Business Targets Research Articles

Adapting to Change: How Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Responded to Consumer Behavior Shifts During COVID-19

In response to the drastic challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, brick-and-mortar retailers have had to adjust to the new consumer behaviors quickly. This research paper seeks to analyze and comprehend how these retailers responded differently, as described in each case study: J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, and Target, representing a spectrum of impacts and strategic adaptations. Hence, the comparison discovers that J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy because they could not transform themselves and be competitive under the new norms. Contrarily, the situation did not destroy Best Buy and Target's business as it altered the status quo in their favor. Achieving the flexible management of Best Buy and Target, which concentrated on the economic development of e-commerce interconnection of physical and digital operations, was their key achievement in this turbulent era. Only this way they could face the rising challenges. These scenarios demonstrate the role of adaptability and a well-integrated technology in retail. The result of the study denotes that the business would be able to win against its competitor only if it can adjust itself continuously to the drastic change in consumer behavior, including the rapid growth of online purchasing. The study predicts that the future of retail will likely require ongoing adaptability and take further focus on omnichannel strategies more seriously. It represents a shift from an immediate response to an analysis that investigates the long-term consequences for the retail sector.

Involvement of NASSCOM Foundation in Implementation of CSR Activities

Purpose: NGOs are non-governmental organizations that work for society and are therefore well aware of society's problems and areas for change. Many NGOs operate on a variety of societal issues. As a result of their enormous advantage in reaching the needy, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community organizations play a critical role in the establishment of a healthy and better environment in developing countries under the corporate social obligation model. Methodology: The current study relied on secondary data. The study's conclusions give a concept for CSR operations as well as an evaluation of how the NASSCOM foundation meets its promises to all stakeholders, including specific activities, programmers, and initiatives. The analysis focuses on the foundation's CSR implementation to define the business's target area. Findings: The analytical framework provided an overview of NASSCOM foundations CSR programmes, including scope for debates on emerging themes in development, efficient techniques, and scalable models for long-term impacts. Practical implication: This study relies entirely on secondary data because no primary data were obtained from any source. The complete range of contributions to social transformation was assembled using secondary data from a variety of sources, and there is no information on how much corporate influence over the content of CSR reports exists. The research piece is based on a few cases of NGO-Corporate partnership, from which no broad conclusions can be derived. It's even more difficult to quantify the success rate of CSR-related activities for each project because different publicly financed programmes can take different approaches to tackle societal issues. Originality/ Value: By using this research model, we can deduce that the NASSCOM foundation needs to create action platforms that promote discourse throughout the IT-BPM sector and encourage the sharing of best practices on diverse methods to create a roadmap for an inclusive India. Type of Paper: Case Study.

The effects of industry relatedness and takeover motives on cross-border acquisition completion

This study builds on behavioral perspectives about risky decision-making and aims to identify the industry- and firm-level factors that affect decision makers' expected returns, perceived risk, and attitude toward risk. Together, these three criteria lead to the ultimate completion or abandonment of a cross-border acquisition after a public announcement. By using data from 1985–2008, this study presents empirical results from cross-border acquisitions. The results show that a cross-border acquisition deal is more likely to succeed when the degree of relatedness between an acquirer's and a target's businesses is high. The findings also show that acquisitions with strategic rather than financial motives are more likely to succeed.

Can the Stock Market Systematically Make Use of Firm- and Deal-Specific Factors when Initially Capitalizing the Real Gains from Mergers and Acquisitions?

This study empirically examines the impact of firm-specific and deal-specific factors on the change in industry-adjusted operating performance around corporate mergers and acquisitions. The factors investigated are offer size, bidder leverage, the size of bidder's cash resources, whether the bidder's and target's businesses are in the same industrial category, the method of payment selected for the merger, whether the merger was friendly or hostile, different aspects of the bidder's ownership structure, and different aspects of the bidder's governance arrangements. Most of these factors are being examined for the first time in this context. The empirical analysis is based on UK firms merging between 1985 and 1994, and hence the paper also reports on real gains in corporate mergers for a sample of mergers outside the U.S. Our results indicate that the performance of merged firms improves significantly following their combination. However, the extent of improvement depends significantly on the method of payment selected for the merger, and whether the merger was friendly or hostile. The change in performance is also related to director and officer ownership as well as the concentration of ownership in the hands of outside blockholders.

