when a company sells the crown jewels management sells off its best assets to make it a less attractive target and raise cash 
for example a struggling firm might own valuable commercial real estate in key locations the hostile takeover might be aimed at getting that real estate at below market prices by selling that commercial real estate in the market the firm might get more money for it and deter the takeover on the other hand this kamikaze defense also means the company loses the use of that property for future operations which could be highly damaging the scorched earth policy is named after a morally dubious and often illegal military strategy in which a retreating army destroys crops and supplies to slow down an enemy advance when a company s management pursues a scorched earth policy they also try to remove assets that might be valuable to their opponents and run legal risks for example they could fire skilled employees who are difficult to replace and fail to perform proper maintenance ultimately destroying equipment this kamikaze defense can cause serious legal problems if workers are endangered or the parties behind the takeover bid get an injunction in the fat man strategy the company s management loads up on debt and acquires lots of assets or even other firms to make the company a less attractive takeover target at its best the fat man strategy simply makes the target company too large and unwieldy for the other company to acquire the resulting larger company might still be viable just too big to buy on the other hand the kamikaze aspect comes into play if the new acquisitions were overpriced or a poor fit for the company if that happens the takeover target might survive the hostile takeover attempt only to fail later on due to excessive debt 