Wave Of Consolidation Research Articles

A novel method of computation for anchorage length based on the propagation characteristics of anchor excitation stress wave

ABSTRACT Detecting the anchoring length is an integral part of the quality inspection of the bolt anchoring, which is crucial to the safety of the roadway support. This paper studies the influence of the anchoring length on the propagation characteristics of the exciting stress wave of the bolt. The research finds that the change in the anchoring length affects the attenuation rate and frequency distribution of the stress wave signal amplitude. Under the same test conditions, the anchoring length negatively correlates with the consolidation wave velocity. The VMD analysis and processing method decomposes the original detection signal once or the characteristic mode function twice. The bottom reflection time is obtained from the bottom reflection signal identified according to the decomposed mode function. Based on the propagation characteristics of the exciting stress wave in the anchor rod, a method of calculating the anchoring length using the bottom reflection time is proposed. Experimental verification of anchoring models for different anchoring lengths is carried out. The calculated results are consistent with the actual anchoring length; the longer the length, the smaller the relative error. The error rate meets the accuracy requirements of on-site engineering tests and guarantees safe production.

Market landscape and insurer-provider integration: the case of ambulatory surgery centers.

Insurer-provider integration is a new form of vertical integration, with increasing prominence in health care markets. While there are potential benefits from tighter alignment between providers and payers, risks of perverse impacts on health care markets loom large. Yet, little is known about this new wave of consolidation, which limits options for policy or regulatory responses. We focus on a dominant insurer's acquisitions of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to document the growth and geographic spread of these ownership events. We found that a diverse swathe of the United States has experienced an insurer-led ASC takeover. The acquisitions are also more frequently in areas where the insurer holds a higher enrollee market share at baseline, although a linear prediction of the likelihood of ASC acquisition shows a more nuanced picture.

Nowhere else to go: Determinants of bank–firm relationship discontinuations after bank mergers

This paper investigates firm-bank relationship changes in the context of bank mergers. We find that firms are less likely to switch and more likely to drop their bank relationship after bank mergers. Importantly, in less competitive environments, measured by Lerner index and HHI, relationship drops are more likely. If mergers decrease competition, the existing consolidation wave in banking could thus induce increasingly harmful bank–firm relationship drops. Firms are also more likely to switch and less likely to drop their bank relationships if they are more creditworthy, measured by their z-score and available collateral.

The APE lecture: Life in a liminal space; Or, the journey shapes the destination

This paper is based on a presentation at the APE 2022 Conference and two blog posts published first on The Scholarly Kitchen. It explains how the scholarly community is currently in a liminal space; a place of transition to the end goal of open access (OA), open science, and open research. It argues that the publishing landscape is marked by two waves of consolidation: in the journal’s publisher space, and in the scholarly communication infrastructure. With respect to the first wave, Uncertainty, Transformative Agreements, and the required Technology and Reporting Burdens of Plan S led to an increased emphasis on publishing in quantity, smaller society publishers being dissolved, and bigger publishers shifting towards being workflow providers. The second wave of consolidation is happening around the technology and infrastructure of scholarly communication. This has seen a further shift for many companies away from being a publisher and toward being a workflow provider. The short-term outlook is that we are going to be in this liminal space for a while. Longer term we see two concurrent trends: a drive for low-cost, high-volume bulk publishing, and a shift for publishers to become paid service providers for most everything else. This is the path we are on. The question for the community is whether this is an acceptable long-term outcome to our end goal, or are there other routes we should be taking to drive a differently shaped future?

Challenges with Defining Pharmaceutical Markets and Potential Remedies to Screen for Industry Consolidation.

Dramatic increases in pharmaceutical merger and acquisition (M&A) activity since 2010 suggest we are in the midst of a third wave of industry consolidation. The authors reviewed 168 economic, legal, medical, industry, and government sources to examine the effects of consolidation on competition and innovation and to explore how industry attributes complicate M&A regulation in a pharmaceutical context. The authors find that, in spite of certain metrics that might argue otherwise, consolidation consistently reduces innovation and harms the public good. They also find that several factors within the pharmaceutical industry impede proper evaluation of proposed mergers. Because consumer choice across substitutes is limited, pharmaceutical markets frustrate conventional methods of defining markets. Volume bargaining in the pharmaceutical supply chain and asset managers' common ownership of pharmaceutical firms further complicate the definitional process. Hence, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), one measure used by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to screen for concerning M&A activity, sometimes depends on faulty market definitions and fails to capture the implications of consolidation for future market share. The authors describe ways to improve how pharmaceutical markets are defined, highlight quantitative alterations to HHI to account for common ownership, and propose areas requiring further research.

