Chapter 1. 2500 years of war. Marketing people have a lot to learn from some of the world's greatest battles.

Chapter 2. The principle of force. The first principle of Clauswitz is the principle of force. Big fish eat the small fish. Big armies beat the small armies. So too in marketing. Big companies beat the small companies.

Chapter 3. The superiority of the defense. The second principle of Clauswitz is the superiority of the defense. No military commander would seek out combat with the odds stacked against him. Yet how many marketing generals go up against a well-entrenched competitor who is on defense? Like Cardigan at Balaclava and Lee at Gettysburg, many marketing generals launch offensive attacks with insufficient force against competitors that own the high ground.

Chapter 4. The new era of competition. The language of marketing has been borrowed from the military. (We launch a marketing campaign). We talk and act like generals; we just don't think and plan like generals. It's time to apply the principles of military strategy to our marketing operations and thus increase the chances of success.

Chapter 5. The nature of the battleground. Marketing battles are not fought in physical places like the aisles of a drugstore or a supermarket. Nor in the streets of cities like Detroit or Dallas. Marketing battles are fought inside the mind of the prospect. The mind is the battleground. A terrain that is tricky and difficult to understand.

Chapter 6. The strategic square. There is no one way to fight a marketing war. Rather there are four. And knowing which type of warfare to fight is the first and most important decision you can make. The type of warfare to fight depends on your position in a strategic square which can be constructed for any product category or industry.

Chapter 7. Principles of defensive warfare. Defensive warfare is a game for the marketing leader only.

Chapter 8. Principles of offensive warfare. Offensive warfare is a game for the No. 2 or No. 3 company in a field.

Chapter 9. Principles of flanking warfare. The most innovative form of marketing warfare is flanking. Over the years most of the effective marketing successes have been flanking moves.

Chapter 10. Principles of guerrilla warfare. Most of the players in a marketing war should be guerrillas. Smaller companies can be highly successful as long as they don't try to emulate the giants in their field.

Chapter 11. The cola war. Pepsi-Cola is winning the cola war.

Chapter 12. The beer war. The beer business is in the process of consolidation, from hundreds of local breweries down to a handful of national ones. At a time when the smaller competitors should concentrate their forces, they are doing just the opposite.

Chapter 13. The burger war. McDonald's continues to dominate the burger business, but Burger King and Wendy's have made progress using some of the classic principles of marketing warfare.

Chapter 14. The computer war. Nobody plays the marketing warfare game as well as Big Blue. But even IBM can fall on its face when it tries to compete on a battleground it doesn't own.

Chapter 15. Strategy and tactics. As form should follow function, strategy should follow tactics. That is, the achievement of tactical results is the ultimate and only goal of a strategy. Strategy should be developed from the bottom up, not the top down. Only a general with deep, intimate knowledge of what happens on the battlefield itself it in a position to develop an effective strategy.

Chapter 16. The marketing general. Business today cries out for more field marshals, more people wiling to take responsibilities for planning and directing a total marketing program. Key attributes for future marketing generals are flexibility, mental courage and boldness.