The TUDAPOL Principle E-Book

Arno Ritter

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 282

Beschreibung

Only about 10-30 percent of the planned strategies are ultimately realized. However, the recipes for success often seem quite simple. If this is the case, the question inevitably arises as to why our success rate is often so low? Moreover, the average lifespan of an organization is shorter than a human life. What can organizations do to perform better and how can we ensure our survival and develop the ability to transform and adapt, especially in the age of digitalization and Industry 4.0? However, top management spends less than three percent of their time shaping the long-term future. Even if this figure is questionable, it is an indicator that there is enormous potential to create our future much better. It is our challenge as managers or entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs to think without limits and to prepare and shape the future. Any straitjacket in thinking, especially in innovation, must be eliminated. It is time to familiarize you with the concept of the Strategic Control Loop and the TUDAPOL principle: unlimited thinking, agile development, lean production and operation. This principle should enable you to meet the management challenges in the age of globalization, increasing complexity and digital transformation.

Leseprobe

Foreword

Only about 10-30 percent of the planned strategies are ultimately realized. But with a view to the winners: It is an astonishing but quite banal realization that recipes for success or successful strategies often seem quite simple. But if this is the case, the question inevitably arises as to why our success rate is often so low, at least from a subjective point of view. Moreover, as Brown et al. have found out, the average lifespan of an organization is shorter than a human life. If this is the case, what can organizations do to perform better and how can we ensure our survival and develop the ability to transform and adapt, especially in the age of digitalization and Industry 4.0? This is one of the concerns of this book. Innovation and thinking beyond AS-IS is another factor for our future success. However, less than three percent of their time is spent by the top management shaping the long-term future. Even if this figure is questionable, it is an indicator that there is enormous potential to plan and create our future much better. It is our challenge as managers or entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs to think without limits and to prepare and shape the future. For me there are three main elements that we should consider when we develop a strategy or build our organization, whether it is a startup or an established organization:

We have to think unlimited when we define or change our vision, strategies or business models. Any straitjacket in thinking, especially in innovation, must be eliminated.

We must be efficient in development and operation: Agile and lean approaches can make our success possible if we apply the concepts in an appropriate way.

We must be effective and sustainable: We have to start thinking in terms of a strategic control loop within design, analysis, implementation and operation.

My proposal is to familiarize you with the concept of the Strategic Control Loop and the TUDAPOL principle: unlimited thinking, agile development and lean production and operation. This principle should enable you to meet the management challenges in the age of globalization, increasing complexity and digital transformation. My intention is to give you some interesting insights and suggestions.

Arno Ritter ([email protected] / www.arnoritter.de)

For Mom and Dad

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface

THINK UNLIMITED!

1.1 Criteria for strategic success

1.2 Strategies & strategic failures

1.3 The “annoying” customer

1.4 Too less innovation

DEVELOP AGILE!

2.1 Creating real value

2.2 Strategy development – What to consider?

2.3 Strategy development in the digital age

2.4 Strategy development – How to develop?

2.5 Strategy development – The Strategic Control Loop

2.6 Becoming agile

2.7 Getting real – The dark side of strategy

PRODUCE AND OPERATE LEAN!

3.1 Keep it lean

3.2 Reduce complexity

3.3 Use the knowledge

THE TUDAPOL PRINCIPLE

Last Words

References

Register

List of Abbreviations

ABC

ABC Analysis: (inventory) categorization technique (value contribution)

AR

Augmented Reality

ARR

Accounting / Average Rate of Return

AT&SF

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

AUT

Automation

BCG

Boston Consulting Group

BER

IATA code for Airport Berlin Brandenburg “Willy Brandt”

BOM

Bill of Materials

BR

Baureihe (i.e. model series)

CAD

Computer Aided Design

CAE

Computer Aided Engineering

CAM

Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAP

Computer Aided Planning

CAPM

Capital Asset Pricing Model

CAQ

Computer Aided Quality Assurance

CAS

Computer Aided Styling

CASE

Computer Aided Software Engineering

CAX

Computer Aided X (e. g. CAD)

