The Market is Chaos: The Tao of Marketing by Burns Steve

Author:Burns, Steve [Burns, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2012-06-03T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER

6

THE COMPETITION

There is no worse danger than to underestimate your enemy.

—LAO TZU

Hong-meng was depressed again. “I have lots of competition,” he said as he thought of the small, winding alley near the main market where his shop was. Like many cities in the Zhou Empire, the market was located outside the protection of the inner city walls, where the duke and the rich merchants lived in luxurious isolation. As business in the city increased, the marketplace grew in size and importance, with skilled artisans and craftsmen separating themselves from the turmoil and chaos of the open market by setting up shop in the winding side streets. The various artisans that provided the city with its goods began to congregate in the same streets, so that you had streets dedicated to pottery, woodworking, and tools. Which meant that Hong-meng’s neighbors were also his competitors—and he had a lot of neighbors.

“That’s good,” Lao Tzu stated. He smiled at their shocked reactions.

“Why is having competition good?” growled Sun Tzu. “They’re the enemy.”

“Yes, but sometimes the enemy can be useful,” Lao Tzu said easily, watching Sun Tzu shake his head in disbelief. Lao Tzu was enjoying Sun Tzu’s frustration. He addressed Hong-meng, “Just as you need to understand your customer so that you can see his needs, you also need to understand your competition. If you understand the competition, you can use it to become a positive force in the market. That’s when competition can be good.”

Hong-meng and Sun Tzu looked at each other and shrugged. Lao Tzu laughed, and a bamboo strip suddenly appeared in his hand with the character for yin painted on one side and the sign for yang painted on the other. “You immediately assume that the competition is going to be your enemy…someone who is trying to take all of your business.”

“But the competition is taking my business,” replied Hong-meng.

“You must understand that you and your competition are like yin and yang—the eternal conflict. They are opposites, but by being opposites and by being in conflict, they were able to create the world from chaos. They need each other. The conflict generates qi—energy.” Looking at Sun Tzu, he continued, “I agree that a strong competitor can be dangerous, just like an enemy. There is no worse danger than to underestimate your enemy. But competition can be a positive force.” He turned to stare into the nothingness as if looking for a hidden answer. “If the sovereign and the people do not do harm to each other then each will benefit.”

“How can each benefit?” Hong-meng queried, convinced that he agreed with Sun Tzu. Competition was dangerous. The competition wasn’t good.

“Competition can help create and expand the market,” Lao Tzu explained. “It creates interest. It helps create a need. Just as the world needed yin and yang to create something out of nothing, you need competition. You need the yang against your yin to help create a market. Strong competition becomes the qi—the energy to build a larger market.” Glancing at Sun Tzu, he continued, “You shouldn’t underestimate the capabilities of the competition.

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