7 Concepts Of Strategic Management We Can Learn From Mahabharata

(1) Vision

Kaurav -- The President of Kaurav Ltd i.e. Dhritarashtra had no vision at all . He c'd not override his weakness for his son. He was used by Shakuni and Duryodhana. He was incapable of taking any decision. He remained silent during the dice game in which Yudhisthira lost everything and also let his son insult Draupadi. He failed to forecast the result of this humiliation which eventually became the root cause of this war.He was a weak leader and failed to follow his responsibilities as a president in a proper manner.

Pandav -- Their President Yudhisthira was a man of great vision and was respected even by his competitors . He was an expert in administration and a man of values and adhered to truth and Dharma. He used his image in a great manner as on the first day of war he applied a great strategy. He went over to Kaurava's to take blessing from Elders and in return he got the secret of defeating them . (Remember the case of Bhishma. ) . This helped them to gain strategic advantage over Kaurava Ltd. He also anticipated the war at an early stage and started preparations for it.

(2) Strategy

It is the direction and scope of an organisation and helps it to compete with competitors.

Kaurav -- Their Chief Mentor or Strategist Shakuni relied on unfair trade practices. Such things may work in short-term but a complete failure in long-term. A good strategist is one who knows the weakness of competitors and exploit them. He should help the Co. to recover from any situation. Shakuni was wicked and believed in short-term profits. He was biased and use to think about the welfare of CEO i.e. Duryodhana only and not of Kaurav Ltd. as a whole.

Pandav -- They have got the best strategist in the form of Krishna which the world has ever seen. He believed in forming strong allies and was responsible for the merger of Pandava Ltd. with Dwarka (Remember Arjuna's marriage with Subhadra when Duryodhana wanted to marry her) , Rakshas (marriage of Bheem with hidimba) ,Panchala (marriage of Arjun with Draupadi), Matsya (marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttara) etc.. He asked Yudhisthira to go to Bhishma on 1st day of war to know their weakness. He was responsible for forming the strategy of the death of Dronacharya, Karna and even Duryodhana.

(3) Motivation

It acts as a catalyst in achieving a company's mission , vision , goal and objectives.

Kaurav -- Their CEO was motivated by greed for the Indraprastha . He was ready to do apply any means whether fair and unfair to achieve his goal. He was a great example of evil and fighting against the truth.

Pandav -- They were fighting for their self-respect and this is the greatest motivation in this world. They believed in fair practices only.

(4) Decision-making

It is the art to take right decision at the right time. One s'd grab the opportunity at the right time to gain advantage over the competitors.

Kaurav -- To take good decision one s'd have great level of concentration and low level of anxiety and their CEO was completely opposite of that. He was a man of low concentration , high level of anxiety and believed in unfair practices.
He believed in finance more than Human Resource. He choose Krishna's army over him which was his biggest mistake.

Pandav -- Arjuna was a person of great concentration and was very focused. He choose Krishna over his army which came to be a masterstroke.He use to set example for others.

(5) SWOT ANALYSIS

Kaurav -- They converted their strength into weakness as they use to indulge in war with other kingdom which caused both loss of men and creation of enemies.

Pandav -- They utilized their exile period in which Arjun acquired Divyastra and Yudhisthira formed the strategy of war by taking teaching from different Gurus. Thus they converted their weakness into strength.

(6) COMMITMENT

Kaurav -- There was lack of commitment from Kaurava's .Their main warriors like Bhishma and Dronacharya didn't wanted war and promised not to kill any of the Pandava's. Karna was fighting the war just to be loyal to Duryodhana but wasn't fully involved in the war as he promised not to kill any Pandava except Arjun.

Pandav -- Everyone was assigned a role and they did it with their limited capabilities. Abhimanyu and Ghatotkatch sacrificed their life for their team. Both of them contributed a lot as Abhimanyu fought with 7 Maharatis single handed and Ghatotkatch took away half of Kaurava's army with him.

(7) Team work

Kaurav -- They didn't work as a team. Many of them use to hate each other. Bhishma didn't wanted Karna to participate in the war. Bhishma and Karna both use to hate Shakuni and his tactics . It means they didn't have faith in their key strategist.

Pandav -- They put team interest above all and each person was involved in every process. They respect each other and use to listen to their CEO. They had a mission and a common goal and they worked for it.