Trojan Horse Strategy in Competition

Trojan Horse is the name given to a wooden horse that rulers of Troy brought into their city thinking it was a gift from the enemy. They were lured by the looks of the wooden horse. It seems to bring it in they demolished part of the city wall that protected them from enemies. The horse had Greek soldiers inside it. During the night they came out, killed the guards of the fort and gave a signal to their fellow soldiers to come into the city. The city of Troy was destroyed.

Could that strategy be applied in business? There are enough opportunities. Companies may send their employees to work in competitors' companies. Then may ask their consultants to work for competitors' companies. Sometimes family members can create problems among themselves and some family members join competitors. Who are genuine and who are trojan horses? Businesses have to be on guard. They need talent from other companies. They need competitive intelligence. Employees of other companies, consultants of other companies, customers and suppliers of other companies are sources of competitive intelligence. But they can be also trojan horses.

Even voluntary associations can be destroyed by trojan horses. An association, especially in the early days of formation may be anxious to have new members and any person willing to join them may be welcomed. But who knows a trojan horse may join it and create circumstances that can stifle its further growth. Political parties may also be subjected to trojan horse strategies.

Kenneth in blog post  http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/introduction-trojan-horse-marketing/457/   described trojan horse marketing.  Trojan Horse Marketing is defined as getting your promo message across, past the prospects' barriers which have been erected to block out those promotional messages to begin with.

Trojan horse was interpreted differently also by some business authors. Adriaanse,  Leest,  and Seyger in their article "‘Trojan Horses’ in Strategy May Bring About Decline" describe  trojan horses as unmanaged risks.  http://www.turnaround.org/Publications/Articles.aspx?objectID=8970

They give five actions as having the potential become trojan horses.

1. Losing sight of the core business model.

2. Entangling business models.

3. Overstretching the organization.

4. Failing to adapt to changed circumstances.

5. Responding to change incrementally rather than structurally.

Trojan  horse strategy is an interesting strategy in business competitive dynamics and there seems to good amount of material on its application and potential application. This knol will have some more information on this strategy in the coming days.

Another interesting trojan horse strategy was described in The Conspirator Dilemma: Introducing the “Trojan Horse” Enforcement Strategy By Omri Yadlin. In this case Yadlin advocates that the system allow a coconspirator to file suit against other conspirators. This makes cooperation difficult and may reduce crime.

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/mainpages/curriculum/colloquium/Omri%20Yadlin.pdf.

Trojan horses in churches. Read an interesting article "Dealing with Trojan Horse Transfer" by Rev. John Marshall Crowe and Thomas F. Fischer on the topic. http://bachdevelopment.com/bach15b.html.

The interesting statement is:

Sometimes, but not always, people who transfer into a church can be a "Trojan Horse Transfer" ("THT's") who will bring defeat into a church. Paul's warning to the Ephesian Elders of "ravenous wolves" may very well apply to pastoral ministry to THTs.

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 19:28-30 NIV).



14.4.2012
Came across an interesting description of Trojan horses in Social media. The badges that organizations give to bloggers are trojan horses. Guest posts can come with trojan horses. Even comments in posts have the potential to be trojan horses giving benefit to the giver.
(http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/02/08/the-trojan-horse-social-media-marketing-strategy/)

Original knol - http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/trojan-horse-strategy-in-competition/2utb2lsm2k7a/ 1194