Market Structure and Bank Conduct in the MENA Region

Abstract The Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is witnessing a wave of bank consolidations, with many mega-mergers taking place in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. These will result in creating large banks, reducing the number of market players and increasing market concentration; which is already high. A further increase in concentration may raise concerns about the resulting dominance of large banks and the consequences on their pricing behaviour. The interrelationships between market structure and pricing behaviour is summarised by the popular model of industrial economics called the structure–conduct–performance (SCP) model. Consequently, we test the prevalence of this model in a sample of 15 MENA banking sectors to detect the possible existence of an impact running particularly from the structure of banking markets to the pricing behaviour (power) of banks in order to predict a possible emergence of oligopolistic behaviour following bank consolidations. Using a two-stage least squares model, we found a positive and significant impact of market concentration on bank pricing, suggesting that an further increase in MENA banking markets’ concentration may boost banks pricing power and persuade them to increase their returns at the expense of their customers.

An analytical solution for self-weight consolidation based on one-dimensional small-strain consolidation wave theory

Terzaghi's consolidation theory neglects inertial effects on the consolidation of saturated soils. To quantify the inertial effects, in this paper an original one-dimensional small-strain consolidation wave (C-wave) theory is developed, based upon a proposed modified Darcy's law with relaxation time and the equation of motion for soil ensemble. The one-dimensional governing equations were first formulated for self-weight consolidation, followed by a closed-form solution employing the method of separation of variables. The proposed model was then validated against wave velocity measurements and verified against finite-difference analysis. The half-closed self-weight consolidation behaviour was subsequently investigated, compared with Terzaghi's theory, Fillunger–Heinrich's dynamic theory and the u–p form of Biot's wave theory. This research indicates that: (a) superior to conventional models under comparison, the C-wave model enhances the predictability of the C-wave velocity; (b) the dimensionless C-wave coefficient (Cw) dominates the fundamental consolidation behaviour; (c) a wave-diffusion duality underlying the consolidation mechanism contributes qualitatively to the spatial bottom-up pattern and temporal response delay in consolidation observations; and (d) Terzaghi's theory can afford a practically accurate solution provided the Cwand time factor are below and above approximately 0·01, respectively. The C-wave theory may enrich the understanding of consolidation-related phenomena involving an appreciable Cw.

COVID-19 and Central European Tourism: The Competitiveness of Slovak Tourist Guides

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the Central European region in March 2020, one of the hardest-hit economic sectors was the tourism industry which virtually came to a complete standstill. The present paper uses licensed tourist guides from Slovakia as a case study of how significant the financial impact of the crisis was and what effect it might have on the future competitiveness of the industry, as perceived by the tourist guides themselves. The research is based on a questionnaire which was distributed among licensed tourist guides in Slovakia in July 2020. It is shown that the guiding income of more than four-fifths of the respondents decreased by at least 80% between March and June 2020, and the profession's outlook for the future is pessimistic. The main concerns are a decline in the number of visitors, a decline in demand for guided tours and lower market prices for guiding services. The lower share of group travel, faster development of proximity tourism, partial de-professionalisation of the tourist guide profession and higher emphasis on tour hygiene are the expected impacts of the pandemic. A wave of consolidation is almost guaranteed to influence the tourism industry, though its extent is hard to predict. Implications for Central European audience: The article deals with tourism, which represents an important part of Central European countries' economies. Its results constitute the first preview of impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector in the region and as such are valuable for stakeholders in the Central European tourism industry. Even though the research is based on data obtained only from one tourism-related profession, tourist guides, given their unique position between travel agencies and travellers, their insights are applicable and interpretable much more broadly.

