Form Of Mergers Research Articles

A note using mergers and acquisitions to gain competitive advantage in the United States in the case of Latin American MNCs

The “new” economic and business climate in Latin America, fostered by multilateral trade agreements such as NAFTA, MERCOSUR, and the ANDEAN Pact, suggests that Latin American (LA) firms must become more aggressive and competitive in order to survive. Foreign direct investment in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is often an effective way of competing in a tough global environment. Using transactions data collected from Security Data Company's Worldwide Merger and Acquisition database, this paper analyzes the relative involvement of firms from five LA countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela) in acquiring targets in the United States of America. Transaction characteristics examined and summarized include the annual distribution (1985–1998) of the deals, the industrial sector of the target firm, the form of acquisition method used, and the form of ownership of the target firm. The trends are analyzed, and implications for managers are indicated.

The manager and the merger: adaptation and survival in the blended organization.

Recent decades have seen health care changing from a cottage industry of scattered providers to an industry of larger organizations and multi-organizational systems. Various organizational combinations continue to occur, especially in the form of mergers and the creation and expansion of systems. In the midst of this ongoing dramatic change the role of the individual manager remains essentially unchanged in concept, but the arena in which it is applied is rapidly changing. Areas of responsibility are becoming broader, staffs are becoming larger for individual managers, and many of the older "principles" of management are being tested and strained. Today's health care manager is learning that survival and success more than ever depend on flexibility and adaptability.

What Future for France's IN2P3?

PHYSICS LABSPARIS-- An unpublished report, prepared at the request of science minister Claude AllA¨gre, is said to recommend some form of merger between the two main bodies responsible for subatomic physics in France: the National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3), which is part of the giant CNRS basic research agency; and the Atomic Energy Commission's Department of Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, and Associated Instrumentation (DAPNIA). Although this marriage would be consistent with AllA¨gre's long-stated desire to end duplication of research efforts and enhance scientific collaboration, some physicists argue that it would weaken the role of the CNRS and give the Atomic Energy Commission too much influence over research priorities.

New developments in a consolidating health care industry.

The current health care industry has recently seen a great deal of consolidation in the form of mergers and acquisitions. These mergers and acquisitions invariably result in a loss of jobs. This paper focuses on two strategies that health care companies use to reduce workforce under these circumstances. Specifically, the paper will focus on the mergers between SmithKline Beckman and Beecham plc in the late 1980s, FHP Health Care and TakeCare Health Plans, and PacifiCare's recent acquisition of FHP Health-care. It will compare and contrast theory, strategy and practices of these six companies as they endeavoured to merge or acquire each other.

The Walking Wounded: Employees’Perspectives on Mergers and Acquisitions*

Several popular and academic works have reiterated Marx's concern over the issue of social class polarization in capitalist societies. Marx characterized this polarization as the increasing concentration of wealth and poverty in the upper and lower classes, respectively, coupled with a disappearing middle class. Building on these ideas, other work suggests a process of fragmented polarization with an increasing economic, political, social, and psychological diversity within each social class. This paper illustrates this process of class fragmentation, and shows that even though the upper class is gaining overall, there are segments which are beginning to feel the effects of economic restructuring. We address corporate restructuring in the form of mergers and acquisitions and how upper‐ and‐middle managers perceive these processes and outcomes. We conducted 33 interviews with individuals from different organizational levels, involved in four different mergers or acquisitions. We focus on the meaning these individuals attribute to these processes and changes. Although most respondents remained with the new company, all were faced with major changes in their work environment. Respondents often experienced a breach of social contract, a dramatically altered perception of managerial control and decision making, a shift from corporate loyalty to self‐interest, and new forms of power and resistance. We conclude by discussing the implications of such class fragmentation, and suggest directions for future research and policy.

A Review of Recent Structural Changes to District Health Authorities as Purchasing Organisations

The first year of the National Health Service reforms was characterised by a steady-state situation involving little alteration to existing purchaser–provider organisational structures. However, the second year saw the internal market begin to take effect, though still restricted in many areas. In this paper, some recent developments of district health authority purchaser organisations are explored. The potentially contradictory trends towards (geographically and organisationally) larger purchasers, in the form of mergers and consortia, and the need for locally sensitive purchasing mechanisms are discussed. It is concluded that there needs to be some policy direction concerning the hierarchy of purchasers as the number of general practitioner fund-holders increases and as providers begin to restructure their operations in the internal (managed) market.

Foreign Acquisitions in the United States and the Effect on Shareholder Wealth

AbstractThe research presented here indicates that foreign acquisitions in the United States in the form of mergers, have resulted in abnormal returns to targets of nearly 22 percent, a figure not much higher than in domestic mergers. Sell‐off abnormal returns have averaged nearly three percent, substantially higher than the average 0.7 to 1.66 percent in the domestic case. We find that merger abnormal returns have been substantially higher in our first subperiod (1982–84) than in the second (1985–87). For selloffs, our results are reversed‐abnormal returns have been higher in the second subperiod. In cross‐sample tests, we find the Japanese paying the highest merger premiums/abnormal returns, while the sell‐off abnormal returns are highest when Germans are the buyers. We also find significant differences across industry samples but not across combination type samples. We do not find a significant relationship of these abnormal returns to the firm's accounting and financial variables.

Financing Strategies for Small Systems

The financing demands and economic burdens of complying with the requirements of the 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act will be the greatest and most difficult to overcome for water systems serving populations of fewer than 10,000 people. The unit cost of compliance will be dramatically higher for small systems than that for larger systems, and small systems will have to deal with “rate shock,” financing plans of marginal feasibility, and limited access to capital markets. Creative new measures must be developed to furnish the needed capital to small water utilities. Models for these efforts include local initiatives in the form of mergers and joint action and state initiatives that include pooling of debt financing, credit support, and outright subsidies.

An Empirical Test of the Redistribution Effect in Pure Exchange Mergers

Merger transactions involve differing degrees of change in capital structure and asset distribution. As a result, different forms of merger could have different effects on security values of the firms involved. Previous empirical studies primarily used samples that included all types of mergers. The present study examines the effect of one type of merger, pure stock exchange, on the values of the debt and equity of the firms involved.

A Note on Union Merger Trends, 1900 – 1978

This paper examines 143 union mergers that have occurred since the turn of the century, identifying the frequency and forms of mergers (106 absorptions and 37 amalgamations) and the affiliations of merger partners. The data for three broad time periods and for five-year intervals indicate, among other trends, a long-term decline in the proportion of amalgamations and an increase in merger activity since the formation of the AFL-CIO in 1955. The author also discusses the frequency and forms of mergers between affiliates of the AFL, CIO, AFL-CIO, and unaffiliated unions.

The Effects of Conglomerate Mergers

This paper is part of the Merger Project being carried out at the International Institute of Management. The bulk of the project consists of studies of the determinants and effects of mergers in seven countries. Since most of the mergers in Europe are between firms in the same industry, or vertically connected, the other studies which are part of the Merger Project do not focus on the conglomerate merger per se. The conglomerate merger, a merger between firms in unrelated industries, has been a major form of merger only in the United States so far.