Maneuver theory allows a competitor to shape the conflict whether it is the battlefield or the marketplace to his advantage - and to the disadvantage of his opponent. The ability to shape is based upon knowledge of yourself and of your opponent. Sun Tzu again this time from Thomas Cleary’s translation(3):

“So it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know yourself and do not know others, you will imperiled in every single battle”.

3.The Art of War. trans. Thomas Cleary. Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1988.