The Arterial Blood Pressure Health And Social Care Essay

Blood force per unit area refers to the measuring of force that is applied to the walls of the arterias as the bosom pumps blood through the organic structure. The force per unit area is determined by the force and the sum of blood pumped, and the size and flexibleness of the arterias. High blood force per unit area, besides known as Hypertension, is considered as above 120/80 mmHg ( PubMed Health, 2011 )PathophysiologyArterial blood force per unit area is a merchandise of cardiac end product and systemic vascular opposition. A alteration in the vascular wall thickness affects the elaboration of peripheral vascular opposition in hypertensive patients. This consequences in the contemplation of moving ridges back to the aorta and hence increasing the systolic blood force per unit area ( Medscape, 2011 ) . Although 90 % of high blood pressure instances, the cause is non truly known ( Moser, p.11 ) , harmonizing to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare ( AIHW ) , the causes of h igh blood force per unit area are both biomedical and lifestyle oriented. Major causes include ; being overweight, dietetic salt consumption, and nutrition forms which involve low consumption of fruit and veggies and an high consumption of saturated fat ( Australian Institue of Health and Welfare,2010 ) . Although most of the clip there are no marks and symptoms, such may happen ; confusion, ear noise or buzzing, weariness, concern, irregular pulse, epistaxis, vision alterations. These marks are known as marks of complication or perilously high blood force per unit area called malignant high blood pressureNursing AppraisalAs a patient is admitted to the infirmary, it is critical to execute a nursing appraisal on admittance to garner baseline readings of the patient. The Systems Approach Framework was used to buttockss Mr Nicholas Manners from caput to toe in a mode of subjective and nonsubjective informations. The classs used are as follows ; Central Nervous System, Cardiovascular S ystem, Respiratory System, Gastrointestinal Tract, Renal System, Integumentary System and Metabolic System. CNS – patient is able to communicate-states he has a concern, assess motion of limbs, esthesis to fringes and trouble if any. CVS – HR 95, BP 160/90, assess capillary refill, patient is red in the face – assess circulation of the remainder of the organic structure including warmth and coloring material. RESP. – RR 19 beats per minute, SaO2 97 % on room air, auscultate his chest- listen for abnormalcies in the lungs as he is a tobacco user, measure his work of external respiration. GIT – farther buttocks appetency and eating wonts, auscultate for intestine sounds, buttocks and record intestine direction. RENAL – buttocks input and end product and record observations if needed, utilizing a unstable balance chart. INTEGUMENTARY – buttocks tegument for cicatrixs, waterlessness, integral and skin turgor. METABOLIC – buttocks Hb, BGL and liver map through a blood trial.Education and Psychosocial supportEducation and support that can be offered to Nicholas to help him in deriving more information and support for his Hypertension include: Dieticians which Nicholas can be referred to during his stay in infirmary, to educate him about a healthy diet and besides supply support. Social worker to supply support for Nicholas and his household if needed. Information brochures can be retreived from the infirmary, to educate Nicholas on Hypertension. Web sites such as Better Health Channel, Hypertension Education Foundation and the Heart Foundation, all provide instruction and information about support for patients about high blood pressure.Nursing DiagnosisGoalsInterventionsRationaleEvaluationIneffective wellness care related to incapableness to change life style Short term: Introduce low-sodium and low fat nutrients into Nicholas ‘ diet Refer Nicholas to a dietitian for instruction of low-sodium and low-fat nutrients. To cut down the sum of high-fat nutrients Nicholas is devouring. Nicholas ‘ diet presently consists of less high-fat nutrients. Short term: Aim to cut down blood force per unit area readings to less than 150/80 by the following GP visit in a hebdomad. Teach Nicholas to take Nicholas ain blood force per unit area daily at place and record it. To brace Nicholas ‘ blood force per unit area at a lower degree. Nicholas ‘ blood force per unit area readings have now stabilised to a lower degree. Long term: Develop a regular exercising program for Nicholas to follow. Promote Nicholas to walk for an hr each twenty-four hours. To promote Nicholas to prosecute in a healthy life style. Nicholas participates in an hr of physical activity each twenty-four hours. Long term: Aim to discontinue smoke in the following 8-12 months. Refer Nicholas to back up plans such as ‘QUIT ‘ to back up and help Nicholas in discontinuing smoke. To cut down Nicholas ‘ hazard of holding blocked arterias and therefore increasing Nicholas blood force per unit area Nicholas has now quit smokeNursing DiagnosisGoalsInterventionsRationaleEvaluationFatigue related to the effects of high blood pressure and the day-to-day life stressors. Short term: Aim to command side effects such as weariness. Educate Nicholas on the side effects, to help him in commanding them. To help Nicholas in deriving cognition of the side effects and how to command them in instance they are experienced after discharge. Nicholas is able to command his small if any side effects experienced. Short term: Aim to keep a stable degree of fluids in the organic structure. Ensure Nicholas drinks plentifulness of H2O throughout the twenty-four hours. To maintain Nicholas hydrous and cut down weariness. Record amounts utilizing a unstable balance chart if needed Nicholas ‘ weariness degrees have decreased as he is imbibing plentifulness of H2O throughout the twenty-four hours. Long term: Reduce the emphasis degrees experienced throughout the twenty-four hours. Discuss emphasis cut downing methods applicable to Nicholas. To cut down the hazard of increasing Nicholas ‘ blood force per unit area. Nicholas has reduced his emphasis degrees utilizing the methods discussed Long term: Develop a healthy feeding program to utilize one time Nicholas is discharged Refer Nicholas to a dietician to help in educating him in the importance of a healthy diet and developing a program. To cut down weariness related to an unhealthy diet. Nicholas has continued his healthy feeding program and does non endure from weariness.Nursing DiagnosisGoalsInterventionsRationaleEvaluationImbalanced nutrition related to deficient cognition of the relationship between diet and the disease Short term: Brace the instabilities of nutrition Provide Nicholas with a scope of fruits and veggies To supply Nicholas with a assortment of foods from a scope of nutrients. Nicholas ‘ diet now chiefly consists of fruit and veggies Short term: To do Nicholas ‘ cognition on the disease Provide Nicholas with information such as booklets about high blood pressure To guarantee Nicholas has a good cognition of high blood pressure Nicholas is now good educated on his disease Long term: To brace Nicholas ‘ weight within 6-8 months of discharge Refer to dietician to measure and supervise his diet and aid with his weight loss To guarantee Nicholas has the support required to run into his end Nicholas is now within a healthy weight scope for his gender, tallness and age Long term: Derive more cognition on the effects of smoke Educate Nicholas on the effects of smoking to his organic structure To guarantee he is cognizant of the harm smoke is making to his organic structure Nicholas is good informed on the effects of smokeNursing DiagnosisGoalsInterventionsRationaleEvaluationNon-compliance related to the side effects of the intervention ( Ackley & A ; Ladwig, p.315 ) Short term: Maintain stableness of side effects Monitor Nicholas and supply advice when non following instructions of intervention To guarantee Nicholas ‘ intervention continues on the right way. Nicholas ‘ side effects have decreased. Short term: Long term: Long term: Maintain conformity of intervention Educate Nicholas on hazards if intervention non followed as required To guarantee Nicholas ‘ wellness does non deteriorate Nicholas is compliant with his interventionDiagnostic TrialsDiagnostic trials that will help with the appraisal and direction of Nicholas include: Electrocardiogram ( ECG ) – This trial determines if the bosom has sustained nay harm due to untreated high blood pressure ( Cardio Connection, n.d ) . This trial assists with the direction of Nicholas ‘ high blood pressure by supplying moving ridges of the electrical current of the bosom. Urinalysis – This trial is used to test the causes of high blood pressure and expression for any harm to the kidneys as a consequence of untreated high blood pressure ( Cardio Connection, n.d ) . The trial assists with the direction to derive information about the wellness of Nicholas ‘ kidneys. Blood Glucose – This trial determines the sugar degrees in the blood and screens for secondary causes of high blood pressure and the hazard factors involved with more accelerated diseases such as diabetes. Both diabetes and high blood pressure are associated with the rapid patterned advance of arterial sclerosis and harm to the kidneys ( Cardio Connection, n.d ) . This assists in keeping a stabile sugar degree of the blood to cut down the hazard of harm to the kidneys. Serum K – This trial looks for a treatable cause of high blood force per unit area and finding the baseline degree prior to utilizing medical specialty for intervention ( Cardio Connection, n.d ) . This assists in finding a baseline to compare to if it were to promote.Hazard AppraisalUpon admittance, a hazard appraisal must be completed to find the patient ‘s hazard of holding a autumn. This appraisal besides assists the nurses in guaranting the patient has their properties or AIDSs within range to guarantee the patient ‘s safety and to diminish their hazard of hurt. The appropriate appraisal tool for Nicholas would be a Falls Risk Assessment Tool ( FRAT ) . This relates to Nicholas as he complained of giddiness and deficiency of slumber. This is needed to measure his hazard of hurt. Mention to Appendix 1 for a Falls Risk Assessment Tool.MedicinesNifedipine – Antihypertensive agent – as stated by Tiziani, 2006 Action: Besides known as Ca adversaries, these agents impede the inflow of Ca ions during depolarization of cardiac and vascular smooth musculus, doing betterment in the myocardial O supply and cardiac end product, and a decrease in myocardial work by cut downing afterload ( Tiziani, 2006 ) Use: Angina pectoris Mild to chair high blood pressure Nicholas has been prescribed this medicine to help with bracing his blood force per unit area. Interactions: Contraindicated with rifampicin May do bosom failure if used with beta-adrenoceptor-blocking agents Serum concentrations may be increased if given with Tagamet, Quinidex or Cardizem. Excessive cardiovascular depression may happen if given with inspiration anesthetics. Adverse effects: Headache, giddiness, dizziness, flushing, weariness, dizziness. Anorexia, sickness, irregularity, abdominal hurting, dry oral cavity. Muscle spasms. Nursing points/precautions: Note and study thorax hurting because thie requires stoping the drug. Patient should be advised to avoid drive or operating machinery if giddiness or dizziness is a job. Caution if used in those with aortal stricture, bosom failure, liver damage, discrepancy or Prinzmental angina, unstable angina, or recent myocardial infarction. Atorvastatin – lipid-regulating agent – as stated by Tiziani, 2006 Action: Reduce cholesterin significantly in patients with type II lipemia and hence besides significantly cut down the hazard of coronary arteria disease Use: Hypercholesterolaemia Nicholas has been prescribed this medicine to take down the entire cholesterin and low-density lipoproteins ( LDL ) Interactions: May addition plasma concentration of Lanoxin, increasing the hazard of toxicity. Caution if used with Tagamet, Aldactone or ketoconazole. Adverse effects: Headache, insomnia. Constipation, flatulency, abdominal hurting, sickness, diarrhea. Back hurting Nursing points/precautions: Liver map trial should be performed before get downing therapy and at 6 and 2 hebdomads, so twice annually. Advise patient to describe any musculus hurting, spasms, tenderness or failing, unease or febrility. Should be withheld if any status occurs that predisposes the patient to rhabdomyolysis, such as injury, sepsis, uncontrolled epilepsy or metabolic, or endocrinal instabilities.

How to Teach Values Education in a Corrupt Society? Essay

In our corrupt society, there is one line attached to all the corrupt officers of the government, the line goes like this, â€Å"It is all right to steal provided you do not get caught.† Despite the dysfunctional environment we find ourselves in today, teachers need to teach and reinforce essential values in everyday schooling. These begin with values we learn at home and end with societal norms we need to advocate to make this country of ours a functioning democracy. Honesty and integrity is the first should students understand and acquire. Tell the truth, demand the truth and stand by the truth. Second is Responsibility. Act truthfully and people will give you their trust and confidence. Account for your actions and people will follow you. Third is Courage. Take charge of your actions. Do what is right, even if difficult. Stay the course even when others criticize you. Be brave in whatever you do. Fourth is Respect to others. Look out for others, give them due respect and they will respect you in return. And the last one is Love of country. This country is our reflection. This will tell the world if we Filipinos can compete and gain their respect. Although the depressing failure of many of our national and local leaders to become role models, the media, our schools, the religious should take effort to inculcate among everyone, young and old. Considering the present situation in our country, every effort must be made to receive our old values. Difficult as it may seem – at least we could try and try again and to be every persistent to the very end.

Blockchain for Bitcoin Technology

The block chains are the distributed databases maintaining continuous growth of records ordered in lists called â€Å"blocks†.   It is the public ledger of every Bitcoin transactions which have been executed. The pleted† blocks are incorporated to it leading to constant increase in size of the â€Å"block chains†. These blocks have been imposed over the blockchain in chronological order and linear manner. The research would be conducted around â€Å"Bitcoins†. The â€Å"bitcoins† has been developed as rewards in petitions where users offer power of puting to authenticate and record transfer of data into block-chains. The study would not reveal any other cases supported by the block-chains like smart contracts and the licensing. The study would describe the research. Then the evaluation of the contribution of block-chains with â€Å"bitcoins† has been discussed.   A model to stimulate has been developed with its limitations and justifications. Lastly conclusion has been drawn on the key findings fitting to the research. At first the topic â€Å"blockchain technology† in â€Å"Bitcoin† is defined. Then the area of â€Å"blockchain technology† in â€Å"Bitcoin† is unfolded. The areas that are not to be included in this research are mentioned. Lastly the general findings from â€Å"blockchain technology† in â€Å"Bitcoin† are revealed. In the next section, the fiend of the review has been described. After describing the research, evaluation is done on the contribution of the research that has been done to the area. Next the limitations of â€Å"blockchain technology† in â€Å"Bitcoin† are shown. Lastly the section ends by mentioning the values of the limitations in the project. Then the best solution for the present situation is given. It important features are discussed. Its quality and contribution to the given research field is analyzed. A model is drawn stimulating it. Lastly conclusion is drawn upon the key findings from the review of â€Å" blockchain technology† in â€Å"Bitcoin†. Boyd &Carr, (2016) researched that â€Å"Blockchain† is the decentralized method for data transaction in â€Å"data management†. It was first designed for the â€Å"Bitcoin cryptocurrency†. The interest in this field originated since the idea has been coined in the year of 2008. The reason behind this was its core attributes providing data integrity, anonymity and security. This has been done in the absence of a third party organization that could manage its transactions. Thus it created attractive areas of research. This has been especially from the view point of limitations and technical challenges. A systematic mapping of the study with the aim of gathering every relevant research on the technology of lock-chain is set. The main aim has been the understanding of the present challenges, future directions and topics of the research. Various online journals are studies. That show focus on the â€Å"Bitcoin† systems. Most of the studies has been dealing wit h reveal and improve of the â€Å"Blockchains† from the security and privacy view-points. Several of the proposed solutions have been lacking concrete discussion on the effectiveness.   Many scalability of Block-chain involving the latency and throughput has been kept unstudied. Evaluation of the contribution of the research:The contribution of the research has been interesting to watch where it has been heading. Bitcoin has got many attentions in cryptocurrency. According to Gà ¶bel et al. (2016) more people has been buying and trading Bitcoins per day. Hence it has been crucial as a research topic. The research would attract the academia and industries to carry on further researches from both the technical and business perspectives. The Bitcoin has been the only solution to utilize the â€Å"Blockchain† technology. There has been various other cryptocurrencies currently who have been giving petition to Bitcoin. The future researches from this study might also involve other cryptocurrencies. The review would not only help in focusing on Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies but also highlight applications possible utilizing the solution of blockchain. Utilizing of decentralized scenario like the share of virtual properties could be a contribution o f the research. This would revolutionize the approach in which the organizations would sell the products. Gipp, Kosti&Breitinger (2016) states that as the solutions of blockchain are used for more users, it would appreciate the reviews like this done on the technical challenges and limitations. The increase in sizes and bases of users has triggered to conduct this type of researches relating to the scalability. Moreover, the research will leave its impact on the privacy and security concerns. This would give birth to inventions of new areas to prevent the disturbance on blockchains. Limitations of the research:The systematic mapping of the research would enable the understanding of the present gaps in the research. Crosby et al., (2016) state thatone of the fundamental limitations on the study is relating to the publication bias. It refers that the problem that the positive ou es are to be published more than that of the negative ones. This is because that the negative take much time to get published. Moreover, they have been less cited in the publications. Other limitation has been the â€Å"selection bias†. It refers to the distortion of the statistical analysis. This has been owing to the used criteria for selecting the publications. Lastly the there has been limitation regarding inaccuracy the extraction of data and the misclassification. This indicates the possibility of extraction of data differently by various reviewers. Importance of the research gaps in the project:As researched by Zheng et al., (2016) this identification of systematic mapping of the research would help the practitioners and the researchers to concentrate on research areas that need more researches. The seeking of the gaps of research would reply the unanswered queries in the present technology of blockchain. The addressing of the publication issue has brought the usage of various scientific databases. This is done within the â€Å"search protocols† to seek maximum number of papers. This has raised the quantity of papers found for this study along with raising the possibility to seek the papers with negative ou es. Nonetheless, the Blockchain innovation has been considered as another subject in the software engineering industry. It has been further distributed as white papers inside the panies. Thus, all exploration led on the specialized perspectives on Blockchain could not been incorporated in this mapping study. In any ca se, by using just logical databases as hotspots for finding significant research, papers are gathered of higher quality. The issue of selection bias has been addressed by the developing o careful search protocols. Pilot searches could be done on various keywords ensuring what has been concluded from the study. Rigorous criteria for inclusion and the exclusion could be defined form this. This would ensure that every paper elected has been the section of the research topic (Bracamonte, Yamasaki & Okada, 2016). Most of the researches relating to the block-chain have been relevant to the regulation, legal and economic factors of Bitcoin with the possibility of its cryptocurrency. The solution is the â€Å"data extraction† and â€Å"mapping process†. Matzuttet al., (2016) claimed is designed to gather data required to address the queries of research in this review. The data items collected are the basic information regarding the study. It includes the objectives and major findings from the study. It helps to organize and assess the data. The selection and search ou es are found from the process. There has been the â€Å"Prisma-Flow† model provided with the process. Many journals have been retrieved initially as the search protocol designed has been registered to the scientific databases selected. The initial round on the inclusion and the exclusion has been lying on the basis of the titles of the papers retrieved. Various papers excluded have been discussed from the business view-point of Bitcoin. They have not been included in the study. Retrieval of numerous papers relevant to other scientific fields where the Blockchain has another defi nition than technology in puter science is done. The most important features have been the identification of security, wasted resources, usability and privacy. These have been good due to the identification of exchanging property of Bitcoin. This has caused economic harm for the clients. This fit into the research was said by Karame (2016). This is because there is a scope of introducing the â€Å"audit software† to increase the usability in the Bitcoin exchanges. The aim of this software has been to deduce the solvency of exchange participants. This could be done without the publication of crucial data. There has been connection between the buyer and the seller with limited layer for anonymity. This prevents the buyers to find and validate data in Bitcoin. Different models could be presented through which the rating or reputation could be imposed conjoining the transactions of Bitcon. This considers every pros and cons. These aspects could be improved. This could be done on the network of Bitcoin. Thus the usability is improved delivering extra data for users who have been making transactions. Limitations:Colombo (2016) argues that the technology of block-chain has certain challenges that are identified through the review. Several technical limitations identified in adapting the technology of block-chain in future are throughput, latency, bandwidth and size, security, wasted resources, usability and versioning with hard forks and multiple chains. They have been the limitations for certain reasons. The potential issues throughput in the network of Bitcoin presently gets maximized to transactions per second. In order to develop enough protection for the transaction block of Bitcoin, it takes 10 minutes to finish a transaction roughly. In order to gain security efficiency, more time has to be spent in the blocks. This is because it has been outweighing the expense of couple of attacks. Currently the block-chain’s size in the network of Bitcoin has been over five hundred thousand megabytes. The munity of Bitcoin assumes that the quantity of each block has been one mega bytes. The block has been created for every ten minutes. Dwyer (2016) discusses that this causes limitations in the quantity of transactions to be handled. In the security section the present block-chain at Bitcoin can have 51% attack. The mining at Bitcoin has been wasting large quantity of energy about fifteen million dollars per day. This has been the reason of effort of â€Å"proof-of-work†. The API of Bitcoin to develop services has been hard to use. There has been the requirement to design an API for blockchain that is more developer-friendly. This resembles the REST APIs many times. Small chains that prises of lower quantity of nodes possess high chances of fifty-one percent attack. Another problem arises as the chains have been split for versioning and administrative purposes (Krug & Peterson, 2015). These limitations fit to the review as the blockchain posses the ability to alter the method of transactions. Moreover, the block-chain’s applications have not been limited to the crypto currencies. The data integrity attributes of security and the anonymity has been suffering from various restrictions and obstacles. They are assesses and resolved in this research. Scalability has been another problem which has been also mentioned in this study. This research would help in identifying the present status done by blockchain. The research has continued to seek several problems and solutions to ove e the limitations of the technology of Block-chain. Most of the study has concentrated on addressing the challenges. Every block prises of a timestamp. It prises of links to previous blocks. As recorded once, the block-chains have been resistant inherently to any kind of modification of data. Maximum researches on block-chain of present day have been concerned about the security and privacy issues.   It has conducted scalability problems on the Blockchain. The review has evaluated the ability of the solutions suggested in an aim of the evaluation criteria. The limitations are searched and the way it has been valuable to the project is found out. A suitable model is drawn justifying the best solution selected. Though various solutions to the limitations and solutions are presented but few of them has been just small proposals and lack strong assessment on the effectiveness. Boyd, C., &Carr, C. (2016, July). Fair Client Puzzles from the Bitcoin Blockchain. In  Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy  (pp. 161-177). Springer International Publishing. Bracamonte, V., Yamasaki, S., & Okada, H. (2016). A Discussion of Issues related to Electronic Voting Systems based on Blockchain Technology. Colombo, R. J. (2016). Bitcoin: Hype or Harbinger.  J. Int'l Bus. & L.,  16, 1. Crosby, M., Pattanayak, P., Verma, S., &Kalyanaraman, V. (2016). Blockchain technology: Beyond bitcoin.  Applied Innovation,  2, 6-10. Dwyer, G. P. (2016). Blockchain: A Primer. English, S. M., &Nezhadian, E. (2017). Conditions of Full Disclosure: The Blockchain Remuneration Model.  arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.04196. Ferrin, D. (2015). A Preliminary Field Guide for Bitcoin Transaction Patterns. In  Proc. Texas Bitcoin Conf. Gipp, B., Kosti, J., &Breitinger, C. (2016). Securing Video Integrity Using Decentralized Trusted Timestamping on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Gà ¶bel, J., Keeler, H. P., Krzesinski, A. E., & Taylor, P. G. (2016). Bitcoin blockchain dynamics: The selfish-mine strategy in the presence of propagation delay.  Performance Evaluation,  104, 23-41. Hari, A., & Lakshman, T. V. (2016, November). The Internet Blockchain: A Distributed, Tamper-Resistant Transaction Framework for the Internet. In  Proceedings of the 15th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks  (pp. 204-210). ACM. Karame, G. (2016, October). On the Security and Scalability of Bitcoin's Blockchain. In  Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGSAC Conference on puter and munications Security  (pp. 1861-1862). ACM. Krug, J., & Peterson, J. (2015). Sidecoin: a snapshot mechanism for bootstrapping a blockchain.  arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.01039. Matzutt, R., Hohlfeld, O., Henze, M., Rawiel, R., Ziegeldorf, J. H., &Wehrle, K. (2016, October). POSTER: I Don't Want That Content! On the Risks of Exploiting Bitcoin's Blockchain as a Content Store. In  Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGSAC Conference on puter and munications Security  (pp. 1769-1771). ACM. Miscione, G., & Kavanagh, D. (2015). Bitcoin and the Blockchain: A Coup D'État through Digital Heterotopia?. Nugent, T., Upton, D., &Cimpoesu, M. (2016). Improving data transparency in clinical trials using blockchain smart contracts [version 1; referees: awaiting peer review]. Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H. N., & Wang, H. (2016). Blockchain Challenges and Opportunities: A Survey.

