Marketing strategy: a lesson from Japanese Samurai philosophy

Abstract

Many marketers are now realizing the benefit of applying military principles to an assessment of potential strategic competitor response alternatives. Western military principles do not, however, lend themselves well to an understanding of Japanese competitive responses. Japanese samurai military principles as proposed by swordsman Myamoto Musashi provide a more appropriate framework for understanding Japanese strategic mentality. A series of 13 samurai principles are presented, discussed in a warfare setting, translated to the business battlefront , and a series of Japanese corporate examples are provided to illustrate the application of these principles.