I loved watching cartoons as a child and I actually still do on occasion, as long as I can laugh or get engrossed in the storyline. My favourites were the Looney Tunes and the character Bugs Bunny with his “Eh what’s up Doc?” catchphrase. He was the protagonist, and you had antagonists like Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Tasmanian Devil etc. and each episode used the same formula. Like in the classic case of poking the bear, the protagonist Bugs was always on his own, minding his business going on with his life peacefully, while the antagonist would always show up and stir up trouble, poking, prodding, hunting the rabbit until he in turn not being able to take it anymore, would take a stand against the bullying and fight back. And his response always began with an epic catchphrase “of course you know this means war!” He, in turn, would go on to outwit his opponent.
Business is War
Some companies can relate to the story above. Quietly minding your business and some players come along, show some muscle and then you respond to them in kind. Unlike the hero in the cartoon who always wins in some cases, you win if it’s not too late to react or you lose if the response is late. On the other hand, other businesses are continually on the attack trying to outmanoeuvre their competition. In my previous article ‘Pushing The Agenda’, I mentioned business models and strategies like fast second, blue ocean, disruptive innovation and value innovation. Some businesses have had to navigate a hostile terrain, using these strategies and were successful. In Geroski and Constantino’s Fast-Second Strategy, a new entrant into a market, can corner the existing market, by allowing already established organisations experiment, innovate and go to market. They then attack the market when a dominant design has been created for that product or service, by improving on what is in the market. The truth is, business is war, which is why you would typically find a similarity between business strategies and the principles of war. These can be seen from the terms that are used in the business world daily, like, “fighting off threats”, “price war”, “bidding war”, “hostile takeover”, “outmanoeuvre the competition”, “attack the market”, “gather intelligence”, “execution with precision”.
Military Models
As a business, can you afford to sit around and not be on the offensive? There are certain situations like improving performance or market position that require an organisation to be on the offensive. How do you determine the course of action to take? It might surprise you to know that there are certain military models that apply to business and one of them is the OODA loop (OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act). The OODA loop was introduced by an Air Force Pilot John Boyd in the ‘50s, during the Korean War. The story has it that the aircraft flown by the Americans during that war, was not as maneuverable, as the Russian-made MIG-15s being used by their opponents. John Boyd discovered by observation, that the American F-86s won a majority of the dogfights because they were presented with a better field of vision and hydraulic controls that were faster and easier to use.1 The pilots had the upper hand in Observing and Acting the first and last stages of the OODA Loop. So, using the OODA loop, the pilots understood better, the decision-making process of their adversaries.
Knowing your opponent
You can understand your opponents decision-making process by using the, observe, orient, decide and act sequence. You observe your adversary, collecting information about them. Secondly, orientation means learning more about them based on the information that has been collected and further analysis. Thirdly you can make a decision based on what you have observed and finally, you act fast on the decision by the use of a business process management (BPM) workflow. When you are going after your competition in business, the strategy might be to attack multiple targets and in the process, you will need to understand your adversaries to know how best to attack. To do this, you must get the right information into the hands of decision makers, who can act on the information and gain market dominance, to remain competitive. The best strategy is to be proactive and not reactive in the market or in response to competition.
Big Data and the Loop
Business Intelligence, big data, data science and data warehousing are important because they offer organisations the ability to use the OODA loop and enable them have a competitive edge. Business Intelligence and big data, aid the decision-making process and in this age of data growth with businesses focusing on the individual, you can know when your customers are trying to buy a house, or when they are not being served properly by competition, as well as or which markets are not catered for. Big data has a role to play in this, using the OODA loop. New use cases emerge daily creating an increase in analytical requirements, since it helps to make business processes and business models better, in an ever changing competitive landscape. It also aids the movement towards digital business by digital transformation strategy. When embarking on digital transformation, it is advisable to first know your market and your customers better. If you want to have an edge and manoeuvre your competition you need to use the OODA Loop.
In conclusion, whatever strategy you choose to go with as an organisation, be it as an antagonist using the blue ocean strategy, disruptive innovation, value innovation or as a protagonist with a fast second strategy, you need to know your opponent and the battleground. By utilising the OODA loop principle, organisations can determine the right course of action to take when determining their business strategies. They can be disruptive in any market, nonstop. All they need to do is simply observe, orient, decide, act and repeat.
