Introduction:

Sun Zis Art of War is known as the oldest military classic in Chinese literature that was written by a Chinese philosopher, Sun Wu which was also named as Sun Zi. It was presented during the spring and autumn period to the Emperor He Lu of the Wu Kingdom about the theories of Art of War. Therefore, it has more than 2400 years old today. It is the most successful military strategys book in China that consists of 13 chapters and contains about only 6,200 words written in classical Chinese. Nowadays, most of the military academies in the world would make use on the theories of Sun Zis Art of War to train the top military commanders. Moreover, a philosophy of war was presented in this book for managing conflicts and winning battles. It is said to be the definitely work on military strategies for who is devoted to the warfare. Sun Zi successfully proposed principles, concepts and approaches that can be used to achieve victory. For example, Sun Zi more prefer holistic approach when dealing with military conflicts as it doesnt need to use even a single soldier to solve the conflict. A good planning which involved detailed analysis, examined on the business plan and strategy are needed in order to enable comparson between strengths and weaknesses of own company against competitors. This is to understand the timing for changing conditions and situation and thus achieve victory. As Sun Zi said : the conduct of war is a matter of vital importance to the nation. In reality, business competition is similar to a real war and thus win or lose in the competition will definitely determine the survival or death of a company. Thus, the understandability and ability to apply wars strategy such as Sun Zi Art of War in a wise, flexible and correct timing and methods is very important. Our group had chosen Toyota Company as our study object in Sun Zi Art of War Topic 1 Detailed Assessment and Planning.

Content:
In topic one of Sun Zi Art of War, a detailed assessment and planning emphasized on the five deceptions which are moral influence, the weather, terrain, generalship and doctrine and law. Relating to business aspect, Toyota did compare these five deceptions against competitors so as to understand the changing conditions and circumstances and thus to assess the chances of victory. Moral influence refers to measures and policies that align the people with the sovereign so as to be in complete agreement and harmony with each other. It has becomes central mission in our day-to-day live and also form the uniting force in a competitive organization. For instance, moral influences helps to serve the requirement of people while attract customers, employees, supporters and other associating allies. Besides, it inculcates introspection which points towards the outcome which may be contemplating on making decision before actually commit to it. Weather in Sun Zis philosophy implied changes in the weather, seasons and temperature. As a good leader must know how to utilize these factors in planning works even though the climate is one of the uncontrollable factors. Grasp opportunities despite the conditions being in a state of fluctuation. When apply into business, The CEO of an organization must be able to modify his strategies according to the fluctuations in the business or economic environment or climate. Terrain refers to the area in which military operations take place. Even though the battlefield is also an uncontrollable factor, a good leader can bring an uncontrollable factor under his control and utilize it in such a way that is most advantageous to him. In order to deal with changing situations that are not under our control, we must be flexible, adaptable and be able to turn them into advantages. By the generalship of a commander, Sun Zi meant the abilities and qualities a general possessed. The commander is a representative of virtues like courage, wisdom, benevolence, sincerity, and strictness. The commander in any situation defines and creates his organizational unit by his skills of making correct decisions and his character.

Doctrine and law can be defined as organization and control, management systems, procedures and the command and control structure adopted in the organization. The methods that applied in a company structure must be effective, efficient and consistent with the central purpose of the company in order to balance the role of people in organization culture that expects and values their continuous improvement. Principle of deception also can be applied in the competitive automotive market. Thus, when you are capable, feign that you are incapable. When competitor is strong and effective, be well-prepared and ready to confront it. For example, Toyota seek for advices from Ford company which is a strong competitor when Toyota automotive still in new. But today, the situation has interchanged and Ford is looking at ideas from Toyota. This proved that companies who are able to conduct detailed and thoroughly business planning and strategy will win in the competition by comparing the strength and weakness of own company against strong competitors to understand timing for changing conditions and situations. As Sun Zis said, general who adopt my strategies and plans will win when he is deployed, he should be retained. When Toyotas engineer learns something new and useful, he will share out that knowledge upon lightning speed within company and will be incorporated into decision-making. This is different with most western companies where knowledge is perceived as power to go ahead over colleague but not to go ahead over competitors. Toyota knows who the enemy is. Additionally, the five deceptions are established in alliance with the seven considerations. In the planning stage, there are seven dimensions need to be taken into consideration. The first dimension which ruler has greater moral influence refers to political intelligence of a ruler. As an employer or top management, they must be able to unite the company behind a vision to achieve company goals. Basically, purpose of the goals and vision should be made as clearly as possible to the whole company. Which general is more able and has greater abilities and skills can be defined as capability of general. A good and capable leader would have been able to unite and command the respect of his army and people of the nation. A wise general would not be leading his army to attack when conditions are unfavourable. Good

