymmetrical response or both blended to make the counter move effective.

Symmetrical response basically means that the responder looks at the proportion & severity of the damage caused by the attacking firm and mirror it exactly when delivering the counter punch. Giants in the business often do not over-react but calibrate their response in a timely & orderly manner keeping to the overriding concept of symmetry in terms of impact. In cola war and in internet & social media contest this maxim is adhered to, by all.

Asymmetrical response, on the other hand means that there is no adherence to the proportion, severity or identity. Responder can opt for various ways to counter. One is to get a third party to move against the initiator, of course, using the resources and technology of the responder. A good example happens in tobacco industry on and off where a third party firm brings out a new type of cigarette at the behest of the responder to engage in business warfare.

Another alternative is to drop ‘paying in the same coin’ and apply an altogether different response that the initiator would have never expected. In cereal and food industry responder can choose different type of inputs composition. For example, in oats marketing you will see plain ones and others that include nuts & fruits to captivate the buyers. In Germany oats are packaged with different assortment of edibles so that asymmetrical business warfare beats the originator in style.

Third option is to use both symmetrical and asymmetrical responses simultaneously in business warfare. Here the initiator who attacked first, finds himself caught where the responder mirrors the response in similar proportion and severity but use asymmetrical response by alerting the state regulatory body that oversees the industry, by proving an unhealthy practice of the initiator and request them to proceed upholding justice. This type of symmetrical & asymmetrical response often takes place in mergers & acquisition where the aggrieved party alerts Federal Trade Commission or such regulatory body as regards to the proven malpractice.

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist

 

Bretton Woods: hidden agenda led to its demise

Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, was touted as great success for the global economic reconstruction after the devastation of WWII. But there were misgivings.  France silently and Soviet Union vocally objected to the content & purpose of it. Both saw through the hidden agenda.

Soviet Union got out blaming the creation of two institutions i.e. the International monetary Fund (IMF) & the World Bank as ‘two sisters of Bretton Woods’ purportedly acting as branches of the Wall Street of New York. France was inside but started peeing into the agreement by adopting measures to counter its effectiveness.

General De Gaulle went on to call Bretton woods as ‘America’s exorbitant privilege’ of benefiting from the rest of others. He did not stop at that and went on to buy gold rather than stocking a cache of US Dollars.

America’s hidden agenda consists of a number of vectors, chief amongst these is the idea of being the Number One in geoeconomics. At the time of conclusion of WWII even America was going through hard times yet it had in its possession more than two thirds of global gold at Ford Knox. That led to near monopoly in gold holdings and the ability to let dollar be converted to gold. This alone made US$ an indispensable currency. France & Britain failed to get this privilege to their respective currencies Franc & Sterling.

By promoting US$ as a trading currency with guaranteed of convertibility to gold USA speeded up the printing & circulating US$ currencies at an alarming rate. Most countries especially in the Global South were baited to dispense with Franc & Sterling and opt for US$ as significant trading currency. Moreover, they were motivated to have their reserves in US Dollars parked not only in USA banks but elsewhere in the European continent.

The impression created by USA that ‘Dollar is as good as Gold’ induced further  demand for US$ as trading currency and to a great extent as reserve currency leading to a situation where one cannot do without the Dollar in one’s day to day life. Consequently, in order to meet up with the global demand not to mention domestic demand for US Dollars, the US authorities decided to keep running the Dollar printing machinery without any halt.

At one point there has to be time for reckoning. US government found that they do not have sufficient gold if and when there is a dollar run over the convertibility to gold.  President Nixon instructed Treasury Secretary John Connelly to initially suspend and later abandon Dollar’s convertibility to gold. Finally the hidden agenda of America was thrown out and led to the demise of Bretton Woods.

Sic transit Gloria mundi was seen in its entire manifestation as concept of Dollar convertibility to gold was dusted along with the fixed exchange system that ensured financial stability.  Many countries that pegged their currencies to the US$ suddenly found them in deep mire of geoeconomics troubles. To top it all Bretton Woods Agreement walked into the sunset!

  

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist

 

Russian peace offer, time to be realistic

In geoeconomics, zero-sum game has no place. It is time the America led West think in terms of reality facing both parties Russia and the West in Ukraine imbroglio. Let me give a strategic analysis of Putin’s peace offer:

Russian proposal

Russia will immediately cease fire and declare its readiness for negotiations after Ukraine withdraws troops from the territory of the Russian regions (Novorossiya) namely Lugansk, Donets, Zaporizzhia and Kherson

In order for negotiations to commence there will need to be a statement from Kiev abandoning its intentions to join NATO

Russia also seeks a neutral, non-aligned, nuclear-free status for Ukraine, including de-militarisation and de-nazification

Russian aim is not for a frozen conflict but for ending it completely

Implications if the terms are rejected

Although Putin did not say explicitly what would happen if Ukraine fails to accede to his terms it is generally implied that more territory would be taken including Sumy & Kharkov In the north, Dnipropetrovsk in the central and Odessa & Nikolayev in the south which the Russians claim as part of Novorossiya.

Yet another implication is that failure on the part of Ukraine would lead Moscow to continue the war until Ukraine gets partitioned as West & East where almost the entire agricultural regions and areas full of critical minerals would fall into the hands of Russians. In fact, 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals and metals, and major sources of fossil fuels lie in the central and eastern part of Ukraine where Russia is advancing and Ukrainian is retreating.

Third implication is that the terms of the peace would change if and when Russia takes more real estate in the central part of Ukraine if the battle continues.

What the West must do?

As in game theory, America led west must consider three nodes:

1. The terms under the present circumstances are good for both parties

2. Minimize the maximum loss the West could suffer and call it quits

3. Abandon the sunk cost fallacy afflicting America & her allies who have poured more than US$ 150 Billion into the Ukraine war.

Geoeconomics compulsion

Follow the mini-max strategy and stand to gain geoeconomics advantages by working in a reformed Ukraine perhaps in co-operation with Russian companies engaged in minerals, fossil fuels and farming!

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist