Mergers and Acquisition Essay Example for Free

Mergers and Acquisition Essay Why are there mergers and acquisitions? Mergers and acquisitions take place for a number of reasons, such as refinancing for a better price, amplifying expansion, and submerging risk through diversification. New entities may drag behind after a merger takes place due to the higher cost of matching different and unconnected economic activities. Diversification by business groups may also reduce technical effectiveness. When a merger takes place, a bigger business groups emerges from the two which usually will have more economic and political influence In this paper, we will assess the impact of mergers and acquisitions on firms, including sensible and dubious reasons for, and benefits and costs of, cash and stock transactions. We will also be sure to examine the financial risks of merging with or acquiring an organization in another country and how those risks could be mitigated. First we will we will assess the impact of mergers and acquisitions on firms while also touching on the benefits and costs of, cash and stock transactions. Who gains from mergers? Typically, the selling firm tends to be impacted favorably by the merge and/or acquisition rather than the firm acquiring the selling firm. Studies demonstrate that most of the benefits from mergers and acquisitions were earned by the selling firm, not the acquiring company. For example, recent research found that holders in the acquiring firm earned an estimated 4% return on their investment with the completed acquisition in contrast to the holders of the target firm whom typically received a 30% return on their investment. So, to imply that mergers and acquisitions do not create benefits would not be correct because the acquiring firms are paying too much money for their acquisitions. There are many sensible and dubious reasons for mergers and acquisitions. Many times the reason for acquisitions is for expansion. Expansion that is not limited by internal resources means there is no reduction of working capital which crates many benefits such as; stocks can be exchanged faster, assets can be purchased more quickly rather than building, better technology can be gained as well as resources and skills, and the tax benefits can sometimes give the new company better operating leverage in their particular market. Smaller firms will usually always gain from merging with larger firms because larger firms have better equipment, resources, and technology. The aforementioned reasons make the merged firms more effective in daily operations, which in turn, make the merged firms more alluring to their current and potential clients. Mergers and acquisitions also help reduce the merged firms risk by diffusing their debt and risk among the various companies with the firm. Oftentimes firms will merge in order to gain a larger market share within their perspective fields. For example, ATT recently merged with Cingular Wireless to become the nations largest telephone network and gain the highest market share of customers in telecommunications, thus trying to eliminate competition. Now, we will discuss the financial risks of merging with or acquiring companies in another country. There are many financial risks of merging or acquiring companies in another country. One, oftentimes there are culture clashes between the foreign firm and the home firm. These cultural clashes sometimes lead to losing valuable managers and workers to other firms because they do not desire to live in another country. Two, there may be a conflict of intentions in two different countries which could spell disaster for all firms involved. Other financial risks can include; foreign exchange rates, lawyer, banker, and brokers fees. Firms must know foreign banking and business laws such as the proper filings they must report with the SEC and foreign officials. Many consideration must be taken when considering merging /and or acquiring a foreign firm. In this paper, we assessed the impact of mergers and acquisitions on firms which we found to be more beneficial to the smaller of the merging firms due to their gaining of better equipment and resources. We found that there are indeed many sensible and dubious reasons for, and benefits and costs of, cash and stock transactions which include risk diversification among the merged firms. We examined the financial risks of merging with or acquiring an organization in another country and conclude that mitigation can be done by ensuring that the proper laws and culture differences are overcome before merging. References Brealey, R., Myers, S., Marcus, A. (2004). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance. Chapter 22: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Control. Retrieved from the internet on April 22, 2007 from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h#Investopedia.com.(2007). Retrieved from the internet on April 22, 2007 from www.investopedia.com/university/mergers/mergers4.asp 36k

