Targeting Critical Vulnerabilities

Targeting critical vulnerabilities ”the principle of hitting the other fellow where it hurts the most ”aims to identify and exploit those fundamental weaknesses that will do the most significant damage to the enemy s ability to resist. ^[2]

As we saw in Chapter 2, Israel s resounding victory in the 1967 War began with its ability to target its opponent s critical vulnerability. Rather than attack the numerically superior and more heavily armed Egyptians head-on, Israel opted to pierce their defensive lines and disrupt their cumbersome, centralized decision-making process, thereby driving them into a debilitating state of chaos and confusion.

In a similar fashion, upstart MCI discovered in the early 1980s that incumbent AT&T s critical vulnerability was to be found in the long-distance telephone service market. The then- regulated incumbent s uniform pricing of long-distance services was based on the duration and distance of the call rather than on its cost of providing the service. Moreover, prices for long-distance service were inflated significantly to subsidize two unprofitable AT&T businesses: local telephone service, especially in rural areas, and long-distance service in remote, geographically challenging areas, like the Rocky Mountain states.

MCI exploited the vulnerability by attacking AT&T in markets that were large enough to be profitable and geographically benign enough that microwave communications technology could be deployed effectively: its first route, between Chicago and St. Louis, crossed no major mountains or other impassable geographic obstacles and was relatively easy to install. MCI also launched and won litigation that granted it to access AT&T s network: the courts forced AT&T to sell network capacity to MCI so that MCI could become a true nationwide carrier, without installing its own network connections in many locations. Targeting its opponent s critical vulnerability of uniform pricing thus afforded MCI a fundamental cost advantage in building and operating networks that AT&T could not match, and the upstart gained considerable market share at AT&T s expense.

The Marines emphasis on targeting critical vulnerabilities can serve as a useful guide to implementing this principle in your business. They view targeting critical vulnerabilities as a top-down, bottom-up process, and all Marines, from the front line to the highest headquarters, constantly search for the enemy s fundamental weaknesses. At the same time, they are aware that their organization has its own critical vulnerabilities and constantly endeavor to prevent them from being targeted .

^[2] Warfighting , 47.