Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example Man has always tried to conquer the unconquerable and do the undo able this is the same factor that drives the companies into the abyss of the unknown (Allan and Michael, 2010). In a bid to outdo and outsmart the competitors and get the upper hand of strategic advantages, companies cannibalise other companies or in some cases form understanding relationship. It is done either through merger and acquisition where one company either devours another one or decides to merge together and form a new entity (Andrews and Smith, 2006). A significant number of these mergers and acquisitions either goes smoothly whether the companies emerge victorious and successful in the process, while in other case the deal fails to get through, and the companies suffer massive financial damages (Debbage, 2004). a) Increased globalisation across the world has increased the number of across borders mergers and acquisitions around the world. The authors of the article named 'Dubious Logic of Global Mega-Merger s’, argue that most of the time the megamergers that take place, does not substantiate into something extra ordinary, as was thought to be. The article represents how the mega companies are still living under the shadows of the age old theory of the capitalists (Benner and Sandstrom, 2012). Most of the mighty and strong companies in and around the world strongly believe that the prevalence of one can only be guaranteed, if the prevalence of the others can be weakened. For example most of the big companies resort to constant and innumerable number of mergers and acquisitions in order to stay big and strong. The mergers and acquisitions have increased transfer of knowledge, transfer of resources, transfer of economy and even transfer of culture (Caoello and Gillesaie, 2003). This have helped to bridge the gap between the nations, between the companies and the between the various industrial sectors as well. So it can be argued that globalisation has led to concentration of compa nies (Chiefele, 2012). As companies engage in innumerable cases of mergers and acquisitions the length and breadth of the industry begins to get shortened. Thus slowly the industry begins to shrink and thus there remains only limited number of players. These players happen to call the shots. This argument is favoured by various researchers. Although the authors Cravens (2010) state that in reality there is no cause and effect relationship between globalisation and mergers and acquisitions. In fact globalisations after the World War II has lead to decreased concentration in certain industrial sectors. Companies engage in engage in merger and acquisition to take advantage of the economy of scale. Apart from that the other advantages are transfer of technical know-how, sharing of intellectual resources and other strategic advantages (Xu, 2000). The authors are right in their view that the history of merger and acquisitions is strewn with numerous failures but close review of the failur es will indicate that the failures were partly due to the management incompetency (David, James and Arthur, 2011). Due to incompetency, the management of the acquiring companies could not evaluate the exact economic value and the subsequent risks. Despite the fact that the history of mergers and acquisitions are riddled with innumerable failures but there are various successes stories also. The following table