CIM

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

CMMI

Capability Maturity Model Integration

CNC

Computerized Numerical Control

COTS

Commercial off-the-shelf

COVID-19

Corona virus disease 2019

CPS

Cyber Physical System(s)

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

CSI

Continual / Continuous Service Improvement

D&RGW

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

DCF

Discounted Cash Flow

DevOps

Integrated process improvement approach for software development, operations and quality

DF

Digital Factory

DMU

Digital Mock Up

DVM

Dividend Valuation Model

EBITDA

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization

E-CAD

Electrical CAD

EDM

Electronic Data Management

E-PDM

Electrical PDM

EPS

Earnings per Share

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

EVA

Economic Value Added

TM

FDI

Foreign Direct Investment

FEM

Finite Element Method

FIFO

First In, First Out

HR(M)

Human Resources (Management)

HW

Hardware

IaaS

IT as a Service

IATA

International Air Transport Association

ICT

Information Communication Technology

IoT

Internet of Things

IPC

Industrial Personal Computer

IRR

Internal Rate of Return

IT

Information Technology

ITIL

®

IT Infrastructure Library

JIT

Just-in-Time

KBE

Knowledge-Based Engineering

KPI

Key Performance Indicator

MAS

Multi-Agent-System

MBA

Master of Business Administration

M-CAD

Mechanical CAD

MES

Manufacturing Execution System

M-PDM

Mechanical PDM

MVA

Market Value Added

NAV

Net Asset Value

NC

Numeric Control

NPV

Net Present Value

ORDER

Opportunity, Resources, Decision Process, Exact Solution, Relationship (Principle according to Khalsa)

PDCA

Plan – Do – Check – Act (Deming Cycle)

PDM

Product Data Management

P/E

Price / Earnings Ratio

PER

Price / Earnings Ratio

PEST

Political, Economic, Social & Technological factors analysis

PESTEL

Analysis of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological / Environmental and Legal Factors

PLC

Programmable Logic Controller

PLM

Product Lifecycle Management

PMU

Physical Mock Up

QFD

Quality Function Deployment

R&D

Research and Development

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification Device

ROCE

Return on Capital Employed

ROI

Return on Investment

SAP

Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung

SCADA

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

SCM

Supply Chain Management

SMART

Specific – Measurable – Accepted – Realistic – Timely

SME

Small and medium enterprises

SoP

Start of Production

SRR

Shareholders’ Required (Rate of) Return

SVA

Shareholder Value Analysis

SW

Software

SWOT

Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

TDM

Team Data Management

TQM

Total Quality Management

TSR

Total Shareholder Return

TUDAPOL

Think unlimited, develop agile, produce and operate lean

UP

Union Pacific Railroad

VR

Virtual Reality

WACC

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network

XYZ

XYZ Analysis: (inventory) categorization technique (demand / predictability)

2D / 2-D

Two-dimensional / bi-dimensional (space)

3D / 3-D

Three-dimensional / tri-dimensional (space)

3 Ms

Mura, Muda, Muri

4 Ps

Marketing-Mix: Product, Price, Promotion, Place (see also 7 Ps)

5 Ss

Sifting (Seiri) / Sorting (Seiton) / Sweeping clean (Seiso) / Spic and Span (Seiketsu) / Sustain (Shitsuke)

6 Rs

6 R’s of logistics: RIGHT quantity, object, place, time, quality & cost

7 Ps

Marketing Mix: 4 Ps + Physical Evidence, Process and People

Preface

When I met my Indonesian uncle Eddi in Bali, I told him that I had written my previous book “50 Ways to Prevent Management Success". He immediately asked me if he could read it in English. “No, I wrote it in German". But I took the idea with me to Germany. I would translate the book if I found time and fun to do so. To be honest, I'm an engineer and management consultant: I don't enjoy doing things twice. Besides, I'm not a native English speaker. However, I have started to translate some chapters. After a few days, I stopped the undertaking. It's really no fun. Moreover, I have worked in a global project with project partners or suppliers from Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Great Britain and India. My teammates found out that I published a book in German and asked me to translate it. I'm not saying I had no choice: thanks to Malem, Pallavi, Rupa, Varsha (ladies first), Alex, Christian(s), Christophe, Gontran, Julien, Raj, Rajath, Roland, Sachin, Sagar, Sandeep, Sateesh, Shobraj, Stephane and Varadha who challenged me. However, I decided to write a new book. Of course, I am writing about some of the points I covered in my earlier books, but I am shifting the focus a little. We will discuss additional things in more detail, such as agile management, today's challenge of dealing with increasing complexity or the challenge of digitalization.

