In 1989, Jordan chose to follow the track of democracy and open economy. From that time on, Jordan has embarked upon plans to reform its legal as well as economic and social structures. Continuous and serious efforts have been underway to enable Jordan to join the WTO (World Trade Organization) and become part of the new "economic global village". Many observers see this as a step to help Jordan materialize these plans and to help put it on a road that will inevitably lead to more freedom of choice and more competitiveness. / Opening the national markets means exposing the domestic industry and market to foreign competitors. In order to preserve the domestic economic and social fabrics, local industries have to gain the maximum efficiency and market width possible or they will go under. Such efficiency and investors' inducement can and should be encouraged through providing a "liberal" legal framework. Such a framework, applied to the field of corporate law, can impose market control over management's inefficiency, and give businesses the diversity they need to attract investors.

The emergence of biotechnology necessitating change in traditional pharmacological research, cost cutting by hospitals and health insurers, and an increasing number of patent expirations have posed a considerable challenge to the pharmaceutical industry, which hitherto had been considered recession-proof. Responding to this challenge, the industry has undergone tremendous consolidation through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). These M&As have resulted in high concentration within the therapeutic classes of drugs, thereby raising anticompetitive concerns. / In order to allow the mergers to proceed, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. had required the merging entities to divest their R&D assets. The European Commission, on the contrary, had taken more permissive approach. / The thesis has argued that R&D divestitures in pharmaceutical cases have not been appropriate as anticompetitive concern arises owing to the acquisition of market power with drug purchasers, rather than the combination of R&D assets. The innovative nature of the industry, and the costs and risks involved in drug discovery make it hard to analyze the likely future state of the market. Ex-post analysis shows that divestiture in these cases proved counterproductive. / It is suggested that ex-post remedies like compulsory licensing and price regulation are preferable in pharmaceutical mergers, as they do not disrupt the companies' R&D structure. Moreover, these remedies could be applied once the anticompetitive concerns become apparent the merger is consummated, thereby allaying the uncertainty involved in the assessment of the future state of innovation markets.

The assessment of joint venture appears to be one of the most difficult issues in European competition law. A rational and well-balanced treatment is long awaited. Indeed, the artificial distinction between co-operative and concentrative joint ventures was based on complex and contradictory criteria. The European Commission applied them flexibly at the expense of predictability, damaging the legal certainty that is so necessary for these transactions. The existence of two distinct regimes, one for concentrative and one for co-operative joint ventures, with more favourable treatment for the former, explains why firms wished to subject their transactions to the Merger Regulation rather than article 81 of the Treaty. The reform of the Merger Regulation, which entered into force in 1998, modifies the boundaries between the different types of joint ventures, now focusing on structural criterion. It gives birth to a new distinction between structural and behavioural joint ventures. This simplification of the qualification phase, however, raises new questions relating to the content and the relevance of the chosen criterion. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The issue of mergers and, in particular, the effect of mergers on employees is an important one due to the alarming number of mergers taking place at present both globally and in South Africa. Only recently have researchers begun to study the impact of mergers on employees. Many authors argue that this element is critical in determining the success or failure of a merger. The study examines a company, which recently experienced a merger and attempts to establish whether or not the merger had a detrimental effect on organisational climate. The study achieves it's aim by reviewing the literature and administering a self-completion questionnaire to the entire operational staff at three hierarchical levels, namely; store manager, sales administrator and sales person of the organisation in the KwaZulu Natal region. The study thus constitutes a census of all employees at the aforementioned three levels. The questionnaire administered includes both an organisational climate measuring instrument (an existing eighteen item scale was used) and an attitude to mergers measuring instrument, made up of twelve items, which was constructed for this study. The data was then analysed utilising both descriptive and inferential statistics. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This study examines the efficacy of change management following an acquisition by a multinational corporation. Staff turnover records are examined to determine whether there are significant changes in staff turnover before and after critical events in the change process. Staff exit questionnaires are examined to determine employees' reasons for leaving. The key change agents are interviewed to obtain their perspectives on the change process. Our conclusion is that the change has been generally well-managed, although more attention could have been paid to the individual groups that make up the staff, and that communication could have been improved. Our recommendation is that a follow-up study be conducted to gauge employee attitudes following the relocation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This thesis examines the impact of transnationalization on U.S. American merger review. It commences by outlining the principles of U.S. merger control, the notion of competition, and effects to be prevented. The study then proceeds with an analysis of transnationalization and gives an evaluation of its influence on firms, markets, and economic systems. The adjacent part holds a description of significant merger decisions made by the U.S. authorities during the recent years thereby covering important markets. An analysis focussing on a possible inequality of the treatment between mergers involving U.S. and foreign firms in order to meet exigencies generated by transnationalization that are not congruent with the objective of maintaining competition follows. The thesis concludes with an examination of extraterritorial application of U.S. antitrust law, the problems generated thereby and the various suggestions produced for a solution of the discrepancy between world-wide markets and enterprises and nationally confined legal systems.

Following the dynamic capabilities perspective, I suggest that antecedents to innovation can be found at the individual, firm, and network level. Thus, I challenge two assumptions common in prior research: (1) that significant variance exists at the focal level of analysis, while other levels of analysis are assumed to be homogeneous, and (2) that the focal level of analysis is independent from other levels of analysis. Accordingly, I advance a set of hypotheses to simultaneously assess the direct effects of antecedents at the individual, firm, and network level on innovation output. I then investigate whether a firm s antecedents to innovation lie across different levels. To accomplish this, I propose two competing interaction hypotheses. I juxtapose the hypothesis that the individual, firm, and network-level antecedents to innovation are substitutes versus the proposition that these innovation mechanisms are complements. I test my multi-level theoretical model using an unusually comprehensive and detailed panel dataset that documents the innovation attempts of global pharmaceutical companies within biotechnology over a 22-year time period (1980-2001). I find evidence that the antecedents to innovation lie across different levels of analysis and can have compensating or reinforcing effects on firm-level innovative output.

The following series of three essays examine the impact of peer networks of investment banks, including those commercial banks that recently entered security underwriting, on investment banking activities. Specifically, I focus on underwriter and financial advisor peer networks in security underwriting and mergers and acquisitions advisory services, and examine how the structure of these peer networks affects the performance of initial public offerings, the shareholders' wealth in mergers and acquisitions, and the market share of underwriters. The results indicate that the peer relations of underwriters and advisors have significant implications along various dimensions.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration )--University of South Australia, 2004

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration )--University of South Australia, 2004