Why is contributing comments to a study group more effective than Essay

Why is contributing comments to a study group more effective than (just) reading other students comments on paper - Essay Example Asking questions is the converse of contributing comments; essentially, asking questions is a way of encouraging the members to formulate their own explanations. By asking for clarification whenever one fails to understand something, the student will gain useful insights that he might not yet have considered. By arranging his confusion into a question, any inconsistencies in the student's thinking can be pointed out to him, and the assumptions implied by his question are at the same time exposed to the scrutiny of the group. Furthermore, because of the diverse personalities in study groups, each individual will likely have something unique and useful to contribute to the group; and by asking questions, these unique traits can be encouraged to surface. A good way of reviewing one's knowledge is by explaining the concepts involved in the subject matter, especially to a study group, thus it is advisable that students take the responsibility of teaching each other.

Online shopping Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Online shopping - Research Paper Example The largest online retail companies include eBay, Amazon.com and Alibaba (BLUSCHKE 2011, pg8). The growing business and consumer demands a lot of creativity and this cannot be achieved through physical only. This is evident with the increasing number of retailers now offering online stores interface to consumers. With the enhancements in online shopping, there is an emergence of new market footprint coverage opportunities for stores that can appropriately cater to offshore market demands and service requirements (WINDWALKER 2002, pg19). Online shopping is an all-round benefiting process that does not only benefit buyers but also the sellers. Setting up a physical store comprises huge setup costs and recurring operational costs. Products that remain unsold can only occupy premium space, as opposed to resources required to manage them. Additionally, virtual stores ensure product movement based on orders. Physical shopping limits customers through factors such as distance, shopping time and time. These limitations do not exist when it comes to online (KÜHN 2010, pg77). Those who undertake online shopping argues that searching a product online is very easy and relatively less time consuming. Moreover, most of the time products are sold at a cheaper price online. Online customers must have access to the internet and a valid payment method so as to undertake a complete online purchase. Basically, high education levels and personal income is directly related to more favorable perceptions of online shopping (KÜHN 2 010, pg19). Online shoppers generally use a credit card or a PayPal account in order to make payments. Nevertheless, some methods such as debit cards, postal money order, wire transfer, cheque, cash on delivery and many others are also preferred. Financial part of online transaction may be processed in real time or may be done later as part of the fulfillment process (KÜHN 2010, pg31). Technological developments bring

Discuss the analytical foundations of the Phillips curve Essay

Discuss the analytical foundations of the Phillips curve - Essay Example most of the policy makers believed that unemployment and inflation could not occur at the same time and whichever occurred, it became a major determinant of the policies that would be adopted by a given economy. Another issue that the economists believed was that it was possible to achieve one objective without having negative implications on the other. However, the research that Philips undertook in 1958 provided information that generated quite a number of questions to those assumptions. On his part, Philips used the available UK data to make an analysis on the rates of inflation and unemployment in UK. After plotting the result of the research, Philips noted that there existed an inverse relationship between wage inflation and unemployment. As a way of checking the relevance of the Philips conclusion, other economists used price inflation instead of wage inflation and noted that the results were similar curves and this became the origin of the Philip curve. This paper seeks to dis cuss the analytical foundations of the Phillips curve as well as how unemployment rate of 5% may be inflationary in one country, while it is deflationary in another country. According to the curve, any change in the level of unemployment produced a predictable as well as direct impact on the level of price inflation. Philips, together with other policy makers adopted the relationship between the two variables and noted that an increase in aggregate demand as well as fiscal stimulus in the economy triggers various responses. First, they noted that an increase in demand as the spending by the government rises results into national growth. This is followed by falling on the pool of unemployed. On their part, firms will be involved in competing for fewer workers available in the economy by increasing their nominal wages making the workers to have a higher bargaining power as they seek to have their nominal wages raised further (Forder, 2014). As the economy gets near to full capacity,

Appeal admission letter to ucsd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Appeal admission letter to ucsd - Essay Example I play tennis in the Tennis Junior Varsity Team. I play the saxophone in the Marching Band and the violin in the Orchestra. As you will have noticed, I am not only a dedicated and responsible person in my academic work, but I am also a musician, an athlete, involved in community work, and I am environmentally versed and active. This is the reason why I am applying to UCSD. Having an Environmental Science major, a Marching Band, an Orchestra, and tennis teams will give me the opportunity to continue to excel in those areas that I am already active in and it will help me to achieve my goals and objectives by being part of your campus. I am a studious person. I start and finish tasks before or on their due dates. I work independently and as a team member. I have assumed leadership roles. I am multi-tasks disciplined and I am successful being involved in all of my tasks. I would like to be involved in assisting your faculty that is conducting research in any of these areas: global warming; shortage of power; and/or, environmental pollution. I hope that the University of California in San Diego sees in me as a successful student that will fulfill his/her (identify your gender) baccalaureate. I hope that you give me the opportunity to become part of your alumni association as my

Energy from Municipal Solid Waste in the U.K Dissertation

Energy from Municipal Solid Waste in the U.K - Dissertation Example Based on this research energy production is an important practice for the successful running of communities, cities and countries. With the advancing use of technology and other forms of machinery the world over, the use of various forms of energy (power) to run machinery for both domestic and industrial purposes is inevitable. But one critical situation that seems to be developing very fast is the seemingly expensive cost of energy for domestic and industrial use. Studies have however showed that energy would generally be expensive when demand for the product is higher than supply can meet. This means that one important problem that the United Kingdom must be seeking to tackle if it does not want to deal with high cost of energy is to look critically at the making of the availability of energy abundant. To do this, sources of energy must be diverse and easy to come by. It is also important that the cost of production of these energies become highly economical. This is because even i f the source and supply of energy is abundant but its cost of production is high, chances are that the consumer would have to buy the energy at higher price. More to the issue of availability is the issue of environmental protection in the quest of supplying uninterrupted and affordable sources of energy. Indeed, energy sources that are produced with consequential effects on the environment are as hollow as they were not produced at all. This is because the situation creates a typical scenario of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. ... Basically, such claims have only remained hypothetical with very minimal scientific researches to back them. This is a major problem that needs to be addressed because by addressing the problem, there is every indication that this is going to do a lot of good to science as a subject, mechanical engineering as a discipline and United Kingdom in general. 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives The overall aim of this research is to find out the potential of energy from municipal solid waste over other forms of energy. To do this, there is the need for setting specific objectives. This is because specific objectives are minor goals that need to be achieved before the overall aim can be said to be achieved. Below are the specific objectives that need to be achieved for the overall research aim to be achieved: 1. To critically scrutinise the position of the United Kingdom in tapping the potentials in energy from municipal solid waste by the use of PESTLE analysis 2. To find out how PESTLE analys is on municipal solid waste energy management in the United Kingdom favours of disfavours the country’s potential to maximise the use of energy from municipal solid waste 3. To outline the various solid waste management options available to the United Kingdom as a nation 4. To bring out the waste legislation in the United Kingdom that controls municipal solid waste management and handling 5. To relate the legislation discussed above to how they impede or promote the fulfilment of energy generation from municipal solid waste 6. To establish the environmental impact of energy recovery from municipal solid waste 7. To design a model solid waste energy extraction plant for use at medium scale level 1.4 Significance of the Study The specific objectives outlined