I have divided the book into four main parts: In the first chapter of the first part “THINK UNLIMITED!", I would like to emphasize the power of vision. I also want to familiarize you with the criteria for successful strategies. In the next chapter I will discuss some basic strategies and failures that you should generally avoid. In addition, we will talk about how we can help our customers to succeed. I will also talk about innovation, as this will be our most important success factor for the future. However, as Hamel and Prahalad mentioned almost twenty years ago, top managers are mainly concerned with the near future. Once again, it is our challenge and opportunity as managers, innovators or entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs to think unlimited and to prepare and shape the future.

In the second part “DEVELOP AGILE!", we will discuss the concept of value creation. In addition, I will answer the question of what we should consider when developing strategies, especially in the age of digitalization. I will also present some development frameworks, including my concept of the Strategic Control Loop. Then I will discuss the agile development approach and the dark side, the implementation of strategies. As mentioned in the foreword: Only about 10-30 percent of the planned strategies are finally realized. The reason for this could be new opportunities that are being considered in the context of emergent strategies instead of the originally planned strategies. However, organizations often only struggle with the appropriate implementation of strategies. The strategy itself could have been a very good choice, but the implementation has failed! I will explain what we should do and what we should avoid.

In the third part “PRODUCE AND OPERATE LEAN!", I will introduce the concept of lean management. First of all: Lean can be a success factor, especially for operations and production. I will also share my opinion with you that lean is (just) probably not the best concept for defining strategies or innovation. It depends. Furthermore, I would like to share with you another point of view: Every generation is concerned with its fashions. Think of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, Toyota Production System (TPS), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Multi-Agent-Systems (MAS), Lean and Agile Management, Digitalization, Big Data, Deep Learning, Cloud, Industry 4.0 and many other areas. And to be honest: Sometimes approaches became industry standards. We are doing it right now, but we don't talk about it anymore (e.g. TQM). It is the state of the art. Furthermore, we have fought in the past or reached the limits (like CIM or MAS), but ten or twenty years later we are able to try it again (Industry 4.0). The old names are no longer sexy, we sell the old ideas with new names. Sometimes you find CIM concepts or Multi-Agent-Systems in Industry 4.0 and we call physical agents now Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). To be fair: Due to technical or social progress, we can cross the boundaries of the past. We now have smartphones, WLAN, RFID, increased computing power, mobile networks, etc. Furthermore, our way of thinking is changing or has changed. Now we are ready for the ideas of the past. My suggestion: Let's treat the concepts and ideas of the past fairly. Respect the core ideas as they are. They might still make sense and be beneficial for us. I will show you that even 2,500-year-old strategic concepts like the ideas of Sunzi are still valid and relevant at the present day. Therefore, I will refer to some of the “old" core concepts in the following chapters. Lean is one of these concepts that was developed shortly after the Second World War! But let us also talk about today's challenges (not only due to COVID-19). For me it is the overall complexity of our world, organizations, products and the supply chain. Let's talk about ideas on how we can deal with this complexity. Furthermore, the ability to learn and manage knowledge is one of the weapons for our future success. Therefore, we will take a brief look at knowledge management.

In the last part, I will elaborate and summarize the “TUDAPOL PRINCIPLE". For me there are three main elements that we should consider when we develop a strategy or build our organization, whether it is a startup or an established organization:

We have to think unlimited when we define or change our vision, strategies or business models. Any straitjacket in thinking, especially in innovation, must be eliminated.

We must be efficient in development and operation: Agile and lean approaches can make our success possible if we apply the concepts in an appropriate way.