generals would be able to create a strong organization structure and control in his army. Which side is able to better exploit the weather and terrain refers to advantage provided by weather and terrain. Weather and terrain are both uncontrollable factors in war. For weather, the advantages and disadvantages presented by can be tremendous and its influence is wide ranging. On the other hand, terrain refers to whether the ground to be taken is treacherous or safe will determine the death or survival. Which side is able to execute and implement law and order more effectively refers to effective and efficient execution of orders. In business aspects, if the orders are not clearly passed down to every single person in the organization, confusion will prevail and would render the whole organization useless. Hence, the top management would not be able to execute his strategy. Which side has more and stronger troops refers to equipped level and numerical strength of army. The equipped level and the numerical strength of the army play an important part in achieving victory. Each and every staff should be equipped with their necessities to help improve their work rate. By using technology, all staffs are able to access real time data in order to make quick decision and clinch sales easily. Which side has better trained officers and men refers to training level of army. The staff must be trained to attain more skills and knowledge in order to maximizing the efficiency of the technology available to staff. Employers should always look for the opportunity of sending their staffs to obtain skills that are needed in future so that the company is able to overcome the problems that foresee in future and reduce the reaction lag. Which side is more enlightened in the administration of rewards and punishments refers to the administration of rewards and punishments. It is important in the organization that they structure their rewards and punishment correctly so that their work is aligned with that of the business strategy and culture.

Discussion: About Toyota

Toyota Group is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan which started in 1890 by founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda invented the wooden Toyoda handloom. While Toyota Motor Corporations history started in 1933 when founders son, Kiichiro Toyoda started to produce automobiles under the division of his fathers company Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Kiichiro Toyoda had travelled to Europe and also United States in 1929 to start his investigation in automobile production and start his research in gasoline-powered engines in 1930. Toyota first vehicle Model A1 passenger car was produced in May 1935 which using first type A Engine. Toyotas slogan Moving Forward is launched in order to continue improving themselves and clarify how they will make their customer more satisfy with the products.

Management & Structure of Toyota

Sun Zi said that doctrine and law is 1 of the main 5 factors that needed to be taken seriously into account before conduct a war. Doctrine and law refer to organization and control, management systems and procedures, and the command and control structure for the deployment of resources. This principle is same as applying in business situation. Toyota has unique management principles which move in an opposite direction as compared to other competitors. They are known as Toyota Ways or 14 Management Principles . These principles are the key to the success of Toyota. The 14 principles can be classified into 4 parts and are listed as below : First part : Long-term philosophy consist of principle 1 only. Principle 1 : Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophies, even at the expense of short term goals . Second part : Right process will produce right results consist of principle 2 until principle 8.

Principle 2 : Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface . Principle 3 : Use pull system to avoid overproduction . Principle 4 : Level out the workload . Principle 5 : Build a culture of stop and to fix problems when they are discovered, to get quality right the first time . Principle 6 : Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment Principle 7 : Use visual control so no problems are hidden . Principle 8 : Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes . Third part : Add value to the organization by developing your people consist of principle 9 until principle 11. Principle 9 : Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others . Principle 10 : Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your companys philosophy . Principle 11 : Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve . Fourth part : Continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning consist of principle 12 until principle 14. Principle 12 : Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation . Principle 13 : Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly . Principle 14 : Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement .

The combination of TPS and the 14 Management Principles is the main reason for Toyota to despite their competitor imitation effort, continue to dominate the market, gain huge profit by maintaining at the lowest labor cost and also maintain a harmonious relationship with supplier and enthusiastic workforce.

