Thursday, July 16, 2009

The EIP (Enemy Investment Play)

Today my girlfriend and I saw a movie called "Food" . The basics is that the big food industry is screwing the people and covering up the whole thing. Anyways I got into an argument with my girlfriend about investing in one of the companies in the movie. She thinks that if the company is bad then as an investor you should boycott the stock. After thinking about her argument I came up with another crazy plan, the EIP (Enemy Investment Plan) ...

I contend you should do the exact opposite. If I had an organization that was fighting some evil company, I would raise cash (to fund the operation) and invest in the firm I'm fighting. What! That's right. Sun Tzu teachings (wrote the Art of War) say you should "Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy".

By investing in your enemy, even if you lose a battle in the short-term and your enemy grows stronger, your organization profits and grows stronger in response. As your campaign succeeds your enemy grows weaker and your organization shrinks (a natural balance). If your enemy dies (or goes bankrupt in this case), your organization naturally shuts down. Too many times a noble cause doesn't have a life time that matches the injustice its fighting (think GM's labor unions). The heros live long enough to see themselves become the villain.

Imagine if Peta employed the EIP and had a member sitting on the board of a meat packing company. The havoc they could cause!

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