Art Of War: Exemplar Report To Follow

How do you understand Sun Zi’s rules of using four kinds of terrain to gain advantage (Mair, pp. 108-109)? Try to discuss some of these rules and give examples to illustrate your idea.
The book “Art of War” was written by one of the heads of Chinese military Sun Tzu. It demonstrates the experience gained by the Chinese arm throughout the century as well as the wisdom of the author. It contains a set of rules and examples on how to win the battle, how to lose and how to win the war without the fight. The chapter 10 of this collection is dedicated to the types of terrains. Sun Tzu distinguishes several kinds of them: accessible grounds, entangling grounds, temporizing grounds and narrow passes. The territories are described according to the barriers an army might face, the accessibility of and by the enemy and distance, where accessible grounds is the most comfortable terrain and narrow passes would provide with an advantage in case you await for the enemy. Though the book was written for the future generals, the wisdom described in it, is widely used in business, culture and sports. For example, the understanding of the terrain types can be applied to the business strategy and the position of a company on the market. The accessible grounds in that case would mean a high competition. The narrow spaces, on the other hand, can be considered as a niche product. As for the strategies, the 10th chapter provides an insight a company should choose to be successful. The rules can be also used for sports as they can be helpful for soccer coaches to locate the players. Therefore, the Sun Tzu experience has a deep meaning and be applied to any sphere of the modern life.