The Influence of Managerial Ownership on the Real Gains in Corporate Mergers and Market Revaluation of Merger Partners: Empirical Evidence

This study empirically examines the impact of firm-specific and deal-specific factors on the change in industry-adjusted operating performance around corporate mergers and acquisitions. The factors investigated are offer size, bidder leverage, the size of bidder's cash resources, whether the bidder's and target's businesses are in the same industrial category, the method of payment selected for the merger, whether the merger was friendly or hostile, different aspects of the bidder's ownership structure, and different aspects of the bidder's governance arrangements. Most of these factors are being examined for the first time in this context. The empirical analysis is based on UK firms merging between 1985 and 1994, and hence the paper also reports on real gains in corporate mergers for a sample of mergers outside the U.S. Utilizing single equation models, our results indicate that the performance of merged firms improves significantly following their combination. However, the extent of improvement depends significantly on the method of payment selected for the merger, and whether the merger was friendly or hostile. Performance change is also shown to be related to director and officer ownership as well as the concentration of ownership in the hands of outside blockholders.

Are cash acquisitions associated with better postcombination operating performance than stock acquisitions?

This study examines the relation between the change in operating performance of firms which merge and whether the acquiring firm offered cash or stock as the method-of-payment. We examine how operating performance changed for a sample of 413 combinations. The results indicate that the change in performance of the merged firms is significantly larger for cases in which the acquiring company offered cash as compared to stock offers. The results are not sensitive to whether the combination involved a tender offer or a negotiated merger, to offer size, industry relatedness between the bidder's and the target's businesses or bidder leverage.

Face to face: Getting international ci through in‐person interviews

AbstractPrimary research on global competitors, when gathered through in‐person interviews, is likely to yield information far more valuable than data collected via secondary sources or through telephone interviews and thus prove more cost effective in the long run. In‐person interviewing can overcome language and cultural barriers, promote empathy, and allow for the observation of body language and interpersonal dynamics that may prove revealing. Interviews, well planned and scheduled in advance of the trip, can be conducted directly with competitors or with sources who are part of the target's business environment, such as customers, suppliers, and associates. An exchange of potentially useful information can help motivate potential sources to agree to an interview. Interviewees speaking with you in your language, rather than their own, may share more information than they intended, since they are usually less able to shade their responses with the subtlety available when they speak their native tongue. The author discusses interview techniques and provides a case study showing how well‐executed in‐person interviews not only disclosed an overseas competitor's business beliefs and market assumptions, but divulged the firm's unannounced plans to radically change its strategic direction. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evidence on real gains in corporate acquisitions

This study examines the change in operating performance of firms which merge for a sample of 324 combinations which occurred between 1967 and 1987. The results indicate that the performance of the merged firms typically improved following their combination. The results are not sensitive to factors such as offer size, industry relatedness between the bidder's and the target's businesses or bidder leverage. Separately, a positive association was found between the abnormal revaluation of the firms involved around the merger and the changes in operating performance observed. We conclude that the results documented in Healy et al. (1992) for a sample of 50 large mergers which occurred during the period 1979 through mid-1984 are not sensitive to sample size or to the period they investigated. The conclusions presented provide additional support for the idea that takeovers are motivated by expectations of improved performance due to the realization of synergistic benefits.

Wealth Effects from Acquiring Bankrupt Firms

Acquisitions of bankrupt firms can be beneficial because the bankrupt targets may be more receptive to acquisition offers for the purpose of survival, courts can override any resistance that may occur, information on the target is disclosed within the formal reorganization plan, acquirers can accrue tax benefits, and acquirers may assume favorable debt contracts. However, two disadvantages of acquiring a bankrupt firm are higher costs of completing the conversion and the high degree of uncertainty about the target's future cash flows. Results of our analysis suggest that firms announcing acquisitions of bankrupt targets experience favorable wealth effects. Thus, the market appears to anticipate that the present value of future cash flows derived from the target will exceed the cost of the acquisition. Our analysis also found that acquisitions of bankrupt firms yield more favorable wealth effects than acquisitions of healthy firms. The acquisitions of bankrupt firms were especially well received by the market when the acquirer was the sole bidder and when the target's business was closely related to that of the acquirer.