Business has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. So has warfare. Every executive knows firsthand the daunting challenges of the 21st century business environment: disruptive change, fleeting opportunities, an overall sense of uncertainty and disorder. Although military commanders have long faced such challenges on the battlefield, meeting them has become more difficult in today's world of electronic weaponry, blurred battle lines, and amorphous enemies. In this article, Eric Clemons and Jason Santamaria lay out the concept of maneuver warfare--a philosophy tailor-made for today's uncertain combat environment--and analyze its applicability to business. Maneuver warfare isn't designed to destroy an adversary. Rather, it's used to render an enemy unable to fight as an effective, coordinated whole. This approach recognizes that it is impossible to control disorder and uncertainty; thus, the only viable option is to use those forces against your opponent. The authors have distilled seven guiding elements of maneuver warfare: targeting critical vulnerabilities, boldness, surprise, focus, decentralized decision making, rapid tempo, and combined arms. They illustrate each element with examples from both the military and corporate arenas. Although warfare often seems a facile metaphor for business, the authors argue that the principles of maneuver warfare are relevant to business strategy because they have been developed to address conditions that mirror those facing today's executives. Furthermore, the approach--with its focus not on overpowering a rival but on outflanking him, targeting his weaknesses, and rendering him unable to analyze the situation--can help achieve a decisive advantage with a minimal deployment of resources.

For many organizations, achieving competitive advantage means eliciting superior performance from employees on the front line--the burger flippers, hotel room cleaners, and baggage handlers whose work has an enormous effect on customers. That's no easy task. Frontline workers are paid low wages, have scant hope of advancement, and--not surprisingly--often care little about the company's performance. But then how do some companies succeed in engaging the emotional energy of rank-and-file workers? A team of researchers at McKinsey & Company and the Conference Board recently explored that question and discovered that one highly effective route is demonstrated by the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marines' approach to motivation follows the "mission, values, and pride" path, which researchers say is practical and relevant for the business world. More specifically, the authors say the Marines follow five practices: they overinvest in cultivating core value; prepare every person to lead, including frontline supervisors; learn when to create teams and when to create single-leader work groups; attend to all employees, not just the top half; and encourage self-discipline as a way of building pride. The authors admit there are critical differences between the Marines and most businesses. But using vivid examples from companies such as KFC and Marriott International, the authors illustrate how the Marines' approach can be translated for corporate use. Sometimes, the authors maintain, minor changes in a company's standard operating procedure can have a powerful effect on frontline pride and can result in substantial payoffs in company performance.