productivity, overly generous settlements with labor, insufficient research and development, failure to embrace the latest technologies, inadequate investment in capital equipment. Many companies went on buying sprees. They bought businesses outside their own industries because anti-trust considerations made it difficult to do otherwise. Conglomerates were in investor favor, gobbling up willing victims -- often good, sound companies that were privately held by owners pressed to merge to obtain the liquidity that would be required to fund the almost confiscatory taxes due upon death. This kind of growth -- buying companies in industries you knew precious little about -- led to excessive corporate fat at the bottom and at the top. Management structures got top-heavy as we piled up supervisory layers, spawned committees, slowed decision-making, diffused it, and made it difficult to track. Too many bean counters in relation to the bean growers, too many indians and too many chiefs. How the world has changed. Competition is international and it is fierce. U.S. companies find themselves being tested and often bested not only in overseas markets but right in our own backyard. Those that can't keep pace with the pack and fall behind are the natural prey for the raider -- and the raider can be native or alien. Not all companies that have been raided had bad management -- but some did. Not all directors were inattentive to their duties -- but some were. Not all raiders are bad guys -- but some are. But good or bad, as a raider I would not rest easy. Shareholders are not the only stakeholders in the game. Others include employees, communities, charities, creditors, suppliers, centers for education, 12.