Austin Museum Of Art :: essays research papers

The Austin Museum of Art was the first of the three galleries attended. At the time, the museum had a touring â€Å"Rock and Roll† exhibit, which had its focus on the influence of the Rock –and-Roll culture on art. The pieces were arranged in a chronological order and started with the Pop Art of the early 1960’s. Located in the section were two silk screens, one of Mick Jaggard and the other of Prince, done by Andy Warhol. There were a few other pieces in this time period that helped to point out a major turning point in both art and photography. It was now okay to use other people’s photographs in an art piece. Also, it symbolized a beginning of the manipulation of the photograph. No longer were the artists bound to having their work on paper, there were new and limitless areas to explore now in photography. These were the main works that caught my attention in the museum, but there were many other pieces. Other works went through the abstract and full of color 1960’s, until the newer more mechanical art of the 1980’s and 90’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After attending the Austin Museum of Art, the students headed for a smaller, more informal gallery. The Dumont Gallery contained works from various photographers that were entered into a contest earlier in the year. Now the pictures were traveling around the state of Texas, and had even made a stop at the MSC in College Station. The pieces in the exhibit made visible the numerous ways in which art and photography can be presented. There were huge photographs, Polaroids, pictures developed onto clothing, series photographs, bound pictures, and a large amount whose methods of production could not be identified. There was one group of photographs done by the same artist that truly caught my attention. The artist, while a young woman did not have a very interesting life, and often sought refuge in the Nancy Drew mystery novels. Now, she has often caught herself talking to people about her life and actually telling the events that happened in the books instead of her l ife. It was because of those events that she did a series of photographs were she dressed up like Nancy Drew and posed in her pictures that played out the different stories from the books. She decided, why not be her if you think you are her.

Relative Isolation of Sub-Saharan Africa

Relative Isolation on Sub-Saharan Africa Relative isolation affected the development of sub-Saharan African cultures. The lack of contact with other African societies and non-African societies helped shape many distinct groups with individualistic forms of religion, language, and customs. Religion can only spread by contact with other people. There are two main religions in the Middle East and in Europe that have gained dominance and fight to maintain power. Religions such as Greek mythology were quickly pushed aside when a dominant power came in with a different religion.There are physical obstacles that kept people out of sub-Saharan Africa until the sixteenth century. This means that no major powers/religions were able to spread across the continent and unify the culture. This type of relative isolation is also true amongst African societies. Environmental factors have rendered it nearly impossible for an African society to put itself in a position of dominance over other societie s. Because the individual societies were focused on self-preservation instead of trading and conquering they each created their own unique religion.Africans did not have a large society/kingdom to fall back on for protection and survival. They also live in one of the harshest environments in the world; this forced them to live â€Å"as one with nature†, causing semi nature based religious systems which can also been seen in Native American culture pre-colonization. Even though the groups developed unique religions they still parallel other groups that lived under the same ecological conditions in Africa and in the Americas.Language is a defining piece of a societies identity; it creates a sense of unity amongst people, it shows a group’s means of food production, and it individualizes bands of people. African societies historically have not been in conflict with each other. This means that each group developed it’s own language and the langue has advanced along with the society. In places such as Europe and the Middle East each group had developed individual languages but with the progression of empires such as the Egyptians and the Romans came the spread of unified language.Unified language means societies now have words for tools and gods that they do not have. With little to no contact amongst African societies language did not spread through natural transactions: curiosity or trade. Societies in the rest of the world have been in contact with one another long before they were able to penetrate into sub-Saharan Africa. This means that they were trading; in order to trade one must be able to communicate with another. Trading will affect the language as whole, which will in turn cause unification in counting systems, religion, and technology.Societies in Africa did not have this exchange between groups which caused them to develop distinct societies which only had the technology and religion required to keep them alive. African customs we re derived from a need for survival. Societies in Africa had to deal with a harsh environment that was constantly pushing back at them. Their customs were a means of survival from the way they handled religion to telling children scary stories about dangerous plants and animals in the means of fairy tales. Unlike societies in Europe that usually had a kingdom of people to rely on for protection and food, Africans had to fight for survival.European societies created customs to separate classes of people based on wealth or physical appearance or some other identifier whereas African groups only created customs that benefited the group. The isolation of African societies caused them to create similar but distinctly different customs from each other. Relative isolation caused African societies to develop differently than the shared cultures of most the world. Societies in Africa also develop distinct cultures from each other due to their lack of contact with neighboring groups.