Mining going global in the 2000s: Vale leaps forward

Alimentée par la hausse des prix des matières premières, une vague de fusions a atteint le secteur minier dans les années 2000. L’exploitation minière est ainsi devenue une activité très rentable, suscitant l’intérêt d’investisseurs ayant l’ambition de s’internationaliser. La consolidation a affecté la chaîne de valeur de l’acier au détriment des sidérurgistes. Elle a également représenté une fenêtre d’opportunité pour les entreprises émergentes comme le champion brésilien Vale. Les grandes sociétés minières présentent des différences en termes de gestion, de portefeuille de produits, ainsi que sur le plan des influences régionales et politiques. Vale a reconnu ses limites face à un marché mondial compétitif en pleine croissance. En élaborant une stratégie axée sur l’expansion du marché et la recherche de l’efficacité, la direction se conforme aux impératifs de l’entreprise cotée en bourse et axée sur la valeur. En mettant en place un programme mondial d’exploration minérale multiproduits, Vale a pu améliorer sa perception des risques commerciaux et financiers, ce qui a permis d’obtenir un coût du capital moins élevé. Avec l’acquisition d’un mastodonte canadien, Inco, le challenger brésilien s’est mis au niveau des leaders du secteur : BHP Billiton et Rio Tinto. L’expansion et la mondialisation ont fait de l’industrie minière un secteur attrayant pour la communauté des investisseurs. Les banquiers ont joué un rôle important dans ces entreprises, en prenant part aux décisions stratégiques et à l’orientation des affaires. Une culture axée sur la performance a balayé la technocratie en place. Elle a également apporté des facteurs de risque inconnus tels que la pénurie de main-d’œuvre, le nationalisme et la hausse des impôts. L’opinion publique joue un rôle de plus en plus important dans la détermination des résultats financiers de ces entreprises, compte tenu de la grande préoccupation environnementale que suscite l’exploitation minière dans le monde.

SURVEY ANALYSIS OF THE BRITISH DEFENSE CONTRACTOR ‘BABCOCK INTERNATIONAL’

The article describes the current standing of the British defense contractor ‘Babcock International’ and estimates prospects of the business development. Today we can see the rising importance of military means, which makes research and analysis of defense complex companies more acute, as they are responsible for technical realization of military tools for foreign policy of states. Academic literature pays more attention to American companies, which can be explained by their influence on the market and leading positions in the field of R & D. According to the authors, other companies, for instance ‘Babcock International’, a large British company of the sector, should also be studied. It can provide a more comprehensive view of the current standing of defense complex companies in the West and prospects of their further development. In spite of the Fact that defense expenditure of Western countries restored growth after a long period of cut-back, the authors’ analysis shows certain negative trends (which could step up) for ‘Babcock International’ business. These trends refer to other medium-size companies of Western military complex. A conclusion can be made about a coming wave of consolidation of this sector companies in the near future, mainly on the national level, which could lead to closing-down of unprofitable enterprises and mass reduction of jobs, as well as degrading technological and other related competences.

Post Corona Film and Television: Stream It, Skip It, or Revolutionize It?

