The state of Yan was stricken by famine, and Zhao was preparing to attack it. The king of Chu dispatched a general to Wei, who, upon taking leave of the King of Wei, said: “Yan is in famine, and Zhao is about to attack it. Qin will surely come to Yan’s aid, and Zhao will then be destroyed. Should Zhao fall, Qin would be able to control Han and Wei, and Han and Wei cannot do without Chu—thus Chu may carve out territory from this. It would be better for Your Majesty to lift the threat against Zhao and secretly forge ties with Yan. If Zhao attacks Yan, Qin will surely rescue it; should Yan perish, Zhao will only grow stronger, and a powerful Zhao spells danger for Chu. It would be better for Your Majesty to ally with Zhao and refrain from attacking Yan. Once the bonds between Yan and Zhao are firm, Chu may then reap benefits from Qin.” The King of Wei said, “Well spoken.” Thereupon he persuaded Zhao, and in the end Zhao did not attack Yan.
💡 商战启示录
The essence of this strategy lies in "leveraging influence to strike a balance, and taking the circuitous path to reach the straight." The state of Chu did not directly intervene in the conflict between Yan and Zhao, but instead, by analyzing the chains of interest among all parties, guided Wei to adjust its strategy—ultimately achieving the goals of weakening Zhao, containing Qin, and preserving itself. In modern commercial warfare, this resembles "ecosystem gaming"—where an enterprise does not clash head-on with its competitors, but reshapes the competitive landscape by influencing the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain or by engaging third-party allies. For instance, in the subsidy war between Didi and Kuaidi, the underlying contest was between Tencent and Alibaba over payment scenarios. At that time, had other ride-hailing platforms directly joined the fray, they would inevitably have suffered enormous losses. A wiser approach, akin to that of the Chu state, would have been to lobby regulators or ally with other mobility service providers to promote differentiated competition or cooperation, thereby averting a destructive, industry-wide attrition. Similarly, when Huawei faced chip sanctions, it did not confront the adversary directly, but instead united the domestic industrial chain to advance domestic substitution and ecosystem building, while employing "diplomatic" measures such as patent licensing to alter the external environment. In business decision-making, when one's own resources are insufficient for a frontal victory, one should act like the envoy of Chu—becoming a "strategic architect" who, by analyzing the interests and leverage of all parties, induces a new equilibrium among competitors, thereby carving out space for one's own survival and growth. The true victor is often the one who places a piece beyond the board.