Literature - articles

We will collect information about articles related to Boyd that we have read or are about to read into this post. Articles will be listed chronologically in the order they were read.

Articles we have read

Fast-Cycle Capability for Competitive Power
by Joseph L. Bower and Thomas M. Hout

Reading queue

Maneuver Warfare: Can Modern Military Strategy Lead You to Victory?
by Eric K. Clemons and Jason A. Santamaria

How Managers’ Everyday Decisions Create—or Destroy—Your Company’s Strategy
by Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert

Literature - books

We will collect information about books related to Boyd that we have read or are about to read into this post. Books will be listed chronologically in the order they were read.

Books we have read

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
by Robert Coram

Certain to Win
by Chet Richards


The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security
by Grant Tedrick Hammond

Maneuver Warfare Handbook
by William S. Lind
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

vSentes Campaing Manual: How to create and Execute Effective Marketing Campaigns
by Mike Smock

Reading queue

Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd
by Frans Osinga

The Japanese Art of War: Understanding the Culture of Strategy
by Thomas Cleary

What’s the use of all this?

After publishing that last post, I didn’t feel like continuing my conference presentation or my Master’s thesis (funny how you always find ways to procrastinate) and instead decided to write about the futility of it all.

Now this doesn’t have much to do about the fact that here in Helsinki, we now have daylight for about 8 hours, tops, per day, but more about the fact that there are reams and reams of paper written about how one should manage a firm or build a strategy to get filthy rich.

And what good are they doing?

Even though I lambasted the RBV and core competencies on the previous posts, I cannot deny that they, too, have their uses. However, what we’re sometimes seriously lacking is a simple, common-sense view of a dynamic competitive situation, something that’s so simple that you could actually learn most of it without doing a Ph. D.

Since most managers do not have Ph. D.s, and evidently some of them are doing very well, business must not be rocket science. (My own experience pretty much confirms this - for those of you who haven’t tried consulting in any form, let me tell you that even at the very highest levels the decisions are not always made with unlimited rationality and superior intelligence.)

I’m not deluding myself thinking that managers would particularly need a new management hypothesis, even if that’s as good as this Boydian one, but there are still uses for a simple theory. Panu, my co-writer, could tell you all about why - should you want to improve your performance - you must first have a hypothesis so you can compare what really happens to what you expected to happen, and then make adjustments to your intuition so that next time you understand the process even better.

Boyd’s theory of maneuver conflict is simple, fits competitive situation, and explains quite a lot without going into details. It certainly doesn’t explain everything, but it explains enough so that it is useful.

That’s why I like it.

And that’s why I’m convinced that writing this blog isn’t waste of time.

Quick research note - what indicates that a company is exploiting uncertainty? Or trying to reduce it?

In a Clausewitzian conflict, one's aim is to minimize your uncertainties, that is, to decrease friction.

In a Boydian conflict, one aims not to eliminate own uncertainties, but increase and exploit those of others.

Are there any external indicators which could be used to assess whether some activity is aimed towards reducing own uncertainties, or exploiting the existing ones (or creating new ones)? Could we classify some actions as inherently reducing and some as inherently exploitative? For example, could we say that radical innovation is typically exploitative, whereas incremental innovation tends to be uncertainty reducing?

Could we analyze a company from an external viewpoint and derive whether its strategic moves are towards exploitation or reduction?

(Note - I'm involved in a new product development research at Helsinki University of Technology's FutureLab of Product Design, and this blog also doubles as an extension to my research diary. Therefore, I do speculate much and test out ideas which might, with further thought, not make any sense at all. So please don't order rotten eggs and vegetables yet, but do feel free to comment. ;))