is required. You don't even have to document a demonstrated record of achievement in corporate management or even in any kind of management. You simply have to be able to float a hostile tender offer and overnight you become a full-fledged raider. None of this is meant to imply that no skills are required. It is not a role for everybody. You have to have a feel for the hunt, deftness at identifying the quarry, a sense of when to strike for the jugular, and when to go for the kill, and even when to retreat - but hopefuly not empty-handed. Once you have made the basic decision to become a corporate raider, the next step is to identify the target - this from a list of more than 8,000 companies whose shares are actively traded. The dart board approach has been used successfully but is not sufficiently scientific. Rather here it is helpful to have a stable of young MBA's with computer skills who can screen the possibilities against a set of guidelines. These are the things to look for. First, favor a stock that's out of favor, a stock that appears undervalued for whatever reasons - a dog that only its mother could love, one being shunned by security analysts and institutional investors, but with enough cash or credit to pay ransom when the time arrives. Second, be cautious about companies that have already installed takeover defenses. "Shark repellents" or "poison pills" increase the cost of what you can afford to pay and indicate an alert management eager to survive and pliable shareholders that have shown a willingness to let management survive at shareholder expense - at 4.