The Samurai Strategy

Excerpt: ... the prospect of years of legal roadblocks in a single stroke. It's elegant." It was. Sun Tzu and Miyamoto Musashi would definitely have approved. But there still had to be more. An unexpected opening is not enough in itself; it needs an equally deft follow-up. Bushido, the Way of the Sword, teaches that you should first surprise your antagonist, and then you must confound him. Both the initial attack and the carry-through are crucial to success. Among other things, that meant Noda's mechanism for calling a board meeting of the companies he'd be acquiring had to be instantaneous, without the usual niceties. "This setup should do the job, but only if it's used with finesse. Otherwise the whole system gets buried in paperwork." "What do you mean?" "You have to be fast, and flexible. Once you've taken ownership of a company, you've got to gain immediate control over its board of directors, in order to block any and all countermoves." "I understand." "Do you? I'm talking about the ability to call an executive session out of the blue. The kesa stroke of the sword. The power to cut a CEO in half before he can blink. No time for consensus and the usual Japanese niceties." He stood quietly, thinking. At last he spoke. "In other words, I must be able to convene the board at a moment's notice. Is that the essence of what you are saying?" "Nothing else is going to work." "Very well. After we have a commanding stock position, we can institute the necessary changes." "Good. Remember though, that's still merely half the battle. Besides being able to call board meetings, you need full authority to institute a shareholders' vote, which in this case will consist of nothing more than you signing your name." "Perfectly reasonable." "It is. But it also means you've got to be available to me at all times. Can I rely on that?" He turned and strolled to the...