We must be effective and sustainable: We have to start thinking in terms of a strategic control loop within design, analysis, implementation and operation.

This book is based on my personal view of business. I have worked in research and development in various fields such as automation, robotics, digital factory, ICT and manufacturing, and have worked for startups, SMEs and global industries and spent some time as a lecturer in “International Strategic Management”. This book is not intended as a textbook for students. I expect from the reader some basic management experience or basic knowledge of management theory (e.g. some knowledge of common tools, methods and approaches). If you need more details, you can find the reference literature in the bibliography or just have a quick look on the web. My intention is to highlight and elaborate on the key concepts, to make you aware of the most important principles and concepts and to draw your attention to the most important mistakes that must be avoided at all costs. Think of it as a guide. It should help you to ask the right questions and develop the right ideas. Finally, I would like to familiarize you with the concept of the Strategic Control Loop and the TUDAPOL principle, the principle proposed in this book of unlimited thinking, agile development and lean production and operation. This principle should enable you to deal with today's management challenges in the age of globalization, major turbulences, growing complexity and digital transformation.

As an author, you undoubtedly bear the main burden of a book. Nevertheless, I would like to express my special thanks to a number of people who have contributed to the success of this work, such as my university friends or former colleagues for the stimulating discussions on the topic of management and individual chapters of this book: Dr. Jürgen Bogenfeld, Dr. Arnulf Braatz, Prof. Jörg Dahlkemper, Dr. Timm Kuhlmann and Hans Reinerth, MBA. I would also like to thank Michael Hermany, Klaus Hölzel and Rainer Saurin for their valuable role as sparring partners; not to forget my children Aurelia and Roderick and my wife Claudia for their differentiated, critical view. My son Roderick took over the English proofreading and editing, my daughter Aurelia also took over the editing and graphical design. My special thanks also go to my father-in-law, Daniel Malonda, for his insights into top management, which have always been a great help to me for over twenty years. Furthermore, it is also time to thank my parents, Prof. Rolf and Renate Ritter, who made my education and my start possible. I owe them a lot. Dad, rest in peace. The list of those to whom I owe thanks is by no means complete. They include all project partners, clients, competitors, staff, professors and students with whom I have had the honor of working successfully. Last but not least I would like to thank Uncle Eddi, Roland Brassous and my Indian BzB team who challenged me to start with the English version and gave me the strength to do so. Finally, with this management compass I wish the reader to find some interesting ideas and lasting personal success.

Arno Ritter

Hamburg, Germany

Spring 2020

1 THINK UNLIMITED!

“If you want to build a ship, don’t gather the men to find the wood, prepare the tools or divide up the work and delegate tasks – instead teach the men the longing for the endless, wide ocean” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery).

1.1 Criteria for strategic success

Nebulous visions prevent success. Unlike mockers could perhaps indicate, a corporate vision has nothing to do with religious appearances or hallucinations. However, the former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt shared this opinion and proposed to consult a medical doctor. A shared vision can be a powerful mean or weapon and it is telling what the organization stands for. For example, the dream of flying has spawned many technology-enthusiastic entrepreneurs, such as the Wright brothers or men like Graf Zeppelin, Hugo Junkers or eccentrics like Howard Hughes. Hugh Hafner was a slightly different eccentric. These men (though quite commercially successful) were not driven primarily by principles such as shareholder wealth's maximization. Of course, money is always important, but these entrepreneurs had a far-reaching vision which enables us today to flight to exotic places such as Hawaii or Bali, do business or visit our family members all over the world. By the way, not all of us have the money and time to sail over the oceans. Others are enjoying to take a ride with the amazing Big Boy (UP 4014) and don’t seem to care about carbon dioxide; at least, I would like to see this giant entering the Sherman Hill!

Visions can inspire us in the truest sense of the word. Think of president Kennedy's vision of reaching the moon before the Soviets after the Sputnik shock. The moon landing was a huge success for mankind, though there are still contemporaries who believe that the moon landing was filmed at Disney Studios. Well, I will not argue with you about that.

