---
id: "entity-sun-tzu"
type: "entity"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Commitment Paradox"]
tags: ["military-strategy", "intellectual-anchor"]
related: ["concept-commitment-paradox"]
entityType: "person"
canonicalName: "Sun Tzu"
aliases: ["Sunzi"]
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-116-winner-take-all-diversification"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/in-winner-take-all-markets-diversification-is-a-liability"
sourceTitle: "In Winner-Take-All Markets, Diversification Is a Liability"
---
# Sun Tzu

## Sun Tzu

**Role in this source:** intellectual anchor for the [[concept-commitment-paradox]]. Sun Tzu is the famed ancient Chinese military strategist, attributed author of *The Art of War*, cited for the advice to armies to **'burn their ships'** upon landing in enemy territory.

That brutal logic — eliminate your own retreat options to signal to the enemy that you will fight to the death — is the foundational metaphor of the entire argument. A focused firm is structurally in the 'ships burned' position; a diversified firm must *engineer* that position via [[concept-structural-separation-commitment]].

**Modern lineage (enrichment):** the same idea is formalized in Thomas Schelling's *The Strategy of Conflict* — value created by constraining one's own options to change a rival's behavior. See [[prereq-game-theory-signaling]].