Post Corona Film and Television:Stream It, Skip It, or Revolutionize It? Dennis Broe (bio) Before quarantine, when a phrase like "shelter in place" seemed like something out of the apocalyptic future forecast in The Walking Dead (AMC, US, 2010–), the main issue in film and television was how the industry would manage the transition from an actual to a virtual world. That question has now been heightened by the confinement to the point where the new question is, "Will film theaters and the network television industry survive a now accelerated transition?" The studio conglomerates and the major television networks were being challenged by the already existing streaming services and their response was a wave of consolidation that merged studios (Disney–Fox), paired communication distributors with product (AT&T–Time Warner), and cable networks with satellite production companies, TV networks, and film studios (Comcast–Sky–NBC–Universal). The result of this consolidation and increasing monopolization is a group of behemoth streaming services—Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Peacock (Comcast NBCUniversal), Apple+, and HBO Max (AT&T–Time Warner)—that are set to challenge first US domestic and then global production, and particularly government-supported film financing and television channels across the globe. Already before the Coronavirus Crisis, Netflix and Amazon Prime's silent war was being waged worldwide against state-sponsored television. This can be seen most dramatically in France. Here, the pay-per-view service Canal+, similar in its place in the French mediasphere to HBO in the US, must reinvest [End Page 202] after they open in the theaters rather than the state mandated three years. These funds, as did British government funds for the public BBC Channel 4, frequently finance some of the most progressive and socially conscious film and television not only in France and Britain but around the world. With the American streaming service onslaught, Canal+ revenues are down (they rebounded somewhat in 2019 through a global outreach, but revenues still decreased from the height of 2015 by approximately 25 million euros.)1 Thus the 12.5 percent the company is required to contribute to financing local and global film and television declines proportionately. This change constitutes a net loss for progressive and socially involved film and television programming not only in France but also globally. The nature of work and viewing are now both moving rapidly online, hastened by the crisis, and with corresponding benefits for studios and producers. With this move, the streaming services are now full-fledged participants in the digital economy, sometimes referred to as the surveillance economy, which means they not only profit from attracting audiences but also from monetizing data from their "users" or viewers. The rapidly globalizing nature of these services opens up the potential for a worldwide homogenization of content as local networks and cultures succumb to the vast amounts of money available from this globalized revenue. Is there an alternative to this juggernaut? Potential challenges include those stemming from independent media, from government fightback through financing and taxation, and from the possibility of exploiting twin contradictions in the Netflix model involving the gesture toward "artistic freedom" and the way artists are paid. The Tech Companies: Corona Crisis Winners While Main Street—small businesses and their workforce—is floundering, the stock market, flush with government giveaways that it simply reinvests in itself, and the tech companies. whose success bolsters the market and which now include the streaming services, has thrived, to the point where Silicon Valley companies have now become "the grand winners of the confinement." Thus, at least from the European perspective, Amazon and Alibaba dominate delivery, Windows is on 95 percent of computers, Google is "the unique motor of western research," and Facebook quickly buys up and incorporates any apps that challenge its dominion in the area of social media.2 These giants "short circuit the states" as during the crisis Google and Apple blackmailed Germany into using them to track Coronavirus contacts, rather than developing a state database, by threatening to deactivate mobiles and iPhones.3 [End Page 203] These companies that in France go by the acronym GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft) have, partly as a result of the crisis, attained a net...

Mergers and acquisitions: Impact on the real estate technology revolution

As venture capital fundraising has become increasingly competitive due to the acceleration of the number of PropTech assets in the market, small and mid-sized technology company start-ups are combining to build more valuable and attractive real estate technology platforms. Similar consolidation transactions are occurring between real estate and technology companies in the PropTech industry. This paper examines the trends, challenges and benefits to the wave of consolidation in the PropTech industry today and forecasts the continued pace of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Mergers, Consolidations and Alliances in Higher Education: International Experiences and Lessons learned for Vietnam

The transition from mass higher education to universal access globally marked by the creation of a series of higher education institutions (HEIs) has pushed countries to undergo reforms, rearrangement of higher education system. The wave of merger, consolidation, or alliance between HEIs may stem from the need of the schools themselves who gave proposal or from the administrative orders of the administrative authorities to fulfill the policy objectives. Countries in the world have continued the process of reforming and reorganizing the higher education system and have achieved certain successes and inevitably some mistakes. These are valuable lessons for the following countries. This paper is aimed at showing the experience of nations and some lessons learned. It is composed of four parts. The first part gives an overview of the current global higher eduction reform, the definition of concepts used herein and distinguishes some types of mergers, consolidations and alliances in terms of the number and the status of founding institutions. The second part analyzes the results of the process such as changes in system size, student size, performance, impacts on stakeholders after the merger. The third part summarizes the current status of Vietnamese higher education with outstanding issues which required the reorganization and the reform of the system for the purpose of enhancing efficiency and regional and global competitiveness. In the final section, the paper provides some recommendations for Vietnamese higher education, which were drawn from the successes and failures of the process of reforming higher education systems around the world.