Are Ethnic Minorities Treaded Equally and Justly in the Allocation of Essay

Are Ethnic Minorities Treaded Equally and Justly in the Allocation of Social Housing - Essay Example A further quarter of a million social homes are currently overcrowded. Over recent decades, Rutter and Latorre (2009) indicate that there has been a large reduction in social housing stock in many parts of the UK. This is due to existing tenants exercising their right to buy their properties, and a reduction in the building of new social houses. These changes have also occurred at a time when there has been an increase in the number of households in the UK, caused by greater longevity, marital breakdown, and immigration. For example, UK Census data indicates that the UK’s foreign born population rose from 2.1 million (4.2% of population in 1951) to 4.9 million (8.3% of the population) by 2001. Labour Force Survey (LFS) data from 2007 suggests that the current percentage of foreign born UK citizens stands at around 10.7%. The highest percentage of foreign born people currently residing in the UK come from India (approximately 568,700) according to LFS data. All these factors ha ve contributed to larger social housing waiting lists across the UK and the increase in the rise of migrants and different ethnic minority groups immigrating into the UK has led to a debate surrounding the issue of social housing allocation amongst ethnic minority groups. ... The need for adequate social housing allocation policy is therefore necessary to not only reduce inequality between ethnic groups, but to also promote harmony and a peaceful multicultural society in which people from all ethnic backgrounds can coincide. Before identifying existing evidence of (in)equality, I believe it is important to identify this very term. According to Ratcliffe ‘the notion of (in)equality can relate to objectives, forms/degrees of access and outcomes to particular social structures within society’ (1999:5). For example, in order to get good quality housing, people must also have good access and high achievement in other institutional areas, e.g. education and employment. This suggests that housing allocation and inequality between ethnic groups can be determined by wider socio-demographic factors, i.e. the better grades a person achieves at school, the better likelihood they are to get a well paid job, and as such, the increased likelihood they are t o live in adequate and safe residential neighbourhoods. In order for local authorities and the government to tackle racial inequality within the housing sector, it appears a holistic approach will be needed. Rutter and Lasorre (2009) highlight that attempts to create fair systems for allocating social housing date back to the Housing Act of 1936, in which local authorities were required to give reasonable preference for social housing to applicants who met ‘certain criteria’. After 1945, there was a strong notion that social housing should be provided for the most vulnerable in society. However, it is this ‘certain criteria’ which people had to meet in order to be eligible for social housing which has

Growth Strategy for Vincor Essay Example for Free

Growth Strategy for Vincor Essay Vincor needs to align itself in the marketplace such that it can continue to be a market leader and grow internationally. The Canadian wine market is stagnant with limited growth opportunities in a few segments red, premium, varietal, and ice wines. Supply is always a big concern and government regulations for the sale of alcohol must be considered. As a result of the changing environment, new prospects in the market and strategic growth in external markets (international) should be analyzed. Going forward, Vincor’s growth strategy needs to focus on markets where they can have substantial market penetration and be highly successful. The opportunities are as follows: 1) Expand into international markets via acquisition and restructure the current debt to reduce interest costs. Capitalize on the popular brand name in the new market to achieve significant foreign growth. 2) Varied approach to cost reduction and focus on niches within Canada. Recover a portion of the emerging grey market by developing new product packaging for the low-end wines (plastic or boxes). 3) Build mutually beneficial partnerships with new glass bottle suppliers and develop a sales channel that will induce economies of scale for the price of bottles and increase margins; or renegotiate with current suppliers to reduce costs and provide incentives by signing an exclusivity agreement. 4) Zero in on the ice wine consumers by meeting the demand. Exploit the Inniskillin brand in the Canadian premium wine market in order to gain market share. 5) Develop a new product internationally through a partnership with a winery or vineyard by leveraging Vincor’s strong management team, international award status and proven sales force to sustain Vincor’s growth pattern. Expanding internationally through the acquisition of a company with strong branding would prove the best alternative, both in terms of timing and future growth potential. Developing a partnership in order to produce new products would take years and considerable time and effort before any gains would be realized. The varied approach would not produce enough growth to support an IPO, but many of these avenues will be addressed to reduce costs over the next several years. First six (6) to twelve (12) months: †¢ Set up the team that will conduct an international market study to determine which market, and more specifically, brand to penetrate. The team will include: 1. Jones and a market insight team (utilize services of a consulting firm that specializes in foreign winery acquisitions) 2. Jackson and his mergers and acquisition (MA) team 3. Munroe for sales and marketing 4. Investment banker †¢ The market insight team will gather the data and develop a sound understanding of the targeted wineries and knowledge of the regulations of the country †¢ Recommendations will be made to MA team Next twelve (12) to eighteen (18) months: †¢ Once a decision is reached, the investment banker and MA team will contact the companies, begin their due diligence process and conduct the final purchase †¢ The new winery will be integrated into Vincor’s portfolio and Munroe with his sales and marketing team will be responsible for its growth The international acquisition will expand Vincor globally and provide for significant growth in its portfolio. At the same time, the desired Canadian relationships with suppliers will be cemented to reduce cost of sales and increase margins.

Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation

Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation LITERATURE REVIEW Many firms used corporate mergers or acquisitions as business strategy to accomplish various objectives. For instance, businesses used acquisitions to enter into new markets and regions, allocate capital or gain technical expertise and knowledge. Therefore, organizations often utilize strategic mergers and acquisitions in order to grow or survive. However most of the poorly managed acquisitions or merger resulted in disappointing performance and up to 50 percent are considered unsuccessful (see Louis, 1982). Furthermore, according to Smith and Hershman (1997), it was held by Mercer Management Consulting that in 1980s, 57 percent of acquisitions were failed and the successful corporate acquisitions in 1990s were hardly 50 percent (p.39, cited in Smith and Hershman, 1997). To date, merger or acquisition is one of the most widely used instruments to enhance the growth of organizations. Systematic and sophisticated corporate research helps companies to understand the pre and post-acquisitions performance and achieving other business objectives (as discussed in Singh Zollo, 2000). However, according to Sirower (1997), empirical academic literature does not provide any clear understanding, which facilitates the managers to maximise the success of acquisitions or merger programs. Therefore, understanding the source of value creation is critical to determine the causes of failure or success in corporate merger or acquisitions. The literature review presented in this section critically evaluates and analyze the earlier studies in order to solve the paradigm of Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation. Corporate Acquisitions and Their Research Paradigms Datta et al. (1992) suggested two distinct frameworks for acquisitions programmes to identify sources of shareholders wealth i.e. strategic management and financial economics literature and both approaches follow different research directions. The strategic management approach focused on factors that have been controlled by management. For instance, Datta et al (1992) suggested that in order to assess the post-acquisition performance, this approach attempts to differentiate between various diversification strategies and types of acquisitions or types of payment in acquisitions (i.e. stock vs. cash). In contrast, financial economic research attempted to prove the unique hypothesis of market for corporate control. This approach views the acquisition activities as a contest among different management teams in a competition to control corporate firms as argued by Datta et al (1992). Therefore, this view suggests that the value creation through merger or acquisitions is decided by capital market and its characteristics including its competitiveness such as regulatory modification affecting a particular market (see Datta et al, 1992). However, these two methodologies are unable to explain the factors resulting in unsuccessful corporate acquisitions. Thus, many academics such as Chatterjee (1992), attempted to identify critical variables of ineffective performance in acquisitions or merger activities by studying the relationship between post-acquisition performance and integration. While the initial notion by Kitching (1967) that the key factor for a successful corporate acquisition is the post-acquisition integration process, it was recognised that acquisition or merger activities create value not only from strategic factors realised through synergies (see Chatterjee, 1992), but also from the process itself, which leads to anticipated synergistic factors, as reflect in capital market expectations (see Jemison and Sitkin, 1986). Therefore, it is very important to understand the processes and factors resulting in corporate merger and acquisitions value creation before we critically evaluate the research paradigm of value creation. Evolution of Acquisitions In order to improve the understanding of the research hypothesis, firstly this paper attempts to review trends of acquisitions and mergers followed by comments on value creation during these periods. For illustration purposes, I will focus my attention to the US economy considering the fact that corporate sector is enriched with these activities and capital markets of United States are much developed comparative to rest of the world. Following section presents the analysis of corporate mergers and acquisitions programmes dated back to1897. The First Wave, 1897-1904: According to Gaughan (1999), this particular period is dominated by horizontal acquisitions resulting surge in stock markets and ultimately creation of monopolies. Some of the todays giant conglomerates created in first wave include General Electric, American Tobacco, Du Pont, Kodak and Standard Oil (see Gaughan, 1999). First Merger Wave 1897 1904 Year Number of Mergers 1897 69 1898 303 1899 1208 1900 340 1901 423 1902 379 1903 142 1904 79 Table 3.1 First Merger Wave 1897 1904 Source: Gaughan (1999), p.24 Figure 3.1 First Merger Wave 1897 -1904 Data Source: Gaughan (1999), p.24 The Second Wave, 1916-1929: In contrast to first wave which is termed as merging for monopoly, the second wave is termed as merging for oligopoly. Gaughan (1999) pointed out that the reason of this terminology is the predominance of vertical or horizontal integration of companies during the period of 1925 to end of the decade. Moreover, Jemison and Stikin (1986) argued that the abundant capital availability stimulated by favourable economic conditions resulted in prominent corporate mergers and integration. Further according to Gaughan (1999), the antitrust law force during this era was stricter comparative to the first merger wave, which created more oligopolies and vertical integration and fewer monopolies in contrast to earlier wave. The Third Wave, 1965-1969: According to Gaughan (1986), the decade of 1960s observed controversial of the merger and acquisitions activities and termed as conglomerates. The companies such as ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, USA) and Textron acquired numerous unrelated businesses to diversify and to reduce cyclic risks. Furthermore, during this period the conglomerates not only grew rapidly and profitably but the management were perceived to be skilful as well, which facilitated the diversity in acquisitions and operations of the companies (see Judelson, 1969). For instance, Geneen (1984) documented that during this wave ITT built itself into a highly diversified conglomerate by acquiring various businesses such as insurance, food and car rentals. Moreover, he found that executives of the company used the advanced financial tools like detailed budgeting and tight financial controls to make these acquisitions successful and well-functioning. Following figure presents the overview of the a ctivities during the period: Scholars like Goold and Luchs (1993) argued that general management skills were one of the vital factors in successful acquisitions and mergers during this era, which also helped corporations to diversify in different businesses. Moreover, engaging in unrelated business by many companies was based on the assumptions that different businesses would not require dissimilar managerial skills (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). However, in late 1960s companies start facing performance problems and the share price of these conglomerates such as Textron fell almost 50% comparative to 9% drop in Dow Jones Industrial average (see Bonge and Coleman, 1972). Furthermore, in early 1970s companies began to experience profitless growth like General Electric sales increased by 40% from 1965 to 1970 but its profit actually dropped (see Goold and Quinn, 1990). According to Gaughan (1999), the era has been ended when ITT spin off in three different companies. It is perceived that most of the mergers during the period failed and companies jettisoned their under-performing and unrelated business to face the competitive environment (see Sikora, 1995). In addition, Sadlter et al (1997) observed that the combined value of businesses separated from their parent firms significantly increased to more than $100 billion in 1996 comparative to 1993 figure of $17.5 billion. Acquisitions in the 1970s: The merger and acquisition activities decreased significantly in 1970s, which can be seen in the following figure. Figure 3.3 Merger Acquisitions in 1970 -1980 Source: Gaughan (1999), p.36 As a consequence of problem in merger and acquisitions activities experienced by conglomerates, the senior executives realised that only general management skills are not sufficient for a successful transactions (see Chandler, 1962). Therefore, they focused their attentions toward the long term companys objectives instead of operating of strategic business units (see Christensen, 1965). Andrews (1971) highlighted that this change introduced the concept of corporate strategy for firms and most CEOs of the organizations started accepting that strategy is their unique and primary task. However, corporate strategy poses some practical problem and did not help executives in deciding about allocation of resources among businesses especially when each investment proposal has a different strategy (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). Moreover, Bower (1970) argued that investment decision should be part of overall business strategy rather than prevaricate on project to project basis. In 1970s these revolutions in corporate finance lead to the development of portfolio planning by Boston Consulting Group (1970). Soon, portfolio planning became famous in corporate sectors and according to the survey of Haspeslagh (1982) by 1979, 45 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were using portfolio planning in some form. However, with the passage of time problems related to portfolio planning emerged. As Goolds and Luchs (1993), argued that the corporate manager with long experience of particular sector of the industry found extremely difficult to manage their newly acquired businesses in vibrant and unfamiliar sectors. Consequently, this affected the performance of new acquisitions or mergers of the firms. In search of solution to this problem Hamermesh and White (1984) found that administration was a vital factor in explain business performance of mergers or acquisitions but many organizations incorrectly addressed the approach. The Fourth Wave, 1981-1989: The decade of 1980s seen another merger wave in business world. In this period, merger deals were frequent and larger and total value of mergers were approximately $.13 trillion in US (see Sikora, 1995). This was influenced by service sector and significant support from investors; lenders and globalization facilitated companies to finance the buyout deals (see Sikora, 1995). Moreover, the reasons of the fourth merger wave were excess capacity (see Jensen, 1993), agency problems (see Jensen, 1988), market failure (see Shleifer Vishny, 1997), and tax and antitrust law changes (see Bhagat et al, 1990). It seems that during 80s, diversified firms do not have capacity to create values therefore companies start re-thinking about role of corporate management as well as appropriate strategies for diversified firms. As highlighted by Goold and Luchs (1993) highlighted that in order to survive firms cut back costs and scale down their staffs but these were not adequate to create value. Furthermore, they argued that diversification strategies failed to create value for many businesses. Nevertheless, these failures compelled senior managers to transform their primary goals to creating shareholders values instead of building huge businesses (see Porter, 1987). Moreover, management of the companies started evaluating corporate performance like stock market by using economic indicator instead of accounting measures and take whatever steps were essential to enhance the value of their firms stock (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). However, value based planning based on financial tools of Return on Equity (ROE), internal rate of return and discounted cash flow provided different views to managers about competitive advantages and stock prices (see Rappaport, 1986). Further, Goold and Luchs (1993) pointed out that a higher stock price could be a reward for creating value. However, during the era of 80s firms that did not diversify into unrelated businesses and specialize into their core industry were able to create value and turn out to be successful companies (see Peter and Waterman 1982). Mintzberg and Lampel (1999) also support this notion by arguing that focused corporations which know their customers, have deep knowledge and understand their missions were better able to create value in contrast to companies that applied the diversification concept of value creation. In summary of the merger and acquisitions activities in 1960s and 1980s, it can be assert that conglomeration and diversification were the dominant trends in 1960s contrast to specialization and consolidations phenomena of 1980s. However, empirical evidence on value creation tends to suggest that significant merger and acquisitions of 60s reversed subsequently and did not lead to profitability. According to Shleifer and Vishny (1994) many of the conglomerates created in 1960s were destroyed in 1980s, which provides the evidence of failure in notion of merger acquisitions and value creation that was not expected in 1960s. The Current Wave, 1990-Present: According to Gaughan (1999), in contrast to 1960s decade of conglomerates and 1980s period of Leveraged Buyouts (LBO), the dominant deals of 90s were designed with a view to fit strategically among merging firms. Moreover, the forces behind the merger and acquisitions activities were different than earlier periods and corporate sector seen some of mega-deals during that period. For instance in 1996, the top 100 deals of merger and acquisitions were worth more than $1 billion or approximately 53.5% of total transactions (see Sikora, 1997). Merger Acquisitions in 1990s Year Number of Deals Value ($ Billions) 1980 1558 34.8 1981 2328 69.5 1982 2299 60.7 1983 2395 52.7 1984 3176 126.1 1985 3490 146.1 1986 2523 220.8 1987 2517 196.5 1988 3011 291.3 1989 3825 325.1 1990 4312 206.8 1991 3580 143.1 1992 3752 125.3 1993 4148 177.3 1994 4962 276.5 1995 6209 375.0 1996 6828 550.7 Table 3.2 Merger and Acquisitions in 1990s Data Source: (www.mergerstat.com) The era of 90s was said to the decade of Consolidation; which means combination of operating and management resources between two companies as well as their stocks, assets and liabilities (see Lipin, 1997). Furthermore, in 1990s, stable economic environment, relax antitrust laws, stock markets favourable conditions and low cost of capital were the catalyst of merger and acquisition trends. However, still many firms failed to create shareholder value and according to study by Mercer Management Consulting Inc. (1997) 48 percent of mergers failed to generate shareholder value in 90s comparative to 57 percent failure of 1980s (p.39, cited in Smith and Hershman, 1997). Nonetheless, the firms in 90s believed that larger pools of assets are essential either to survive or to grow but the question remains that how to discover ways to create value for portfolio of firms businesses? (see Goold and Luchas, 1993). To resolve this anomaly, three possible explanations have been identified: Firstly, as shown by Porter (1985) that diversification should be limited to companies which have synergy potential and without synergy a diversified business is nothing more than mutual fund. He also suggested that synergies can be attained when the portfolio of businesses create values more than