Impact Of Mergers And Acquisitions

Abstract:

Just as mergers and acquisitions may be fruitful in some cases, the impact of mergers and acquisitions on various sects of the company may differ. In the article below, details of how the shareholders, employees and the management people are affected has been briefed.

Mergers and acquisitions are aimed at improving profits and productivity of a company. Simultaneously, the objective is also to reduce expenses of the firm. However, mergers and acquisitions are not always successful. At times, the main goal for which the process has taken place loses focus. The success of mergers, acquisitions or takeovers is determined by a number of factors. Those mergers and acquisitions, which are resisted not only affects the entire work force in that organization but also harm the credibility of the company. In the process, in addition to deviating from the actual aim, psychological impacts are also many. Studies have suggested that mergers and acquisitions affect the senior executives, labor force and the shareholders.

Employees:

• Impact Of Mergers And Acquisitions on workers or employees:
  Aftermath of mergers and acquisitions impact the employees or the workers the most. It is a well known fact that whenever there is a merger or an acquisition, there are bound to be lay offs. In the event when a new resulting company is efficient business wise, it would require less number of people to perform the same task. Under such circumstances, the company would attempt to downsize the labor force. If the employees who have been laid off possess sufficient skills, they may in fact benefit from the lay off and move on for greener pastures. But it is usually seen that the employees those who are laid off would not have played a significant role under the new organizational set up. This accounts for their removal from the new organization set up. These workers in turn would look for re employment and may have to be satisfied with a much lesser pay package than the previous one. Even though this may not lead to drastic unemployment levels, nevertheless, the workers will have to compromise for the same. If not drastically, the mild undulations created in the local economy cannot be ignored fully.

Management at the top:

• Impact of mergers and acquisitions on top level management:
  Impact of mergers and acquisitions on top level management may actually involve a "clash of the egos". There might be variations in the cultures of the two organizations. Under the new set up the manager may be asked to implement such policies or strategies, which may not be quite approved by him. When such a situation arises, the main focus of the organization gets diverted and executives become busy either settling matters among themselves or moving on. If however, the manager is well equipped with a degree or has sufficient qualification, the migration to another company may not be troublesome at all.

Shareholders:

• Impact of mergers and acquisitions on shareholders:
  We can further categorize the shareholders into two parts:
• The Shareholders of the acquiring firm
• The shareholders of the target firm.

Shareholders of the acquired firm:

The shareholders of the acquired company benefit the most. The reason being, it is seen in majority of the cases that the acquiring company usually pays a little excess than it what should. Unless a man lives in a house he has recently bought, he will not be able to know its drawbacks. So that the shareholders forgo their shares, the company has to offer an amount more then the actual price, which is prevailing in the market. Buying a company at a higher price can actually prove to be beneficial for the local economy.

Shareholders of the acquiring firm:

They are most affected. If we measure the benefits enjoyed by the shareholders of the acquired company in degrees, the degree to which they were benefited, by the same degree, these shareholders are harmed. This can be attributed to debt load, which accompanies an acquisition.