Figure: UP 4014 “Big Boy”: At the begin of this century, none of these giants has been serviceable. However, railroad enthusiasts and UP made it happen again. Many thanks to them! Therefore: Think Unlimited! There is no excuse. We can do!

Let us agree on the following: Visions can and should inspire ourselves, our employees, but also our suppliers and customers. But corporate visions can quickly seem ridiculous if they are defined as platitudes. I could mention a few negative examples, but maybe I would like to work with these companies in a few years. Well, I prove to be an opportunist.

Almost every large stock corporation share their visions or mission statements. Just have a quick look on the internet and check your company’s vision; do you like it? It is actually a good idea to share your values, targets and vision if you are proud of them or if they are meaningful. Transparency is normally positive. However, it could become a “boomerang” if the vision is formulated in an arbitrary, meaningless or interchangeable way. You can recognize this easily if the vision is based only on fashion or buzzwords, such as “Agile", “Global", “Sustainable" or “Environmentally friendly". In my first job at the largest European research organization for applied sciences, we liked to play “bullshit bingo” with the respective emotive words of the season in department meetings. It's almost as much fun as “PowerPoint karaoke”.

Sometimes, when people are formulating visions or mission statements related to economic success, they behave like walking on eggshells (and not only due to “Occupy Wall Street” or “Friday for Future”). However, economic goals are important, even if we are embarrassed about them. Communism has never been an alternative. Of course, there are many other important, legitimate goals, such as corporate citizenship, social responsibility, fair trade, technology leadership, dealing with the climate change, pandemia and so on.

In the end, a company must always care about money. Let us take a look at the positive side: Without money, we would run out of business and we could not invest in our future. We could not develop new products or services, recruit new employees, develop our employees, serve the common good, or protect the environment. We could not do all the good things that enable our success in the future and make the world a little bit better.

But buzzword visions are not really helpful. Visions even ridiculed by the employees have a fatal impact. The loss of reputation is just one aspect of it. In addition, we lost the commitment of our employees. We have also lost an opportunity to inspire them and take with us on a journey into the future. This is where real leadership is needed!

Perhaps, people from “Old Europe” might be less enthusiastic than their US counterparts when they are discussing visions and mission statements. However, you can only be successful, if your supporters are sharing your values, goals or visions with you and if they commit on the derived targets. Therefore, visions that are difficult to communicate, which could be misunderstood or which are not shared must be avoided in any case. Furthermore, we must convince our people and win them over on board. We must get their commitment. The same applies to the strategic corporate goals and the strategic intent, which are derived from the visions.

Furthermore, not committed unclear strategic goals prevent success! Your spouse will always be dissatisfied if you have not understood the subtle hint for the next holiday or Valentine's Day.

The vision of my wife versus the reality

Figure: I like Paris

My wife was also a little bit surprised that the Paris I have had in mind for vacation has been the Paris in Idaho. The promised fantastic experience was not shopping along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, but walking around stinking, bubbling mud pots in the Yellowstone National Park (without cell phone access and without wireless internet at the hotel). The management professor Robert M. Grant may have had similar experiences with his family and therefore he highlighted following key success factors for a strategy (Grant 2002):

Simple, long-term goals which are accepted in the organization,

profound understanding of competition and competitors,

objective appraisal of own resources and competencies and

effective implementation.

Grant also pointed out that strategic decisions are always relevant to the entire organization, must be shared across the organization, and are not easy to revise. Conversely, it is an easy way to prevent success if you do not meet these conditions. This view is reflected in my personal experiences. Let me explain: Scott Adams, the creator of “Dilbert”, once told of the case of an American employee who violated a corporate policy he was not familiar with. When he asked HR if he could get this set of rules in order to avoid any mistakes in future, he was told that this was not possible because the policy was classified as top secret (Adams 1998). Aaargh!! It is clear that not everything has to be publicly known. Some secrets have to be hidden (and not only your personal dark secrets). Think about your competitors! Your successful strategies should not be copied too easily! A hidden agenda can - I would like to emphasize here - make absolutely sense; think of the military concept of camouflage and deception. Applied to the strategy, however, it should be obvious that a strategy can only be successfully implemented if it is known to the relevant stakeholders. It is actually very easy to do anything against the lack of understanding or against ignorance of the corporate strategy or corporate vision. For example, use a clear, unambiguous language, and generally use appropriate corporate communication. Opportunities and resources are numerous: newsletters, intranet, awareness sessions, New Year's speeches, introductory events for young employees, etc.