sum of its individual components. Besides, the notion of synergy should be based on economies of scale and cost saving strategies (see Porter, 1985). However, in practice it has been found by studies such as Chatterjee (1992) that gaining synergy is not an easy task and most acquisitions and merger gains arise from either disposals of assets or from restructuring rather than synergistic benefits. It seems that synergy was a primary rationale for merger and acquisitions in the era but remains anomaly from value creation prospective as discussed by Goold and Luchs (1993). Secondly, the corporate strategy of the firms should focus on exploiting core competencies. For instance, Prahalad and Hamel (1989) suggested that the corporate portfolio should be based on technological competencies instead of portfolio of businesses. Similarly, Itami (1989) argued that invisible assets like reputation, brand names or customers list are the most valuable source for sustaining competitive advantage and could be used to create value by exploiting competitive opportunities. Furthermore, other competencies such as technology or managerial expertise can also be used to enhance the performance of business portfolio (see Haspeslagh and Jemison, 1991). However, this approach also has some drawbacks; for example, Goold and Luchs, pointed out that it can be difficult to assess the contribution of investment in building the competencies of a business especially when the investment is in new business area. Thirdly, the best way to create value via successful diversification is to build a portfolio of businesses, which fits with the managers logic and their management style (see Parahalad and Bettis, 1986). If conglomerates diversification is based on business with similar strategic logic then its possible to add value to business by adopting a common approach across all the business units. For instance Goold and Luchs (1993) exposed that sharing the skills or activities across organization can help corporate management to realize synergies. Moreover, Goold and Campbell (1987) found the evidence that top executives also find it difficult to deal with a wide range of styles and approaches. Review of Major Areas in MA This section presents the literature review of major areas focused by academics in merger and acquisition field. Consequently following five sub-sections have been established to review the academic literature: Performance Success in Merger and Acquisitions People in Merger and Acquisitions International Prospects of Merger and Acquisitions Best Practices in Merger and Acquisitions Valuation Issues in Merger and Acquisitions The measurement of success in merger and acquisition activities is mainly through quantitative research and is subject to various studies such as Gosh (2001); Healy et al (1992), in the field of finance or economics and also other directly related fields. People are normally unobserved in merger and acquisitions, however extensive studies like Bliss and Rosen (2001), addressed issues from ethical and organizational learning to more in depth personal perspective. Similarly, increasing trend of international trade and globalization attracted the attention of many researchers, for instance Rossi and Volpin (2004). The valuation of the companies is often overlooking in the field of merger and acquisitions. However, it is a very critical part of acquisition process and could be very helpful not only in the pre-acquisition stage but also during the acquisition process as well as at post-acquisition stage (see Becher, 2001). Finally, the best practices research in the field of merger and acquisition is usually done in the form of case studies but the quality and intensity of these studies vary widely (see Marks and Mirvis, 2001). Performance and Success in MA As stated before companies often engaged in the series of acquisitions and merger activities and early studies such as Barney (1988), tend to show that related acquisitions performed better than other acquisition transactions. However, relatedness itself does not create value for acquiring companies but synergy is the vital factor that helps companies to generate abnormal returns from acquisition programs. For example, Barney (1988) showed that synergistic cash flow stemming from relatedness, which is unique and private creates abnormal returns for shareholders of acquiring firm. However, later studies such as Hayward (2002), suggested that different level of relatedness results in various degree of success and moderately similar companies tend to be more successful than the companies that are highly similar or dissimilar in business or size to one another. He further concluded that if a firm experienced small losses in past acquisition in contrast to high losses or high gains then it has better chances of success in prospective acquisition. In addition, the timing of acquisition plays a vital role in success of the transaction and should not be too close or far-away from central acquisition (see Hayward, 2002). Similarly, Brown and Eisenhard (1997) argued that companies benefit differently depending upon their experimenting and timing of the merger and acquisition activities. Moreover, when the acquiring company has some inimitable resources then it can create value by utilizing these resources in targets company as suggested by Capron and Pistre (2000). However, they also added that if the source of synergies is recognized in target firm than market associate expected gains to target firm due to the competition among potential bidders. Consequently, this competition raises the price of target firm and would create value for shareholders of the target firm but also lead to under performance of acquirer. Nevertheless, performance success through merger and acquisitions is still controversial among academics as pointed out by Cording et al (2002). To resolve the issue Chatterjee (1992) measured the cumulative average of abnormal returns (CAAR) during the period of 11 months before the tender offer until 60 months after the tender offer. After studying the sample of 577 tender offers between the periods of 1963 to 1986; he suggested that net gain arises for the economy from these transactions but it does not necessarily create gains for everyone involved in merger and acquisition. More specifically, CAAR after 60 months were observed to be negative for unsuccessful bidders, zero for successful bidder and positive for target company. Furthermore, Chatterjee (1992) found much higher positive CAAR for restructured target companies in contrast to non-restructured targets. Certain studies view the merger and acquisition transactions from a different prospective. For example, Golbe and White (1993) proved in their study that macroeconomic environments influence the merger activities and the number of merger transactions increases in time of economic expansion comparative to decrease in programme at the time of economic down turn.Similarly, Amburgey and Miner (1992) studied the effects of companies momentum on merger activities and suggested that managers follow the past patterns. The academics such as Capron (1999), also attempted to assess the performance of the merger and acquisition activities by conducting the survey of prime stakeholders in merger activities. He further concluded that the available financial data is too gross to allow the separation between the types of pure value-creating mechanism. Moreover, he also argued that more often the objective of the companies is to retain the top management team of the targets firm, whether its a conglomerate or related merger. International Prospects of MA The emergence of globalisation and increasing trends in international trade fasten the number of local as well as cross-border acquisitions and merger activities. For instance, the cross-border acquisition activities in United States increased to 19% in 1999 from 6% in 1985 (see Seth et al, 2001). According to the study of Seth et al (2001), the evidence suggests that there are three motives for cross-border acquisitions such as synergy seeking, managerilism and managerial hubris. Moreover, the research tends to show that there is a positive relationship between the level of value creation and reverse internalization, asset sharing, financial sharing and market seeking ( as discussed by Seth et al, 2001). In addition, there seems to be association between value creation and governance system of bidders country. For instance, Seth et al (2001) argued that bidding companies from group-oriented governance system like Japan and Germany appear to be engaged in acquisitions and merger activities with higher level of value creation in contrast to bidding firms from market oriented governance system such as United Kingdom. Further enhancement of research in the area of cross-border merger and acquisition suggests that experience in merger and acquisition activities can be utilized to create value in another country. For example, Gugler et al (2003) compared the data of 15 years and proved that post merger patterns are similar across different countries. Moreover, their evidence also signifies that there are no major differences between domestic and cross-border mergers as well as manufacturing and service sectors around the world. With the passage of time and in the era of globalization the merger and acquisitions activities are increasing especially in emerging economies. The multinational companies often use the tools of acquisition and mergers to penetrate in new markets and economies particularly in emerging countries such as Central and Eastern Europe (see Milman, 1999). However, in many countries MNC mergers and acquisitions are seen as threats by government agencies, privatized companies and state enterprises. Therefore, in order to develop a successful alliance the acquisition or merger program should be designed in such as way that creates value for companies as well as the host-country governments (see Rondinelli and Black, 2000). Lastly, yet the number of merger and acquisitions across border appears to be increasing but it seems difficult to integrate and manage the successful processes. Hence, Inkpen et al (2000) suggested that the companies should critically evaluate the areas of decision making, communication, networking and socialisation, communication and the structure of authority and responsibility before involving in the process of MA. People in MA Only looking to financial aspects might limit the understanding about the question why MA activities are so widely used by companies as a tool to grow. Hence, another area focused by academics, such as Karitzki and Brink (2003), is related to merger and acquisitions and people. Generally, one of the motives for merger activities is to follow the cost-cutting strategies including synergy and targets customers. Often, the employees are laid off in the process of merger and acquisitions and consequently this creates new but conflicting networks of relationships in new companies as suggested by Vermeulen and Barkema (2001). Thus, it affects the success and results in under-performance of merger and acquisition programmes. Therefore, considering the affects of MA on employee or managers of the potential target firms are of similar importance as financial issues. Similarly, the research in the area of executive compensation pointed out that prior to acquisition or merger, management of acquiring company receive significant higher packages comparative to the executives of target firms (see Lynch and Perry, 2002). Hence, these issues can lead to turnover and morale issues that ultimately affect the success of anticipated integration from MA. Furthermore, in extreme circumstances, issues like these emerging from dissimilarities create hurdles to achieve the objective of the original merger and acquisitions. Thus, reconciling the differences is one of the major issues faced by the combined company to create value (as discussed in Lynch and Perry, 2002). Moreover, successful merger or acquisition depends upon the people in both target and acquiring firms. The attitude and opinion of the employees regarding acquisition or merger can change over the time. Schweiger and DeNisi (1991) conducted the survey of employees and compared the attitudes in pre-acquisition and post-acquisition period. Their results show that attitudes of the employees three months after the announcement of merger changed significantly and turn towards continual negative consequences (see Schweiger and DeNisi, 1991). Likewise, Covin et al (1996) studied the attitude of 2845 employees from a large manufacturing concern in post merger period. The results show significant differences between the target firm and acquiring companys employees in satisfaction with merger. The employees of acquired company faced high level of dissatisfaction and ultimately felt more stress due to changes introduced after merger. In addition, this stress is aggravated due to the direct competition between target firm and acquiring company. Furthermore, Covin et al (1996) pointed out that factors such as loss of power and status, changes in salary or benefits and lack of managerial direction result in high level of stress and dissatisfaction from merger activities. Hence, it has been suggested that in addition to financial aspects these types of issues should not be overlooked in order to create value and to develop a successful merger and acquisition programme (see Karitzki and Brink, 2003). Best Practices in MA It is often suggested that acquisitions are predominantly unsuccessful and numerous studies like Aiello and Watkins (2000), confirmed this fact. However, generally the conditions and environment is relevant before judging the results. Furthermore, there is lack of research in answering the question; what would happen if both the companies continued in their own separate way. Therefore, estimating the successfulness of merger or acquisition is a tricky anomaly (as discussed in Chaudhuri and Tabrizi, 1999). Moreover, the unsuccessful MA activities are more highlighted in contrast to successful programmes. Ed Libby, the chairman and CEO of AllState stated that when MAs fails they draw more notice despite the fact that lot of other projects fails in business but no one can see them because they remain within internal walls of the companies (cited in Cary, 2000). As stated earlier, there is no one strategy that fits all kinds of merger and acquisition activities, however systematic approaches such as suggested by Jan Leschly, can help companies to develop a successful plan. Jan Leschly, retired CEO of SmithKline Beecham suggested that they put their people on the boards of different companies by investing small amounts. Once the companies get going then they decide whether to buy it completely or not (cited in Cary, 2000). Likewise, understanding the various components of merger process is very vital to develop a successful merger or acquisition deal. However, it is very hard to enumerate the components especially when these are integrated with each other. According to Marks and Mirvis (2001), the successfulness of merger and acquisition is highly depended on following factors: Acquisition Plan Implementation of this plan Post-acquisition cooperation between firms after acquisition Moreover, they collected a number of factors that were mentioned in previous research such as strategic objective, clear selection, search and selection process etc. They also argued that pre-acquisition planning is very important for successful merger and acquisition plan and more prepared the people will more synergies in a combination will result (see Marks and Mirvis, 2001). Similarly, Aiello and Watkins (2000) suggested that every MA deal pass through following five stages: Screening potential deal Reaching initial agreement Condu Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation LITERATURE REVIEW Many firms used corporate mergers or acquisitions as business strategy to accomplish various objectives. For instance, businesses used acquisitions to enter into new markets and regions, allocate capital or gain technical expertise and knowledge. Therefore, organizations often utilize strategic mergers and acquisitions in order to grow or survive. However most of the poorly managed acquisitions or merger resulted in disappointing performance and up to 50 percent are considered unsuccessful (see Louis, 1982). Furthermore, according to Smith and Hershman (1997), it was held by Mercer Management Consulting that in 1980s, 57 percent of acquisitions were failed and the successful corporate acquisitions in 1990s were hardly 50 percent (p.39, cited in Smith and Hershman, 1997). To date, merger or acquisition is one of the most widely used instruments to enhance the growth of organizations. Systematic and sophisticated corporate research helps companies to understand the pre and post-acquisitions performance and achieving other business objectives (as discussed in Singh Zollo, 2000). However, according to Sirower (1997), empirical academic literature does not provide any clear understanding, which facilitates the managers to maximise the success of acquisitions or merger programs. Therefore, understanding the source of value creation is critical to determine the causes of failure or success in corporate merger or acquisitions. The literature review presented in this section critically evaluates and analyze the earlier studies in order to solve the paradigm of Merger Acquisitions and Value Creation. Corporate Acquisitions and Their Research Paradigms Datta et al. (1992) suggested two distinct frameworks for acquisitions programmes to identify sources of shareholders wealth i.e. strategic management and financial economics literature and both approaches follow different research directions. The strategic management approach focused on factors that have been controlled by management. For instance, Datta et al (1992) suggested that in order to assess the post-acquisition performance, this approach attempts to differentiate between various diversification strategies and types of acquisitions or types of payment in acquisitions (i.e. stock vs. cash). In contrast, financial economic research attempted to prove the unique hypothesis of market for corporate control. This approach views the acquisition activities as a contest among different management teams in a competition to control corporate firms as argued by Datta et al (1992). Therefore, this view suggests that the value creation through merger or acquisitions is decided by capital market and its characteristics including its competitiveness such as regulatory modification affecting a particular market (see Datta et al, 1992). However, these two methodologies are unable to explain the factors resulting in unsuccessful corporate acquisitions. Thus, many academics such as Chatterjee (1992), attempted to identify critical variables of ineffective performance in acquisitions or merger activities by studying the relationship between post-acquisition performance and integration. While the initial notion by Kitching (1967) that the key factor for a successful corporate acquisition is the post-acquisition integration process, it was recognised that acquisition or merger activities create value not only from strategic factors realised through synergies (see Chatterjee, 1992), but also from the process itself, which leads to anticipated synergistic factors, as reflect in capital market expectations (see Jemison and Sitkin, 1986). Therefore, it is very important to understand the processes and factors resulting in corporate merger and acquisitions value creation before we critically evaluate the research paradigm of value creation. Evolution of Acquisitions In order to improve the understanding of the research hypothesis, firstly this paper attempts to review trends of acquisitions and mergers followed by comments on value creation during these periods. For illustration purposes, I will focus my attention to the US economy considering the fact that corporate sector is enriched with these activities and capital markets of United States are much developed comparative to rest of the world. Following section presents the analysis of corporate mergers and acquisitions programmes dated back to1897. The First Wave, 1897-1904: According to Gaughan (1999), this particular period is dominated by horizontal acquisitions resulting surge in stock markets and ultimately creation of monopolies. Some of the todays giant conglomerates created in first wave include General Electric, American Tobacco, Du Pont, Kodak and Standard Oil (see Gaughan, 1999). First Merger Wave 1897 1904 Year Number of Mergers 1897 69 1898 303 1899 1208 1900 340 1901 423 1902 379 1903 142 1904 79 Table 3.1 First Merger Wave 1897 1904 Source: Gaughan (1999), p.24 Figure 3.1 First Merger Wave 1897 -1904 Data Source: Gaughan (1999), p.24 The Second Wave, 1916-1929: In contrast to first wave which is termed as merging for monopoly, the second wave is termed as merging for oligopoly. Gaughan (1999) pointed out that the reason of this terminology is the predominance of vertical or horizontal integration of companies during the period of 1925 to end of the decade. Moreover, Jemison and Stikin (1986) argued that the abundant capital availability stimulated by favourable economic conditions resulted in prominent corporate mergers and integration. Further according to Gaughan (1999), the antitrust law force during this era was stricter comparative to the first merger wave, which created more oligopolies and vertical integration and fewer monopolies in contrast to earlier wave. The Third Wave, 1965-1969: According to Gaughan (1986), the decade of 1960s observed controversial of the merger and acquisitions activities and termed as conglomerates. The companies such as ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, USA) and Textron acquired numerous unrelated businesses to diversify and to reduce cyclic risks. Furthermore, during this period the conglomerates not only grew rapidly and profitably but the management were perceived to be skilful as well, which facilitated the diversity in acquisitions and operations of the companies (see Judelson, 1969). For instance, Geneen (1984) documented that during this wave ITT built itself into a highly diversified conglomerate by acquiring various businesses such as insurance, food and car rentals. Moreover, he found that executives of the company used the advanced financial tools like detailed budgeting and tight financial controls to make these acquisitions successful and well-functioning. Following figure presents the overview of the a ctivities during the period: Scholars like Goold and Luchs (1993) argued that general management skills were one of the vital factors in successful acquisitions and mergers during this era, which also helped corporations to diversify in different businesses. Moreover, engaging in unrelated business by many companies was based on the assumptions that different businesses would not require dissimilar managerial skills (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). However, in late 1960s companies start facing performance problems and the share price of these conglomerates such as Textron fell almost 50% comparative to 9% drop in Dow Jones Industrial average (see Bonge and Coleman, 1972). Furthermore, in early 1970s companies began to experience profitless growth like General Electric sales increased by 40% from 1965 to 1970 but its profit actually dropped (see Goold and Quinn, 1990). According to Gaughan (1999), the era has been ended when ITT spin off in three different companies. It is perceived that most of the mergers during the period failed and companies jettisoned their under-performing and unrelated business to face the competitive environment (see Sikora, 1995). In addition, Sadlter et al (1997) observed that the combined value of businesses separated from their parent firms significantly increased to more than $100 billion in 1996 comparative to 1993 figure of $17.5 billion. Acquisitions in the 1970s: The merger and acquisition activities decreased significantly in 1970s, which can be seen in the following figure. Figure 3.3 Merger Acquisitions in 1970 -1980 Source: Gaughan (1999), p.36 As a consequence of problem in merger and acquisitions activities experienced by conglomerates, the senior executives realised that only general management skills are not sufficient for a successful transactions (see Chandler, 1962). Therefore, they focused their attentions toward the long term companys objectives instead of operating of strategic business units (see Christensen, 1965). Andrews (1971) highlighted that this change introduced the concept of corporate strategy for firms and most CEOs of the organizations started accepting that strategy is their unique and primary task. However, corporate strategy poses some practical problem and did not help executives in deciding about allocation of resources among businesses especially when each investment proposal has a different strategy (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). Moreover, Bower (1970) argued that investment decision should be part of overall business strategy rather than prevaricate on project to project basis. In 1970s these revolutions in corporate finance lead to the development of portfolio planning by Boston Consulting Group (1970). Soon, portfolio planning became famous in corporate sectors and according to the survey of Haspeslagh (1982) by 1979, 45 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were using portfolio planning in some form. However, with the passage of time problems related to portfolio planning emerged. As Goolds and Luchs (1993), argued that the corporate manager with long experience of particular sector of the industry found extremely difficult to manage their newly acquired businesses in vibrant and unfamiliar sectors. Consequently, this affected the performance of new acquisitions or mergers of the firms. In search of solution to this problem Hamermesh and White (1984) found that administration was a vital factor in explain business performance of mergers or acquisitions but many organizations incorrectly addressed the approach. The Fourth Wave, 1981-1989: The decade of 1980s seen another merger wave in business world. In this period, merger deals were frequent and larger and total value of mergers were approximately $.13 trillion in US (see Sikora, 1995). This was influenced by service sector and significant support from investors; lenders and globalization facilitated companies to finance the buyout deals (see Sikora, 1995). Moreover, the reasons of the fourth merger wave were excess capacity (see Jensen, 1993), agency problems (see Jensen, 1988), market failure (see Shleifer Vishny, 1997), and tax and antitrust law changes (see Bhagat et al, 1990). It seems that during 80s, diversified firms do not have capacity to create values therefore companies start re-thinking about role of corporate management as well as appropriate strategies for diversified firms. As highlighted by Goold and Luchs (1993) highlighted that in order to survive firms cut back costs and scale down their staffs but these were not adequate to create value. Furthermore, they argued that diversification strategies failed to create value for many businesses. Nevertheless, these failures compelled senior managers to transform their primary goals to creating shareholders values instead of building huge businesses (see Porter, 1987). Moreover, management of the companies started evaluating corporate performance like stock market by using economic indicator instead of accounting measures and take whatever steps were essential to enhance the value of their firms stock (see Goold and Luchs, 1993). However, value based planning based on financial tools of Return on Equity (ROE), internal rate of return and discounted cash flow provided different views to managers about competitive advantages and stock prices (see Rappaport, 1986). Further, Goold and Luchs (1993) pointed out that a higher stock price could be a reward for creating value. However, during the era of 80s firms that did not diversify into unrelated businesses and specialize into their core industry were able to create value and turn out to be successful companies (see Peter and Waterman 1982). Mintzberg and Lampel (1999) also support this notion by arguing that focused corporations which know their customers, have deep knowledge and understand their missions were better able to create value in contrast to companies that applied the diversification concept of value creation. In summary of the merger and acquisitions activities in 1960s and 1980s, it can be assert that conglomeration and diversification were the dominant trends in 1960s contrast to specialization and consolidations phenomena of 1980s. However, empirical evidence on value creation tends to suggest that significant merger and acquisitions of 60s reversed subsequently and did not lead to profitability. According to Shleifer and Vishny (1994) many of the conglomerates created in 1960s were destroyed in 1980s, which provides the evidence of failure in notion of merger acquisitions and value creation that was not expected in 1960s. The Current Wave, 1990-Present: According to Gaughan (1999), in contrast to 1960s decade of conglomerates and 1980s period of Leveraged Buyouts (LBO), the dominant deals of 90s were designed with a view to fit strategically among merging firms. Moreover, the forces behind the merger and acquisitions activities were different than earlier periods and corporate sector seen some of mega-deals during that period. For instance in 1996, the top 100 deals of merger and acquisitions were worth more than $1 billion or approximately 53.5% of total transactions (see Sikora, 1997). Merger Acquisitions in 1990s Year Number of Deals Value ($ Billions) 1980 1558 34.8 1981 2328 69.5 1982 2299 60.7 1983 2395 52.7 1984 3176 126.1 1985 3490 146.1 1986 2523 220.8 1987 2517 196.5 1988 3011 291.3 1989 3825 325.1 1990 4312 206.8 1991 3580 143.1 1992 3752 125.3 1993 4148 177.3 1994 4962 276.5 1995 6209 375.0 1996 6828 550.7 Table 3.2 Merger and Acquisitions in 1990s Data Source: (www.mergerstat.com) The era of 90s was said to the decade of Consolidation; which means combination of operating and management resources between two companies as well as their stocks, assets and liabilities (see Lipin, 1997). Furthermore, in 1990s, stable economic environment, relax antitrust laws, stock markets favourable conditions and low cost of capital were the catalyst of merger and acquisition trends. However, still many firms failed to create shareholder value and according to study by Mercer Management Consulting Inc. (1997) 48 percent of mergers failed to generate shareholder value in 90s comparative to 57 percent failure of 1980s (p.39, cited in Smith and Hershman, 1997). Nonetheless, the firms in 90s believed that larger pools of assets are essential either to survive or to grow but the question remains that how to discover ways to create value for portfolio of firms businesses? (see Goold and Luchas, 1993). To resolve this anomaly, three possible explanations have been identified: Firstly, as shown by Porter (1985) that diversification should be limited to companies which have synergy potential and without synergy a diversified business is nothing more than mutual fund. He also suggested that synergies can be attained when the portfolio of businesses create values more than sum of its individual components. Besides, the notion of synergy should be based on economies of scale and cost saving strategies (see Porter, 1985). However, in practice it has been found by studies such as Chatterjee (1992) that gaining synergy is not an easy task and most acquisitions and merger gains arise from either disposals of assets or from restructuring rather than synergistic benefits. It seems that synergy was a primary rationale for merger and acquisitions in the era but remains anomaly from value creation prospective as discussed by Goold and Luchs (1993). Secondly, the corporate strategy of the firms should focus on exploiting core competencies. For instance, Prahalad and Hamel (1989) suggested that the corporate portfolio should be based on technological competencies instead of portfolio of businesses. Similarly, Itami (1989) argued that invisible assets like reputation, brand names or customers list are the most valuable source for sustaining competitive advantage and could be used to create value by exploiting competitive opportunities. Furthermore, other competencies such as technology or managerial expertise can also be used to enhance the performance of business portfolio (see Haspeslagh and Jemison, 1991). However, this approach also has some drawbacks; for example, Goold and Luchs, pointed out that it can be difficult to assess the contribution of investment in building the competencies of a business especially when the investment is in new business area. Thirdly, the best way to create value via successful diversification is to build a portfolio of businesses, which fits with the managers logic and their management style (see Parahalad and Bettis, 1986). If conglomerates diversification is based on business with similar strategic logic then its possible to add value to business by adopting a common approach across all the business units. For instance Goold and Luchs (1993) exposed that sharing the skills or activities across organization can help corporate management to realize synergies. Moreover, Goold and Campbell (1987) found the evidence that top executives also find it difficult to deal with a wide range of styles and approaches. Review of Major Areas in MA This section presents the literature review of major areas focused by academics in merger and acquisition field. Consequently following five sub-sections have been established to review the academic literature: Performance Success in Merger and Acquisitions People in Merger and Acquisitions International Prospects of Merger and Acquisitions Best Practices in Merger and Acquisitions Valuation Issues in Merger and Acquisitions The measurement of success in merger and acquisition activities is mainly through quantitative research and is subject to various studies such as Gosh (2001); Healy et al (1992), in the field of finance or economics and also other directly related fields. People are normally unobserved in merger and acquisitions, however extensive studies like Bliss and Rosen (2001), addressed issues from ethical and organizational learning to more in depth personal perspective. Similarly, increasing trend of international trade and globalization attracted the attention of many researchers, for instance Rossi and Volpin (2004). The valuation of the companies is often overlooking in the field of merger and acquisitions. However, it is a very critical part of acquisition process and could be very helpful not only in the pre-acquisition stage but also during the acquisition process as well as at post-acquisition stage (see Becher, 2001). Finally, the best practices research in the field of merger and acquisition is usually done in the form of case studies but the quality and intensity of these studies vary widely (see Marks and Mirvis, 2001). Performance and Success in MA As stated before companies often engaged in the series of acquisitions and merger activities and early studies such as Barney (1988), tend to show that related acquisitions performed better than other acquisition transactions. However, relatedness itself does not create value for acquiring companies but synergy is the vital factor that helps companies to generate abnormal returns from acquisition programs. For example, Barney (1988) showed that synergistic cash flow stemming from relatedness, which is unique and private creates abnormal returns for shareholders of acquiring firm. However, later studies such as Hayward (2002), suggested that different level of relatedness results in various degree of success and moderately similar companies tend to be more successful than the companies that are highly similar or dissimilar in business or size to one another. He further concluded that if a firm experienced small losses in past acquisition in contrast to high losses or high gains then it has better chances of success in prospective acquisition. In addition, the timing of acquisition plays a vital role in success of the transaction and should not be too close or far-away from central acquisition (see Hayward, 2002). Similarly, Brown and Eisenhard (1997) argued that companies benefit differently depending upon their experimenting and timing of the merger and acquisition activities. Moreover, when the acquiring company has some inimitable resources then it can create value by utilizing these resources in targets company as suggested by Capron and Pistre (2000). However, they also added that if the source of synergies is recognized in target firm than market associate expected gains to target firm due to the competition among potential bidders. Consequently, this competition raises the price of target firm and would create value for shareholders of the target firm but also lead to under performance of acquirer. Nevertheless, performance success through merger and acquisitions is still controversial among academics as pointed out by Cording et al (2002). To resolve the issue Chatterjee (1992) measured the cumulative average of abnormal returns (CAAR) during the period of 11 months before the tender offer until 60 months after the tender offer. After studying the sample of 577 tender offers between the periods of 1963 to 1986; he suggested that net gain arises for the economy from these transactions but it does not necessarily create gains for everyone involved in merger and acquisition. More specifically, CAAR after 60 months were observed to be negative for unsuccessful bidders, zero for successful bidder and positive for target company. Furthermore, Chatterjee (1992) found much higher positive CAAR for restructured target companies in contrast to non-restructured targets. Certain studies view the merger and acquisition transactions from a different prospective. For example, Golbe and White (1993) proved in their study that macroeconomic environments influence the merger activities and the number of merger transactions increases in time of economic expansion comparative to decrease in programme at the time of economic down turn.Similarly, Amburgey and Miner (1992) studied the effects of companies momentum on merger activities and suggested that managers follow the past patterns. The academics such as Capron (1999), also attempted to assess the performance of the merger and acquisition activities by conducting the survey of prime stakeholders in merger activities. He further concluded that the available financial data is too gross to allow the separation between the types of pure value-creating mechanism. Moreover, he also argued that more often the objective of the companies is to retain the top management team of the targets firm, whether its a conglomerate or related merger. International Prospects of MA The emergence of globalisation and increasing trends in international trade fasten the number of local as well as cross-border acquisitions and merger activities. For instance, the cross-border acquisition activities in United States increased to 19% in 1999 from 6% in 1985 (see Seth et al, 2001). According to the study of Seth et al (2001), the evidence suggests that there are three motives for cross-border acquisitions such as synergy seeking, managerilism and managerial hubris. Moreover, the research tends to show that there is a positive relationship between the level of value creation and reverse internalization, asset sharing, financial sharing and market seeking ( as discussed by Seth et al, 2001). In addition, there seems to be association between value creation and governance system of bidders country. For instance, Seth et al (2001) argued that bidding companies from group-oriented governance system like Japan and Germany appear to be engaged in acquisitions and merger activities with higher level of value creation in contrast to bidding firms from market oriented governance system such as United Kingdom. Further enhancement of research in the area of cross-border merger and acquisition suggests that experience in merger and acquisition activities can be utilized to create value in another country. For example, Gugler et al (2003) compared the data of 15 years and proved that post merger patterns are similar across different countries. Moreover, their evidence also signifies that there are no major differences between domestic and cross-border mergers as well as manufacturing and service sectors around the world. With the passage of time and in the era of globalization the merger and acquisitions activities are increasing especially in emerging economies. The multinational companies often use the tools of acquisition and mergers to penetrate in new markets and economies particularly in emerging countries such as Central and Eastern Europe (see Milman, 1999). However, in many countries MNC mergers and acquisitions are seen as threats by government agencies, privatized companies and state enterprises. Therefore, in order to develop a successful alliance the acquisition or merger program should be designed in such as way that creates value for companies as well as the host-country governments (see Rondinelli and Black, 2000). Lastly, yet the number of merger and acquisitions across border appears to be increasing but it seems difficult to integrate and manage the successful processes. Hence, Inkpen et al (2000) suggested that the companies should critically evaluate the areas of decision making, communication, networking and socialisation, communication and the structure of authority and responsibility before involving in the process of MA. People in MA Only looking to financial aspects might limit the understanding about the question why MA activities are so widely used by companies as a tool to grow. Hence, another area focused by academics, such as Karitzki and Brink (2003), is related to merger and acquisitions and people. Generally, one of the motives for merger activities is to follow the cost-cutting strategies including synergy and targets customers. Often, the employees are laid off in the process of merger and acquisitions and consequently this creates new but conflicting networks of relationships in new companies as suggested by Vermeulen and Barkema (2001). Thus, it affects the success and results in under-performance of merger and acquisition programmes. Therefore, considering the affects of MA on employee or managers of the potential target firms are of similar importance as financial issues. Similarly, the research in the area of executive compensation pointed out that prior to acquisition or merger, management of acquiring company receive significant higher packages comparative to the executives of target firms (see Lynch and Perry, 2002). Hence, these issues can lead to turnover and morale issues that ultimately affect the success of anticipated integration from MA. Furthermore, in extreme circumstances, issues like these emerging from dissimilarities create hurdles to achieve the objective of the original merger and acquisitions. Thus, reconciling the differences is one of the major issues faced by the combined company to create value (as discussed in Lynch and Perry, 2002). Moreover, successful merger or acquisition depends upon the people in both target and acquiring firms. The attitude and opinion of the employees regarding acquisition or merger can change over the time. Schweiger and DeNisi (1991) conducted the survey of employees and compared the attitudes in pre-acquisition and post-acquisition period. Their results show that attitudes of the employees three months after the announcement of merger changed significantly and turn towards continual negative consequences (see Schweiger and DeNisi, 1991). Likewise, Covin et al (1996) studied the attitude of 2845 employees from a large manufacturing concern in post merger period. The results show significant differences between the target firm and acquiring companys employees in satisfaction with merger. The employees of acquired company faced high level of dissatisfaction and ultimately felt more stress due to changes introduced after merger. In addition, this stress is aggravated due to the direct competition between target firm and acquiring company. Furthermore, Covin et al (1996) pointed out that factors such as loss of power and status, changes in salary or benefits and lack of managerial direction result in high level of stress and dissatisfaction from merger activities. Hence, it has been suggested that in addition to financial aspects these types of issues should not be overlooked in order to create value and to develop a successful merger and acquisition programme (see Karitzki and Brink, 2003). Best Practices in MA It is often suggested that acquisitions are predominantly unsuccessful and numerous studies like Aiello and Watkins (2000), confirmed this fact. However, generally the conditions and environment is relevant before judging the results. Furthermore, there is lack of research in answering the question; what would happen if both the companies continued in their own separate way. Therefore, estimating the successfulness of merger or acquisition is a tricky anomaly (as discussed in Chaudhuri and Tabrizi, 1999). Moreover, the unsuccessful MA activities are more highlighted in contrast to successful programmes. Ed Libby, the chairman and CEO of AllState stated that when MAs fails they draw more notice despite the fact that lot of other projects fails in business but no one can see them because they remain within internal walls of the companies (cited in Cary, 2000). As stated earlier, there is no one strategy that fits all kinds of merger and acquisition activities, however systematic approaches such as suggested by Jan Leschly, can help companies to develop a successful plan. Jan Leschly, retired CEO of SmithKline Beecham suggested that they put their people on the boards of different companies by investing small amounts. Once the companies get going then they decide whether to buy it completely or not (cited in Cary, 2000). Likewise, understanding the various components of merger process is very vital to develop a successful merger or acquisition deal. However, it is very hard to enumerate the components especially when these are integrated with each other. According to Marks and Mirvis (2001), the successfulness of merger and acquisition is highly depended on following factors: Acquisition Plan Implementation of this plan Post-acquisition cooperation between firms after acquisition Moreover, they collected a number of factors that were mentioned in previous research such as strategic objective, clear selection, search and selection process etc. They also argued that pre-acquisition planning is very important for successful merger and acquisition plan and more prepared the people will more synergies in a combination will result (see Marks and Mirvis, 2001). Similarly, Aiello and Watkins (2000) suggested that every MA deal pass through following five stages: Screening potential deal Reaching initial agreement Condu