Pragmatic Strategy by Ikujiro Nonaka & Zhichang Zhu

Author:Ikujiro Nonaka & Zhichang Zhu [Nonaka, Ikujiro]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781139418560
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012-05-15T14:00:00+00:00

Table 6.2 Expansion–focus companions

Expansion

Focus

breadth

depth

edge

core

generality

speciality

diversity

coherence

drifting

fixing

amateurish

attentive

dilettante

diligent

flitting

preserving

branching

selecting

loosening

tightening

As a human-centred tradition, Confucianism attaches explicit ethical implications to its expansion–focus conception. Let us begin with expansion. The metaphor chaxü gejü (差序格局, differential mode of association) is telling here: ‘Like the ripples formed from a stone thrown into a lake, each circle spreading out from the center becomes more distant and at the same time more insignificant.’108While we see this happening in Nature, do we humans really live in chaxü gejü? Is it a good way to do business? Is the metaphor morally right?

This brings us to a famous debate between Confucianism and its critics. During the fourth and fifth centuries BC, Mozi (墨子), a leading critic of Confucius, promoted ‘universal love’ (jianai, 兼爱): everyone in the world should love everyone else, equally, without discrimination. He supported the doctrine with utilitarian reasoning: if you love other states as your own, there will be no war, hence no suffering. ‘Then is it not the case that “mutual all-embracingness” can bring happiness to the world?’109

With this, Mencius (孟子), a disciple of Confucius, strongly disagreed. Mencius promoted ‘extending love’ instead: ‘Treat the aged in your family as they should be treated, and extend this treatment to the aged of other people’s families. Treat the young in your family as they should be treated, and extend this treatment to the young of other people’s families.’110 While there are degrees and grades of love, the sages extend love one ripple at a time in an ever-extending series, to reach the more distant members of society, until ‘everything is here in me’. You must begin with yourself, your family, with what is near-at-hand and then extend outward.111 Confucius said: ‘Correlating one’s conduct with those near at hand can be said to be the method of becoming an authoritative person.’112 Extended love is achievable because, Mencius believed, human nature is originally good: we cannot bear human suffering, for example. By developing our good nature to the full we can extend love across ‘four seas’. In Mencius’ ‘Yes we can!’ justification, no utilitarianism is needed.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mozi and Mencius in your mind, it is widely acknowledged that chaxü gejü pervades business. You begin with what is near, familiar and available at hand, materially, intellectually, socially, inside-out. Meanwhile, managers must respond to environmental emergences in technologies, industries, markets, regulations and global trends, outside-in. Business is thus an extensive ‘field’ of relationships and opportunities, and the manager’s job is to expand such ‘fields’ for creating value. Many leading-edge strategy concepts and practices, such as ‘problemistic search’, ‘community of practice’, ‘differentiated network’, ‘dynamic specialisation’ and ‘power of push-and-pull’, appear to be advanced based on the ‘expansion’ logic.113 This is the expansion side of the story.

Now turn to the other side: focus. Given limited resources, changing demands, diverse expectations and competition for excellence, business success lies in acting upon purposefully selected, appropriate courses. ‘Purposeful action is focused’, the late Sumantra Ghoshal told us. Focused action enables us to use limited resources to make a real difference.

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