Toyota also has a good implementation structure which brings company to achieve success such as leaders which lead through inspiration and coaching rather than command and control. In Toyota, monthly Board of Directors meetings will be held to discuss and resolve significant management matters such as corporate vision, management policies, business strategy. Besides, Toyotas president has to convene meeting with heads of each business division regularly to monitor and follow the status of execution of the business policies in each division. Toyota also established an Information Disclosure Committee to provide all stakeholders with accurate and timeliness information through active public relations to enhance its corporate image and transparency in order to win the trust of society. Sun Zi also mentioned that which side is able to execute and implement law and order more effectively. Thus, Toyota has adopted a board of corporate auditors system which is an independent party to ensure the legality of management. In addition, Corporate Auditors Office is also created with group of dedicated personnel to assist in the audit work of corporate auditors and intensify the duties carried out by the directors. Besides, the corporate auditors are responsible to exchange opinions and collaborate with independent auditors to ensure legality, soundness and efficiency of management.

Corporate Culture
As Sun Zi said : Moral influence refers to measures and policies that align the people with the sovereign so as to be in complete agreement and harmony with each other. Toyota highly believes that through carry out the basic philosophy of Respect for the Law, Respect for Others, Respect for the Natural Environment, Respect for Customers and Respect for Employees, they can fulfil

their corporate social responsibilities. Besides, it will enhance the stability of corporate value and societys trust will be maintained. Respect for the Law means Toyota has to comply with all the letter and spirit of the law in Japan and overseas with fair and transparently. Respect for Others requires Toyota to respect all the people, culture, and tradition from different region and country in which it operates. Respect for the Natural Environment contributes to regional living conditions, social prosperity, and strive to offer products and services that are safe, high quality and also environment friendly such as production of Toyota hybrid car Prius. In Respect for Customers, a series of intensive product and forward-looking development activities have been conducted to create new value for its customers so that customers can enjoy high quality products while fulfil the needs of all customers. Lastly, Respect for Employees is very important for every companies in order to keep on smooth operations. In Toyota, every employee has the right to propose their suggestion and speak up in order to bring the company to a higher level. As Sun Zi said: With thorough and detailed planning, one can win. All the employees have to determine, What concrete action should they take and how should they change? Therefore, five values have been formed in order to enforce the five basic philosophies. The 5 values are Encouraging Professional Excellence, Welcoming New Challengers, Encouraging Teamwork, Customer First and Global Perspective. As stated in the seven dimensions: Which general is more able and has greater abilities and skills? Toyota encourage professional excellence and effective teamwork by recognize the human worth of each individual and collaborate to achieve company goals. As in the seven dimensions: Which side (army) has more and stronger troops? Therefore, an effective teamwork will be better than working individually. Toyota emphasize on produce automobiles that reflect Customer First, Quality First. Toyota always strives to grasp shifts in customer demands, constantly

checking for conformity with its standards, and acting swiftly to resolve any discrepancies. Toyota also complied with all types of laws and regulations and they conduct their business in an honest and integrity way.

Operation of Toyota
According to Sun Zi, terrain refers to whether the route to be taken is long or short, whether the ground is treacherous or safe, wide or narrow with regard to ease of movement, and whether the ground will determine the death or survival (of an army). Operation of company is a significant factor that will directly affect the entire business and determine the survival or death of company. An effective and detailed planned operation will assist the company to have a proper management on the business and hence able to compete with competitors. In Toyota, one of the success factors is its unique operation system. As stated by Sun Zi, which army is able to and has greater abilities and skills can lead to succeed. Toyotas main operation strategy focused on cars maximum reliability and easy maintenance. Thus, these goals are set for all production process, design and also supply chain management. Besides, Toyota is a company that has less man-hours with less inventory in their operation but still managed to produce cars with highest quality and fewest defects as compared to its strong competitors such as Ford.

Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system that included the company management philosophy and practices which adopted the concept of Just-in-Time (JIT) system or called Pull system. This system has enhanced the effectiveness, efficiency of Toyotas overall operations. The concept of TPS is to holds the inventories just to meet the actual demand. It has enhanced the effectiveness, efficiency of Toyotas overall operations as well as to eliminate any possible wastage. Besides, Pull system also encourages all employees in the company to involve in the system and have the right to stop the production line if see

a quality issues is arising. This is as follow Seisei Kato of Toyota said : Never fail to reward merit, but never let a fault go unremarked . Moreover, the Lean manufacturing system is created based on TPS structure as its foundation. The term Lean means a collection of tools and techniques being used in the business processes in order to optimize time, human resources, assets and productivity. It consists of five zeros which are zero paper, zero inventories, zero downtime, zero defects and zero delay. This system has further enhanced the production speed, quality of product and services offered. This is why Toyota is known as the fastest runner in the race in the automotive industry. Their production record of 27.9 hours (Most productive) per vehicle surpasses the record of their strong competitors like Ford and Chrysler. TPS should be a value-based strategy rather than only cost-based strategy.

In addition, development of hybrid cars is part of Toyotas long term business strategy. As Sun Zi said, when the enemy is well rested, use methods to tire him. Toyota wish to develop a premium position in hybrids in the world which in tune with present consumers value to subdue their competitors. Toyota Mr.Cho said that development of eco-friendly cars is a key to our future growth strategy. Hybrid cars are more fuel-efficient and environmental friendly than other cars as they combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. In 1997, Toyota was the first company that mass-produced hybrid vehicle and success to sell around 120000 since then.

Conclusion
Sun Zis Art of War is a book of military philosophy that proposes principles, concepts and approaches to manage conflicts and winning battles. Since worlds globalization is becoming more intense, business competition is transformed into real war. Thus, the ways of conduct a business is becoming similar to ways of conduct a war. It is very crucial if companys management team could apply strategy and planning more wisely, flexibly and correctly in order to win in competition. Companies such as Toyota who learn the best and in fast manner, then can apply that knowledge into the company will be the one who win in the global automotive wars in the 21st century. Toyota has been using the principles and concepts from Sun Zis Art of War such as from aspect of companys planning, analyze and assessment of strategy, management as well in operation. It is beneficial if a company did have a detailed planning and analysis in their business before conducting certain strategy, operation or decision as it could determine chance of success. For instance, Toyota has created and applied the unique Toyota Way that lead Toyota to become a dominate leader in automotive manufacturing industry. Toyota Way is a management philosophy that build a strong foundation to Toyota other great achievements such as the Toyota Production System. In addition, Toyota always tuned up to what is new in the market area in order to maintain their position in the frontline of the industry by creating new ideas of concept cars and present ideas to its customers earlier than its any competitors. For example, Toyota has produced a hybrid model car- the prius, guided by their ambition to become greener much earlier

than other competitors. Toyota believe that by conducting a thorough and detailed planning in every aspect of company able to be a dominate leader in the competitive automotive industry. Lastly, the conclusion that we get in this chapter is that no matter what thing we want to do, it is crucial to know our own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and also carry out detail planning in every aspects.

Recommendations:
Toyota is exercising Lean manufacturing system in the company. However, Toyota still faced many problems recently, such as failure of the Toyota Priuss breaking system. Therefore, we strongly recommend that Toyota conceptualize the whole problem as an engineering one. Firstly, all the procedures must be specified and standardized. Management should be responsive and resolve all the feedbacks from the customers and suppliers. Lastly, every employee should use the pragmatic scientific method to solve the breaking problems of Toyota Prius. The method entails defining specifications, establishing hypotheses, continually testing them and measuring the outcomes. The second problem is the breakdown of the accelerator pedal seriously affected the Toyotas reputation. For this problem, we suggest that Toyota should recall all the defective cars for further diagnostic and repair to ensure public safety. Finally, the actual process of having the car fixed needs to be enjoyable. For instance, free good coffee, may be even some doughnuts while the customers are waiting for their pedals to be fixed. Besides, if Toyota can speed up the repair process and perhaps give some free car service or maintenance vouchers for customers perhaps may aid in rebuilding their product's reputation and meanwhile retain customers confidence on Toyotas quality. How the Toyota management team going to solve the product problem will determine the long-term impacts and survival of Toyota.