Sun Tzu's Art of War | Episode 36: Victory is Decided by Information - The Information Warfare Taught by the 'Use of Spies' Chapter (Use of Spies)

Victory is decided before the battle begins

War is decided on the battlefield.
Many people think so.

However, Sun Tzu thinks differently.
War is decided before the battle begins.

Sun Tzu states this in the 'Use of Spies' chapter:

　知彼知己，百戰不殆。

If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you will not be in danger in a hundred battles.

This phrase is one of the most famous
in Sun Tzu's Art of War.

However, what Sun Tzu means here
is not mere knowledge.

It is information.

Why is information important?

Sun Tzu says:

The greatest problem in war
is uncertainty.

How large is the enemy's force?
Where will they attack from?
What is their supply situation?

If you do not know these things,
you cannot form a strategy.

In other words, war is
abattle against a lack of information
as well.

That is why Sun Tzu
placed
information warfareat the end of his military treatise.

　先知者，不可取於鬼神，
　不可象於事，
　不可驗於度，
　必取於人，知敵之情者也。

Foreknowledge cannot be obtained from spirits,
cannot be modeled on past events,
cannot be verified by measurements.
It must be obtained from people to know the enemy's situation.

In modern terms,
predicting the future or the enemy's situation
should not rely solely on divination, intuition, or past pattern analysis.
It is essential to obtain information directly from 'people (i.e., sources/spies)'
to understand the enemy's true situation.

Sun Tzu states:
・A victorious army wins before it fights
・The difference lies in the 'quantity and quality of information'
that is.

Information warfare in history

Throughout history, there are many examples where information decided the outcome of a war.
For example,

the Battle of Midway.

In the Pacific War of World War II,
the Japanese Navy suffered a major defeat.
One of the reasons was

codebreaking.

The U.S. Navy
had broken the Japanese Navy's codes.
Because of this,

they knew in advance:

・Attack date and time
・Operational objectives
・Force deployment

Therefore,
an ambush

was possible.

Before the battle even began,

the outcome was mostly decided.


Those who possess information winSun Tzu says:

The most important thing in war

is not military force.


It is information.Because


information changes the future.
If you know the enemy's actions,

you can avoid battle.
Conversely, you can

attack where the enemy is defenseless.
In other words, information



is strategy itself.

Application to modern business

In corporate competition,
information also holds decisive power.

For example:

・Market research
・Customer data
・Competitor analysis
・Technical information

These all
determine a company's strategy.

Excellent companies
obtain information faster than their competitors.

And
they act faster than their competitors.

In other words,
information asymmetry becomes competitiveness
.

Core theme

The core of the 'Use of Spies' chapter is clear.

War is decided by information.
Not by military force.

Those who possess information
dominate the war.

However,
this information is
not divination or mentalism.
Past data is insufficient.
There are limits to numbers and logic alone.

The information truly needed is,
live (on-site/human) information.

In other words,
the quality of decision-making is determined by the quality of information.

Summary

The 'Use of Spies' chapter is
a book on information warfare.

・War is a battle against uncertainty
・Information creates strategy
・Those who possess information win
・Victory is decided before fighting

An excellent general
does not try to increase soldiers.

They gather information.

That is
Sun Tzu's strategy.

Next episode preview

Episode 37: The Invisible War, Spies are the Core of Strategy
～The Five Types of Spies Taught by the 'Use of Spies' Chapter～

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