We invite you to learn about the strategic principles that guide and govern our business decisions. A company is like a small nation, and a group of companies can form a strong alliance. We conduct business, in all its aspects, using what we consider to be very classical, fundamental, natural, and well-proven methods. Strategic principles, values, practices, which are derived from the same social foundations as apply to governing communities, states, armies.
Our strategies include some simple basics which may not be so much in vogue now as in past decades and centuries but which we know to be correct for building stable, sustainable, and strong companies.
Everything is about people and relationships. Within the corporate community, and extending out to customers, clients, partners, and also competitors.
We may seem to walk a different path compared to what is popular in many contemporary circles, especially since the turn of the millennium. However, a careful review of the curriculum, literature, and methods employed in business schools and management programs in such nations as China, Korea, and Japan will give you some appreciation for the differences between us and, say, many information-technology focused companies in the USA.
We pay great attention to leadership and relationship, between ourtselves within the different companieso fht eGroup, and between us as companies and the world of clients and consumers, both individual and corporate.
We study carefully the seasons and timings for action, and the degrees of difficulty, risk, safety and financial security with respect to every aspects of R&D and product development.
We put great attention upon tactical leadership and this includes every aspect os marketing and sales. The traditional virtues are what wins long-term strady relationships - intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage and sternness. We know how to apply and transform these from ideals and concepts into day-to-day practices.
We are emphatic also in discipline, meaning, organizational coherence and efficiency.
There is a great deal of talk these days about a certain term, "deep learning." It is one of those popular phrases that are created by some individuals and then they spread like fire, only to eventually burn out and be replaced by other banners and slogans. We emphasize instead, within our business practices, something that has been studied carefully for thousands of years. Allow me to quote from an ancient Chinese text, "The Book of Balance and Harmony" (Chung-ho chi; Zhongho ji), as translated here by the eminent scholar and translator, Dr. Thomas Cleary:
"Deep knowledge is to be aware of disturbance before disturbance, to be aware of danger before danger, to be aware of destruction before destruction, to be aware of calamity before calamity. Strong action is training the body without being burdened by the body, exercising the mind without being used by the mind, working in the world without being affected by the world, carrying out tasks without being obstructed by tasks.
By deep knowledge of principle, one can change disturbance into order, change danger into safety, change destruction into survival, change calamity into fortune."
There is another quotation very much worth reflecting upon, with respect to many things in life and certainly in all matters of business, finance, labor, production, and service. This comes from the "Tao-te Ching" of Lao Tze.
"I have three treasures that I keep and prize: one is kindness, second is frugality, and third is not presuming to take precedence over others. By kindness one can be brave, by frugality one can reach out, and by not presuming to take precedence one can survive effectively. If one gives up kindness and courage, gives up frugality and breadth, and gives up humility for aggresiveness, one will die. The exercise of kindness in battle leads to victory, the exercise of kindness in defense leads to security."
We are not famous celebrities and our group of companies is not on the front pages of the internet media publications. We are not in any elite clubs. However, we know our business subjects, we understand our business methods, and we do have some modest share of wisdom about how to do things to serve our clients better.
One more set of quotations, this being about a story of a prince in ancient China and his physician, a member of a family of healers.
The prince asked, "Which member of your family is the most skilled in the art of healing?"
The physician answered, "My eldest brother sees the essence of sickness and removes it before it takes form, so his name does not get out of the house."
"My elder brother cures illness when it is still extremely minute and in its earliest of stages, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood."
"As for myself, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords." [1]
We aspire toward the qualities and character of the eldest brother, knowing that we have a long ways to go even before we will be even as this youngest brother.
----------------------------
Martin Joseph
