Abstract

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu. It is the gem of Chinese culture. There is an old Chinese saying “business is war”, which reflects that the competitive business and military have common features. It refers that the important thoughts of Sun Tzu can be applied to the company’s strategies and management. Citibank is a comprehensive commercial bank with more than two hundred years of history. Because of its active overseas strategies, at present, it has more than one hundred branches all over the world. This thesis tries to provide strategic insights into the multinational corporations’ business strategies in China through an in-depth case study of Citibank’s China strategy and application of Sun Tzu’s essential strategic thinking.
   
Key Words: The Art of War  multinational corporations  Citibank  business strategy
 
摘 要

孙子所著的《孙子兵法》是中国古代军事智慧的结晶，是中国文化的瑰宝。中国有句俗语叫：“商场如战场”，意思就是说商业竞争与军事战争有许多共通之处。也就是说孙子的重要军事思想可以运用于企业策略与企业管理中。花旗银行是一家拥有超过两百年历史的综合性商业银行。现今，由于其积极地开拓海外市场，花旗银行在全世界拥有超过一百家的分行。本论文试图通过对花旗银行中国战略的深入研究，以及对《孙子兵法》中的重要思想的运用，从而为跨国企业在中国的发展战略提供指导。

关键词：《孙子兵法》 跨国公司 花旗银行 商业战略

1 Introduction
With the reform and opening up in recent decades, more and more foreign companies came to China in order to share a piece of China. After China’s accession to World Trade Organization in 2001, the Chinese government, considering the nation’s relatively underdeveloped financial industry, decided to boost operational efficiency of its financial system by gradually opening the financial industry. According to its promise with WTO, its banking sector should be completely opened, including opening its local currency business of Chinese residents to foreign banks. Now China has permitted qualified foreign banks to be registered as a local bank, which will put those foreign banks at the same position to compete with local banks.