From Battlefield to Boardroom: Winning Management Strategies for Today's Global Business

Military Review,  July-August, 2003  by Todd Calderwood

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Dennis Laurie, Palgrave, NY, 2001, 263 pages, $24.95.

In his book, From Battlefield to Boardroom, Dennis Laurie asserts that "It]he strategies of war are also the strategies of business." He proposes a formula to generate winning business strategies by using military strategic thinking. He then identifies 10 examples of military strategy translated into business strategy. Laurie's target audience includes senior business executives in positions to affect strategy and all others who wish to attain such positions.

Laurie's work is entertaining, well written, and highlights the critical importance of mission and strategy and its components. He differentiates between strategy and tactics and drives home the lesson that while tactics is important, it is not the key to success. Laurie also is careful to qualify his theory, correctly stating that strategy depends on the circumstance and that the correct strategy for one business might be exactly the wrong strategy for another. He identifies basic circumstances in which his highlighted strategies would work well.

Laurie' examples support his theory. For example, in deciding to attack an enemy's strength, he argues that a leader might consider the current situation, the enemy, and the future situation. For example, the current situation is untenable; the enemy is strong, but vulnerable; and the situation will only get worse with time. To illustrate his point, Laurie describes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

According to Laurie, the Japanese could not continue in their current situation. National pride allowed nothing less than victory. They clearly understood the potential might of the United States, but from detailed reconnaissance, they also knew that the U.S. fleet was poorly secured and rested unsuspecting at anchor. Finally, the Japanese knew that the American president was working to gain public support for war and would, given time, turn U.S. industrial power into an unstoppable juggernaut of war. Combining detailed intelligence with surprise, preparation, and leadership, Japan was able to achieve a complete victory at Pearl Harbor.

Laurie then repeats the process for the strategies of attacking weakness, internal change, concentrating forces, strategic alliances, patience, controlling choke points, relentless attack, containment, and combat readiness. His examples are effective, and his analysis is thorough.

Two areas of the book could have been improved. First, Laurie declares that the mission is "the starting point for any strategic plan." His position is that all else follows from the mission. I believe that in the military or in the business world, ultimate purpose and leader vision are the genesis for mission and strategy, which are then nested within the vision to support the purpose. Second, Laurie addresses only tactics and strategy, ignoring the operational level. Thus, in his Pearl Harbor example, he blames Japan's ultimate failure on a lack of back-up strategy. I believe, however, the attack was an operation and that Japan did not properly anticipate the consequences of its success on overarching strategy. As a result, the United States was unexpectedly galvanized for war.

Perhaps Laurie's lack of military experience led to these oversights, which do not detract from his overall message. Targeted at executives and would-be executives, the book is worthwhile for any aspiring strategymaker. Its military audience is decisionmakers above brigade. Students at the U.S. Command and General Staff College are thus a perfect military audience.

MAJ Todd Calderwood, USA, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. Army CGSC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning