Mergers and acquisitions are a predominant feature of the international business system as companies attempt to strengthen their market positions and exploit new market opportunities. New announcements are made every day in the business press and each year sets a new record for the total value of M&As, especially those across national borders. Despite this frenzy, there is a huge gap between the added value expected, or at least claimed, from M&A and the benefits usually realized. In the case of acquisitions, it has often been pointed out that the shareholders of acquired companies are more likely to gain from the deal than are those of the acquiring company. There is growing appreciation that much of the challenge in realizing value from M&A depends on how things are managed after the deal.
Management is therefore one of the three keywords which describe the focus of this book. The other two are international and acquisitions. The book of About civil services exam is concerned with acquisitions across national borders. It addresses post-acquisition management in terms of the changes brought about and the processes involved. The consequences that post-acquisition management has for performance are a major concern. The book's source of original data on these issues comes from a study of acquisitions made in the UK by companies from the countries that have in recent years generally contributed the largest sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world: the USA, Japan, France, and Germany. The player missing from this list is the UK itself, and a further selection of domestic acquisitions by UK companies within the UK is also included, largely for purposes of comparison. Over 200 acquisitions were surveyed by questionnaire, and further material of a case study nature was collected through visits to 40 of these companies.
The decision to focus on cross-border acquisitions was made with several considerations in mind. First, acquisitions were selected because the problems of managing them usually present a greater challenge than in mergers, given the fear and resistance that often characterize the staff of the company that is taken over. Secondly, acquiring companies have a choice whether to integrate their new subsidiaries and introduce new practices; whereas mergers normally aim to create a new unified corporation. Thirdly, the management of cross-border acquisitions has to cope with differences in national as well as organizational culture. Such acquisitions therefore promise to shed light on the practical significance of cultural differences.
Fourthly, comparing companies within the same country acquired by companies of different nationality permits an examination of whether the changes subsequently introduced demonstrate distinct national patterns of management. The UK control group is included to highlight the potential contrast between national profiles of post-acquisition change and those changes introduced to suit the UK environment. Finally, the anticipated presence of national patterns of management raises the practical question of whether any particular approach has more favorable consequences for performance than others. Many acquisitions fail, and the key question of About civil services is whether this is inevitably so. The investigations reported in this book indicate that failure is less likely if certain policies are followed. They also suggest that in some areas of management practice, post-acquisition policies can be tailored to suit the acquiring company's national style of management.
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