Of course, goals in and of themselves must always be clear and understandable and should not require much explanation. Furthermore, unclear instructions or unclear requirements prevent success. On top of that, there is the type of employee who takes advantage of the situation. Moreover, goals, mission statements and strategies should not change permanently and too frequently. Otherwise, it will result in a mess or instability (within processes, organization, etc.). Even customers and investors do not necessarily reward that. I will come back to this at a later stage when we will discuss the approach of the strategic control loop.

Consider, for example, a reorganization. The employees could be affected in a positive or negative way: e.g. getting new bosses, colleagues; getting new tasks and positions, or getting fired. Maybe, everything is improving. But think about how the people are feeling, what they are thinking and what they will do if they do not know anything and make only wrong assumptions about the planned changes. The change is mostly not the main issue. The wrong assumptions and perceptions are the issue! Once again: Changes are not always bad. Quite often, employees understand the need for change. They may even request and expect the change. And I mean “change” and not “change” like the smart beggar who has written on his paper cardboard: “I am like Obama, I need change”.

Uncertainty is mostly perceived in a negative way, although a level of uncertainty is belonging to our life (or makes it exciting). Above all, if this state of uncertainty in the context of a company’s transformation lasts too long, it is dangerous. Fear, idleness, inactivity, fruitless discussions or speculations are the result.

Nevertheless, even clear and well-known strategic goals are not a guarantee for success. Strategic goals must be supported by all relevant stakeholders. In the best case, all employees are committed to the corporate goals. But, if there exists a hidden or even open resistance -not everyone benefits from a change - it will be difficult for the company management to run the company successfully. Failure would be very likely.

In the case of mergers and acquisitions in particular, the responsible management should make changes very carefully. It is not always (or never) possible to clarify all blocking points or even eliminate resistance in advance. Think of a hostile take-over, especially if the existing corporate cultures are very different and one side even sees itself as a loser.

In addition, there are often time constraints that require changes to be made faster than it would be desirable. Therefore, you should at least concentrate on the most important groups (supporters, people with influence, resistors with power). Unfortunately, not everybody is benefiting from a change. Layoffs, the disappearance of privileges, the occupation of positions by other people are painful for the individual; but - unfortunately - inevitable! Of course, we should avoid negative impacts if we can.

In addition, positive energy is released when the majority of employees support the company's vision, strategic goals and products. This spirit is often recognized by startups, high-tech companies and R&D departments.

However, without a profound understanding of the competition and of our own competencies, even the best (committed) strategic goals are not worth very much. Grant has rightly identified this as one of the most important key factors for success. Without proper knowledge of the market, without knowing your own weaknesses and strengths, especially your own core competencies (the existing or the to be acquired resources in manpower, capital, machinery, etc.), a strategy can hardly be successful. The Chinese strategist Sunzi said the following about 2,500 years ago:

“If you know the enemy and yourself, you do not have to fear the outcome of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, you will be defeated for every victory you achieve. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will be defeated in every battle” (Sunzi 2001).

Identified gaps, missing skills or resources are just a “red light”. The key question behind is how the “gaps” are handled: (Missing) competencies can certainly - of course not in any case - still be acquired, e.g. by training or recruitment of the missing experts. The same applies to the building and acquisition of tangible or intangible resources such as machinery, ICT or patents. In cases in which this is not possible or only partially possible, another way must be found: e.g. via partnerships with other organizations and companies, mergers or acquisitions.

