Approximately 3,500 years ago, Moses faced quite a challenge after leading his fellow Hebrews out of enslavement in Egypt. Perhaps the earliest-known discussion of strategy is offered in the Old Testament of the Bible (Bracker, 1980). His mission to find the Holy Grail serves as an exemplar for the importance of the central mission to guide organizational actions. Legend says he made his famed round table so that no one, including him, would be seen as above the others. Once inside the city, Greek soldiers were able to open the gates and allow in reinforcements which eventually led to the end of the war. Roman poet Virgil tells the story of the Trojan horse, a classic strategic ploy where the Greek forces hid a select number of soldiers in a large wooden horse that the Trojan army took into their heavily guarded city gates. when they decided to create their own stores rather than competing for shelf space for their clothing within traditional department stores. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War provides a classic handbook on military strategy with numerous business applications, such as the idea “to win without fighting is the best.” This type of approach was used by businesses, such as Gap Inc. Dividing a large set of people into smaller groups creates a command structure that enables strategies to be implemented. Moses uses hierarchical delegation of authority during the exodus from Egypt.
Table 1.2 Strategy in Ancient Times 1491 BC: Indeed, the Greek verb strategos means “army leader” and the idea of stratego (from which we get the word strategy) refers to the idea of destroying one’s enemies through the effective use of resources. The following anecdotes provide a few notable examples of historical actions that remain relevant for the study of modern strategy. Strategic management borrows many ideas from ancient uses of strategy over time. This section also briefly traces the development of strategic management as a field of study. But this section discusses two less obvious sources of wisdom: (1) strategy in ancient times and (2) military strategy. Certainly, the present offers very important lessons businesses can gain knowledge about what strategies do and do not work by studying the current actions of other businesses. Great wisdom about strategy can be acquired by understanding the past, but ignoring the lessons of history can lead to costly strategic mistakes that could have been avoided. The history of strategic management can be traced back several thousand years. Santayana’s quote has strong implications for strategic management. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
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