by helios » Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:23 am
Strategy 21 - Making an Unnoticed Escape like a Golden Cicada Shedding its Skin Jin Chan Tuo Ke (金蟬脫殼)
= to preserve the formation & strength of the army;
= not to arouse the suspicion of enemies
= seretly diverting the army to escape unnoticed -
= this strategy is designed not only as means of escape but can be used by the retreating army as a cover-up for a counter-attack with the creation of an illusion/ deception.
Sun Zi said:
Therefore, when capable, feign incapable,
when active, feign inactive.
When near, feign far,
when it's far away, make it seems like it's near.
Examples:
1. Use of contingency planning; a company cannot rely on only 1 course of action but alternative courses.
2. Divesting & reducing investment & equity; a foreign investor senses that things are not going as well as expected so he'll invite local participation by divesting some of his equity to the locals. In order not to cause alarm, he may volunteer to stay in an advisory role to create the impression he has not abandoned the company (in reality, he has no stake & risk in the company).
3. IPO; taking a privately owned company into a public listing, to reap many times their original investments; However, they are maintaining a controlling interest stake (w/o losing control of the company).