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Achieve the Critical Mass |
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One who sets the entire army in motion with impedimenta to pursue an advantageous position will be too slow to attain it. If he abandons the camp and all the impedimenta to contend for advantage, the baggage and stores will be lost. |
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It follows that when the army rolls up the armor and sets out speedily, stopping neither day nor night and marching at double speed for a hundred li to wrest an advantage, the commander of three divisions will be captured. The vigorous troops will arrive first and the feeble will straggle along behind, so that if this method is used only one-tenth of the army will arrive. In a forced march of fifty li the commander of the first and van division will fall, and using this method but half of the army will arrive. In a forced march of thirty li, but two-thirds will arrive. Hence, the army will be lost without baggage train; and it cannot survive without provisions, nor can it last long without sources of supplies. |
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One who is not acquainted with the designs of his neighbors should not enter into alliances with them. Those who do not know the conditions of mountains and forests, hazardous defiles, marshes and swamps, cannot conduct the march of an army. Those who do not use local guides are unable to obtain the advantages of the ground. |
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Strategic initiatives can be either sequential or cumulative: |
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A sequential initiative requires planned successive steps to achieve success. A new product introduction requiring orderly introduction to the sales force, trade channels, and end customers would most often be a sequential strategy. So would a plan to initiate a new program over time in successive units. |
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A cumulative initiative is the result of a series of random actions piling on top of one another until at some undetermined point the critical mass is reached. The brand manager who uses sponsorship and events to build brand awareness is often using a cumulative strategy as is the plant manager who initiates a quality campaign simultaneously in units throughout the plant.
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