<p>This thesis aims at investigating consumers’ perceptions on the incorporation of an established brand and how the general attitude and buying behaviour is altered in the course of an acquisition. The combination of two or more brands in a newly formed conglomerate implies a combination of values, principles and associations that might affect a company’s appeal. Therefore, underlying reasons for M&As will be elaborated upon as well as branding concepts based on brand image, loyalty and reputation in order to bridge the two theoretical areas with a case study. The acquisition of Body Shop International by L’Oréal represents the practical case, which will be analysed in reference to consumers’ reactions towards it. Quantitative consumer questionnaires will be conducted in order to collect representative data on consumers’ perceptions and associations of the brand Body Shop. Moreover, an expert interview with a Body Shop representative will be executed in order to add the company’s perspective. By analysing the results of the questionnaire, the thesis reveals an observable trend towards a correlation of the awareness of the acquisition and a negative shift in customer perception. The buying behaviour is however not found to be influenced by the combination of the two firms. In conclusion, it can be stated that the need for pre-acquisition analysis regarding strategic fit and compatibility of values and associations is assured. The study clearly identifies that brand dilution is a possible threat for established brands and implies the risk of lost credibility and loyalty.</p>

<p>Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) projects have long been considered as a strategy for organizational growth and gain of market share. Top management teams of companies take M&As into consideration since it is faster and less costly compare to internal growth and development programs. M&A project has variety of benefits such as growth in market share, increase in shareholder wealth, access to new markets, technological advantages and so on and so forth. Another benefit of such projects is the expected synergies which happen in financial, production, value chain and technological aspects of the existing company. However, according to many authors there is a high rate of failure in M&A industry. One of the main reasons of failure identified as the poor performance of post-M&A integration projects. Based on literature, a project perspective to these highly complex projects will reduce the risk of failure and will result in successful performance of new companies. However, there is a research gap in this filed.</p><p> </p><p>After identifying the research gap and formulating the problem statement, research was designed in order to study the applicability of a project management (PM) approach toward M&A and their integration projects. Through performing a case study on a Swedish company who has undergone a number of M&A projects, interviews were conducted with top management team involved in such projects in order to collect empirical data. Based on qualitative data analysis methods, the primary data was integrated into pattern and themes and then analyzed.</p><p> </p><p>Based on the findings of the research, it was identified that in acquisition projects of small and medium size companies the strategic fit is more significant than organizational fit since the new company will dissolve completely and the rest of the integration is in control of the company. Furthermore, after identifying M&A projects as temporary organizations, three aspects: project organization, human resource and governance were verified based on literature. In the context of this study, human resource and governance is considered key elements in terms of acquisition projects. Finally, a framework was proposed in order to implement project management approach by fulfilling three dimension of PM which are project organization, project life-cycle and project governance.</p>

Persistence of stock returns is an extensively studied and discussed theme in the analysis of financial markets. Antipersistence is usually attributed to volatilities. However, not only volatilities but also stock returns can exhibit antipersistence. Antipersistent noise has a somewhat rougher appearance than Gaussian noise. Heuristically spoken, price movements are more likely followed by movements in the opposite direction than in the same direction. The pertaining integrated process exhibits a smaller range – prices seem to stay in the vicinity of the initial value. We apply a widely used test based upon the modified R/S-Method by Lo [1991] to daily returns of 21 German stocks from 1960 to 2008. Combining this test with the concept of moving windows by Carbone et al. [2004], we are able to determine periods of antipersistence for some of the series under examination. Our results suggest that antipersistence can be found for stocks and periods where extraordinary corporate actions such as mergers & acquisitions or financial distress are present. These effects should be properly accounted for when choosing and designing models for inference.

This thesis aims at investigating consumers’ perceptions on the incorporation of an established brand and how the general attitude and buying behaviour is altered in the course of an acquisition. The combination of two or more brands in a newly formed conglomerate implies a combination of values, principles and associations that might affect a company’s appeal. Therefore, underlying reasons for M&amp;As will be elaborated upon as well as branding concepts based on brand image, loyalty and reputation in order to bridge the two theoretical areas with a case study. The acquisition of Body Shop International by L’Oréal represents the practical case, which will be analysed in reference to consumers’ reactions towards it. Quantitative consumer questionnaires will be conducted in order to collect representative data on consumers’ perceptions and associations of the brand Body Shop. Moreover, an expert interview with a Body Shop representative will be executed in order to add the company’s perspective. By analysing the results of the questionnaire, the thesis reveals an observable trend towards a correlation of the awareness of the acquisition and a negative shift in customer perception. The buying behaviour is however not found to be influenced by the combination of the two firms. In conclusion, it can be stated that the need for pre-acquisition analysis regarding strategic fit and compatibility of values and associations is assured. The study clearly identifies that brand dilution is a possible threat for established brands and implies the risk of lost credibility and loyalty.

No description available.