Comments: In Search of Profitability

Editor's column With the shale industry still awash in red ink, and oil prices falling, it may take more consolidation to try to bring some financial stability to the sector. The financing strategy of the shale sector has always differed from onshore conventional oil business models. The small and medium-sized independents that have dominated shale have operated with much higher levels of debt and, since the beginning of the unconventional rise, have operated with negative free cash flow. Although production has skyrocketed, profitability has not, and Wall Street investors have grown tired of financing a largely unprofitable piece of the oil and gas business. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted last year that the shale industry would finally achieve positive free cash flow this year as oil prices rebounded and new pipelines relieved bottlenecks that had depressed prices. But the sharp downturn in oil prices in the fourth quarter and the recent decline to near $50/bbl (WTI) has not helped. When the shale boom was taking off between 2010 and 2014, high oil prices led to huge financial backing. Investment quadruped during that period, according to the IEA, as oil production increased from 0.44 million B/D to 3.6 million B/D, the fastest oil growth since the advent of Saudi Arabia’s giant oil fields in the 1960s. When oil prices tanked beginning in 2014, shale firms, along with the rest of the industry, switched to sharply cutting costs and trying to instill capital discipline. It was too much for some. More than a hundred shale firms filed for bankruptcy during 2015–16. Banks became more reluctant to lend money, even after oil prices began to recover, leading to a wave of lending from private equity firms. Production from the sector continued to defy odds, but profitability was still not in sight. BP’s most recent bellwether Statistical Review of World Energy, released in June, noted that US oil and gas production growth accelerated in 2018 at another record pace. The production growth “exceeded any other country’s annual increase in our 50-year history” of publishing the review, said BP Chief Economist Dale Spencer. “Indeed, the US achieved a unique double-first last year, recording the single largest-ever annual increase by any country in both oil and gas production. In case there was any doubt, the US shale revolution is alive and kicking,” he said. Since 2012, US oil production, including natural gas liquids, has grown by more than 7 million B/D, “broadly equivalent to Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports, an astonishing increase which has trans-formed both the structure of the US economy and global market dynamics,” he added. But how long this revolution can continue without solid economic footing is unclear. One trend under way is consolidation. Two years ago, many independents began selling off assets so they could continue drilling. Today, many are pursuing assets sales, drilling partnerships, and other alternative financing strategies, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. A new wave of company consolidations and buyouts by larger firms may have started. Chevron attempted to buy Anadarko and its sizable presence in the Permian Basin but was beat out by Occidental. Although Shell and other majors have indicated that, while interested, current selling prices for some companies appear too steep, the Anadarko deal could be the first of many that attempts to bring some stability to the shale sector and increases the presence of larger, more diversified firms.

Merger control in the telecom industry: a landscape transformed

PurposeThis paper aims to underscore how the digitization of content and the convergence in the telecommunications sector has prompted a wave of consolidation between telecom and content players.Design/methodology/approachUsing interdisciplinary insights from competition policy and business strategy, the paper draws attention to the interplay between business model innovation and merger control in the converged telecoms sector.FindingsTechnological innovation and business model innovation led to the emergence of over-the-top (OTT) services. This innovation in turn led to two key effects, first, successful commercialization of content and the emergence of the “smart pipes” that in turn has led to the second effect, which is increased mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the converged telecommunications sector. Emergence of OTT with big data as a key advantage challenged the strategy and business models of the more established players, such as the AT&T, Time Warner, Liberty Global and Fox, which in turn led to the current trend of M&As in the sector.Originality/valueThis paper makes the following key contributions to the literature on M&As between the fixed/mobile and content players. First, it elucidates how the existing market players can benefit from competition policy, such as merger remedies to enter new and related markets. Second, it advocates that the US and the European competition authorities while assessing these M&As, take due account of innovation in business models, as business model innovation not only promotes innovation in the market but also enhances consumer welfare, considering that it offers the merged firm economies of scale and scope to offer better-quality goods and services at subsidized prices.

Public policy, independent television production and the digital challenge

Television production is a vital component of the media and a sector whose performance has important cultural and economic ramifications. In the United Kingdom, the growing prosperity of the programme-making sector – attributable partly to historic policy interventions – is widely recognized as being a success story. However, a recent wave of corporate consolidation and takeovers, characterized by many leading UK production companies being bought out and often by US media conglomerates, has raised concern about the ability of the independent production sector to flourish in an increasingly globalized and competitive digital environment for television. Although preserving indigenous television production and associated audience access to locally made content remain important goals for media policy, achieving these has become more difficult in the face of trends towards consolidated ownership and ‘the emergence of powerful transnational platforms commercialising cultural goods and services online’ (García Leiva and Albornoz 2017: 10). This article examines the challenges raised for public policy as ownership structures in the television production sector adjust in response to new distribution technologies and to the transformative forces of digitalization and globalization. Focusing on the United Kingdom as an example, it asks do we still need television production companies that are indigenous and independent in a digital world and if so why? What role can and should public policy play in supporting the sustainability of an ‘indie’ sector? Drawing on recent original empirical research into the association between corporate configuration, business performance and content in the television production sector, it reflects critically on historic and recent approaches to sustaining independent producers and it considers how, in a digital world, public policy may need to be re-imagined for a rapidly evolving television landscape.

