The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 1

remarked: Surely it can’t have happened so soon? But he replied: ‘The front is broken

near Sedan; they are pouring through in great numbers with tanks and armoured cars.’

(Jackson 2003, 9) .

On May 10 th , Nazi Germany commenced its offensive in the west with the invasion of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. On May 13 th , German forces crossed the river Meuse and broke through the French defences. The author of the ‘Little Prince’, who was a pilot at that time, set off on a reconnaissance on the 22 nd May 1940:

We stand against the enemy as one man against three, one plane against ten or twenty,

since Dunkerque, one tank against a hundred. We have no time to meditate upon the

past. We are engaged in the present. The present is as it is. No sacrifice, ever,

anywhere, can possibly slow the German Advance. (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1942, 46)

The Fall of France in May-June 1940 at the hands of Germany is one of the great

surprises of the 20th century. The disparity of strength between the French and German

disposition of forces favoured the Allies; yet the weaker party prevailed. Germany inflicted

one of the ‘strangest’ defeats in military history. The reason for the defeat of France in 1940

lends itself to a renewed analysis from a management perspective.

The purpose of this book is not to replicate history or to improve its accuracy. It seeks to

evaluate this piece of history through the eyes of management, a function that enables

modern organisations to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources

efficiently and effectively, in the face of a range of adversities. In this respect, Von

Clausewitz suggested, history is

…meant to educate the mind of the future commander, or, more accurately, to guide him

in his self-education, not to accompany him to the battlefield; just as a wise teacher

guides and stimulates a young man's intellectual development, but is careful not to lead

him by the hand for the rest of his life. (quoted in Kennedy and Neilson 2002, 26) .

[Text Box starts] Von Clausewitz and De Jomini: The Art of War

This book will provide excerpts from two ground-breaking works on theories of war: On War (Von

Clausewitz 2011) and The Art of War (De Jomini 2008). Both theories appeal to military planners and

organisational strategists alike, although Von Clausewitz is more well-known to both.

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