The global semiconductor industry had gone through a consecutive years of prosperity in the 1990s due to the strong demand in personal computer as well as the enormous internet investiment. Even more, it gained an eruptive growth in years 1999 and 2000. The semiconductor fabrication companies¡¦ capital spending in new equipment segment grew year by year. The equipment suppliers¡¦ revenue and gross margin had then set record high. However, combined the internet bubbled in 2000 with the shortage of killer application, the chip makers¡¦ capital spending had thereafter dramatically slowdown for years and hence seriously impacted the equipment suppliers¡¦ financial performance. Ever after the great recession in year 2000, the equipment suppliers have been taking steps to alleviate the industry downturns¡¦ impact in their financial report. Meanwhile, the companies have also identified ways to further grow their business. Besides, the semiconductor industry has been introducing advanced nanomanufacturing technologies which demand huge resource commitment as well as capital investiment. The chip makers have therefore urged the equipment suppliers to assist them in area about cost reduction and productivity improvement. This study takes the world biggest semiconductor frabication equipment maker, Applied Materials, as an example, to investigate the company¡¦s strategically responsivenesses against the business cycles, the current industry environment and its desire in business growth. The conclusions are: 1)Applied Materials has been taking joint ventures, outsourcing and global development center establishments to reduce its operation cost. It had also entered the fab service market to create a new niche. 2)In response to the customers¡¦ demand in productivity improvement , Applied Materials has been activating differentiation strategies to develop high-productivity products. It has also been performing Continuous Improvement Plans (CIP) to further reduce its products¡¦ Cost Of Ownership (COO) to meet the customers¡¦ requirement in cost reduction. 3)The equipement suppliers have been conducting related constrained diversification strategies to extend their business scope. They mostly used the Mergers & Acquisitions to enter the new markets. 4)The strategy effectiveness (in view of the shareholders¡¦ return on investment), is positively related to its consistency with the company¡¦s core competencies. In other word, the higher the consistency is, the better the ROI will be. Keyword: Internal Environment Analysis, External Environment Analysis, Strategic Responsiveness, Diversification Strategy, Differentiation Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions

Sverige är ett av de länder som påverkas mest av globaliseringen. En kraftig ökning av utländska direktinvesteringar och gränsöverskridande förvärv och fusioner har förändrat det svenska näringslivet. Var femte svensk i näringslivet arbetar idag i ett utlandsägt företag. Utländska institutionella investerare står för runt en tredjedel av ägandet på Stockholmsbörsen. Ett nytt sätt att se på företagens mål och mening sägs ha kommit till Sverige. Talet om aktieägarvärde ges utrymme i media och i företagens kommunikation. Det sätter aktieägarna i främsta rummet på ett sätt som är annorlunda jämfört med ett svenskt intressentmodellsorienterat sätt att se på företaget. Mot denna bakgrund studeras fyra svenska företag som snabbt blir mer internationella genom förvärv och fusioner. I en hermeneutisk studie får vi genom kvalitativa och longitudinella fallstudier följa anställda och chefer och se deras reaktioner på de stora förändringar som internationaliseringen innebär för vardagslivet i organisationen. Läsaren erbjuds en explorativ och induktiv resa som ger en ökad förståelse för mötet mellan det svenska och det globala och för vilken påverkan som sker på svenska företags relationer med sina nära intressenter. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006

Background: In the context of rapid market development and globalization, the role of corporate governance has become crucial in determining firm’s direction, control and performance. No substantial investigation has been made to explain the role of corporate governance in the context of widely used strategy for organizational growth – mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A). Acquisitions of distressed firms represent a particular area within the field of M&amp;A. Distressed firms are characterized by existence-threatening decline in financial performance, and therefore, require  special attention from corporate governance actors in turning the company around from bankruptcy and resuming its normal operations. Despite the fact that a substantial body of literature has been developed on turnaround theory during the last four decades, researchers have mostly been focusing on the content of turnaround strategies and have been studying the cases of single firms. Aim: The purpose of this master thesis is to provide a better conception of the role of corporate governance mechanisms in managing the turnaround process in the context of a distressed firm after its acquisition by a foreign company, and the necessity for corporate executives in initiating post-acquisition integration between these merged companies.  Completions and results: A model of corporate governance within the context of international acquisitions of distressed firms was designed. According to the model, corporate governance mechanisms should assure close communication, clear leadership and its continuity, vision and proper choice of the corporate governance actors. Moreover, corporate governance should reinforce post-acquisition integration between the distressed company and the acquirer. It is important to find a proper level of integration according to each particular case. The major focus in international acquisitions should be on managerial and socio-cultural integration. Consequently, proper post-acquisition integration can facilitate the turnaround process and gaining synergies from combining two organizations.

We investigate whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) play an internal corporate governance role in mitigating agency problems between the controlling shareholder and minority shareholders in a cross-country sample of public firms. We draw our conclusion by examining the market reaction (in terms of bidder announcement period abnormal returns) to acquisition announcements made by firms with and without MLS in their ownership structure. Using an international sample of acquisition announcements made by firms with at least one large shareholder from 10 Western European and 5 East Asian countries between 1996 and 2000, we find the presence of MLS, their voting rights, relative voting power, the number of blockholders and the relative voting power of these blockholders have a positive and significant impact on bidder announcement period abnormal returns. We also find that the legal institutions such as disclosure requirement, investor protection, common-law legal origin and anti-self-dealing have positive effects on bidder announcement period abnormal returns.

We investigate whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) play an internal corporate governance role in mitigating agency problems between the controlling shareholder and minority shareholders in a cross-country sample of public firms. We draw our conclusion by examining the market reaction (in terms of bidder announcement period abnormal returns) to acquisition announcements made by firms with and without MLS in their ownership structure. Using an international sample of acquisition announcements made by firms with at least one large shareholder from 10 Western European and 5 East Asian countries between 1996 and 2000, we find the presence of MLS, their voting rights, relative voting power, the number of blockholders and the relative voting power of these blockholders have a positive and significant impact on bidder announcement period abnormal returns. We also find that the legal institutions such as disclosure requirement, investor protection, common-law legal origin and anti-self-dealing have positive effects on bidder announcement period abnormal returns.