Gaining Competitive Advantage at Sea: An Overview of Shipping Lines’ Strategic Decisions

The liner shipping sector has significantly changed in recent years. Largest shipping lines have expanded their business scope becoming global carriers and a recent wave of industry consolidation has profoundly modified the market structure and, consequently, the business models followed by liners. This, coupled with weak market fundamentals, generally poor balance sheets, and ordering of increasingly larger container vessels, has led each shipping line to follow a specific dominant strategy aimed at increasing market shares, margins and creating value for costumers. This article proposes an overview of the main market strategies pursued by the largest shipping lines. Through an analysis of major container lines strategies, the study aims at identifying what are the preferred strategies to gain competitive advantage. Particularly, the concept of diversification (product and geographical diversification), modes of diversification (internal and external), differentiation and concentration are comprehensively discussed and applied to the liner shipping industry. Furthermore, it tries explaining what are the most significant similarities and differences in market strategies in relation to the size of each shipping line. The review of our analysis suggests that 1) all shipping lines follow a hybrid strategic model with more than one individual strategy pursued 2) larger shipping lines prefer to diversify or differentiate 2) mid-sized shipping and smaller lines tend to pursue market concentration.

The Consolidation of Chinese Private Higher Education

China is the world’s largest higher education market, and higher education has become a key area for investment in China. The private higher education industry in the country, which is highly fragmented at the moment, is expected to undergo a wave of consolidation over the next decade, with the objectives of ensuring continued growth and impact, greater efficiency, greater economies of scale, and improved quality, reputation, and competitiveness.

The Consolidation of Chinese Private Higher Education

China is the world’s largest higher education market, and higher education has become a key area for investment in China. The private higher education industry in the country, which is highly fragmented at the moment, is expected to undergo a wave of consolidation over the next decade, with the objectives of ensuring continued growth and impact, greater efficiency, greater economies of scale, and improved quality, reputation, and competitiveness.

ONE-DIMENSIONAL QUASI-STATIC CONSOLIDATION MODEL CONSIDERING INERTIA OF FLUID PHASE

Terzaghi’s one-dimensional classic consolidation theory ignores inertia of pore water in saturated soils, and has outstanding differences in its derivation and formulation during various publication periods. This leads to a strange phenomenon that considerable misunderstandings and confusion of it still prevail in the current literature. Within the previous framework of large strain dynamic consolidation theory, a one-dimensional infinitesimal strain consolidation wave model is obtained to consider the effect of inertia of pore water with necessary simplification and hypotheses. The present consolidation wave model is characterized by velocity dispersion and dissipative attenuation. The method of separation of variables is used to obtain an analytical solution for a consolidation wave model under the condition of one-way drainage and instantaneous loading. A numerical case study shows that behaviors of consolidation wave are actually controlled by the value of a dimensionless number D c . For cases of higher values of D c , jump and fluctuation of dimensionless excess pore water pressure between positive and negative values are prone to occur, in contrast with the cases of lower values of D c that result into special phenomena including the Mandel-Cryer effect observed in laboratory tests. The inherent ambiguities about Terzaghi’s classic theory models proposed in the early stage and the later stage respectively are investigated to draw a conclusion that the early Terzaghi’s (1923,1925) consolidation model can be interpreted as a large strain model with respect to the general soil coordinates contrasted with an infinitesimal strain model with respect to the solid-phase volume coordinates. Accordingly, the present consolidation wave model can be extended to various formulations based on the corresponding coordinate properties. Consolidation wave theory is of significance to probe into an innovative uncertainty principle which shows that for scale model testing, the observed consolidation wave response of undisturbed soil samples cannot equal the response of the same soil in practical conditions. Therefore, it is advisable to pay attention to the size effect of soil samples in consolidation study from the perspective of microscopic soil mechanics. The theoretical precision of evaluated excess pore water pressure by classic Terzaghi’s consolidation model varies with the value of dimensionless quantity D c , which is a vital parameter in the proposed consolidation wave theory.