Professor Herbert Paul once described strategy implementation as “the dark side of strategy”. He is absolutely right! Of course, the success factors already mentioned should not be viewed in isolation. For example, commitment to strategic goals is already an essential part of their successful implementation. We should anticipate the issues before and during the implementation phase. We should avoid too optimistic assumptions. We should be able to react on unexpected market reactions, to our competitors or unforeseeable events (e.g. natural disasters, a pandemic, political events) which is often not really feasible. However, these uncertainties complicate the implementation of a strategy. Our challenge is to react dynamically, quickly and adequately. Think of what general Carl von Clausewitz (a contemporary and opponent of Napoleon Bonaparte) meant by “frictions” or the “fog of war” in his great book “On War” (von Clausewitz 2001), which has been published by his widow: The unpredictability of events will always emerge in reality and we will never have the whole picture. We have only limited access to information; forget the efficient-market-hypothesis (Warren Buffet opposes to belief in it). The analogy of a stagecoach journey illustrates it quite well. The weather and road conditions are worse than expected; you will not get new horses. Of course, the planned destination cannot be reached on the scheduled date. Today’s frequent travelers understand Clausewitz quite well. When the sum of all delays, only measured for my weekly home flights, added up to a hundred hours in a few months, I stopped counting. Today, my commuter train has been cancelled and I have been forced to take the next one which has been delayed, too. My connecting bus left before my arrival and my ferryboat has had a delay. I do not speak about a travel in exotic countries. It is just my current daily way to work (before COVID-19).

Coming back to the theory of strategy: In my opinion, the strategic concepts of Grant, Sunzi and Carl von Clausewitz are really essential; therefore, I would like to discuss some of them. Carl von Clausewitz has defined four important principles which are still valid to enable a successful strategy. I will name in the following: the bundling of all forces, focus, time advantage and sustainability.

Bundling of all forces:“To provide all the power that we have with the highest effort. Any moderation shown here is a lag behind the goal. If success itself were quite probable, it is most unwise not to make the highest effort to be sure of it; because this effort can never be detrimental.”

Focus: “To concentrate the power as much as possible where the major strikes are to be done, to face disadvantages on other points, in order to be more certain on the main point of success. This achievement reverses all the other disadvantages.”

Time advantage: “Unless hesitation gives rise to particularly important benefits, it is important to get to work as soon as possible. By speed, one hundred measures of the enemy are nipped in the bud and public opinion is won first for us ...”

Sustainability: “To utilize the successes we achieve with the highest energy” (von Clausewitz 2001).

For me, these four principles are so crucial because, first of all, they are timeless and, secondly, can be transferred equally to one’s personal life, one's own career planning and one's own work, even in education and study. Consider the risk management, e.g. preparing an exam. In German, we have a fitting expression for that: “Mut zur Lücke” (i.e. the “courage to accept the gap”). It does mean the following: You obviously know that you cannot learn or prepare everything during the remaining time. Therefore, you take a gamble to focus only on the items which you assume to be relevant. Furthermore, you de-scope the rest. Maybe, you have no other choice due to the time constraints. Hopefully, you have defined the right scope, then you will succeed; maybe not, then you will fail. It might be an advantageous approach if you are facing limited resources such as time. It can work, but the associated risk is high.

And for sure: We need to prioritize goals; otherwise we could get bogged down with too many tasks. Think of the well-known Eisenhower principle. And to be honest: We have (always) a lack of sufficient resources (and information).

Furthermore, multi-tasking is difficult to achieve for the majority of people. Just as an example: President Gerald Ford is told not having been able to chew gum while walking down a staircase without stumbling.

In addition, an organization must use its resources efficiently and effectively. Back to the example: Even if students think they can prepare for an apparently simple test in three days and still have five days left, it can be reckless to limit yourself to the bare minimum. Similarly, Clausewitz argued when it comes to deploying available units against a seemingly weaker enemy; perhaps he is stronger in number advantage than we thought, his position could be more favorable and better developed, or, coincidentally, other conditions on the day of the battle could cause us greater difficulties than expected. Incidentally, the same applies in love and in the business context.

A shorter time-to-market (or more generally: being faster than the competition) is also crucial for success. Think of a company that does not release the new computer games, cell phones or its winter collection before Christmas. How much revenue would this company generate?

The right time is always “decisive in or for the war”