What Is Your Experience With Standardized Testing

†¢ What is your experience with standardized testing? I have five children so I am familiar with these test because every year the children come home talking about like it is the end of the world. The children state the teachers are panicking and pushing paperwork on them to complete at home. This has made my third child very nervous, and even not want to go to school because he is afraid of failing the teacher. My oldest child said the test counts as 20% of their grade. I do not think this is right. Why should one test determine so much of my child’s final grade? It should not. †¢ In your opinion, what are the pros (advantages)? The test can potential show the child’s ranking in subjects and what they have learned. The test can show were the child needs more work and this is a plus, but the tests are scored and then placed depending on that score. †¢ In your opinion, what are the cons (negatives)? Too much stress on the children and the teachers. The test stresses everyone out and they work themselves up and mess up at times due to this stress. †¢ Do you think they have been good for education overall? No, not really. I think the average testing was working fine before these types of test came along. The children do not seem any smarter now than they did years ago at this age. †¢ Do you think standardized testing is more appropriate for some ages than others? What ages and why? Yes, I do not feel the elementary school should be under these types of pressure. These kidsShow MoreRelatedStandardized Testing And Standardized Tests1204 Words   |  5 PagesYou must mark all your answers on this answer sheet. Use only a No. 2 pencil. You may not use a pen.   When you fill in the circles, make heavy black marks.   If you make a mistake, erase it completely.   Make no stray marks. Do not make any marks on the back of the answer sheet. These instructions are something we have all nearly fallen asleep to over our years of standardized tests. I myself can be included with you in that experience and I hope to give you a little more information on these all tooRead MorePros And Cons Of Standardized Testing801 Words   |  4 Pagescontroversial topic Since Middle School, I was not opposed to standardized testing. I thought of it as a way of testing us of what we have learned. Although, after reading some articles about standardized testing I am re-thinking the pros and cons. From personal experience, I thought of it as a challenge to pass them. But now that reminisce about it, I noticed some of the cons of standardized testing. I remember having a week or two dedicated for testing, and in case of students failing they had to take timeRead MoreStandardized Testing Is Important For Education1250 Words   |  5 Pageseducation system that standardized testing is important for education. There is a belief that standardized testing is important student outcomes. The educational establishment believes that we should use standardized test to evaluate students and teachers. They believe that we should fire bad and incompetent teachers. . These bureaucrats believe that students need to evaluated based on standardized test. They believe there should be more accountability in our education system. What they want is moreRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Standardized Testing1193 Words   |  5 Pagesnow, standardized testing has been at the forefront of all education and is part of the reason students dread going to school. Although standardized testing has become a significant part of our education, it does have a negative impact on the effectiveness of the instruction we are getting. This topic is essential to many because the use of these such tests are damaging our education system. 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This testing limits the teachers ability to teach creatively to the students. As a college student, I have undergone ten years of standardized tests and have experienced many different teacher’s opinions towards them, from this I believe have endured enough testing torture to give a valued opinion. Standardized tests are created to compare a studentRead MoreStandardized Testing Is The Best Way For Measure Students Intelligence Levels1155 Words   |  5 PagesBelieving that It is Stupid’†(Baskerville). This is a quote that is theorized to have been said by Albert Einstein and can easily be applied to standardized testing in our schooling system. Although some think that standardized testing is the best way to measure students intelligence levels, research suggests that it is ineffective due to factors such as not testing over all subjects, changing how schools teach, discrimination, and the mindset that it creates, therefore colleges should not use them inRead MoreEssay on EDA 577 Develop Goals867 Words   |  4 Pagesstructure of testing. (See figures 2.1, 2.2, 2.3) Personnel Responsible: Classroom teachers, reading coach, dean of instruction. Evidence of Completion: District Benchmark (1 for the fall semester (November) see Figure 1.2, 1 spring semester (February).) Percentages, 2015 STAAR results taken in April 2015. Figure 1.1 2014 STAAR Results (Percentage of Students Meeting Standard) Figure 1.2 2014 District Benchmark (November) Figure 2.1 Student Questionnaire Purpose: To improve a testing experienceRead MoreStandardized Testing Essay examples1573 Words   |  7 PagesStandardized Testing Every year thousands upon thousands of children, ages seven and upwards sit down to take their scheduled standardized tests. This generation has been classified as the most tested in history. Its progress through childhood and adolescence has been punctuated by targets, key stages, attainment levels, and qualifications (Stalin in School 8). Each year the government devises a new standard and then finds a way to test how each student measures up to this standard. TheyRead MoreMy Schooling Experiences Formed A Positive Outlook On American Education1666 Words   |  7 Pages My schooling experiences formed a positive outlook on American education. Throughout my schooling, I was fortunate to have the most influential teachers that assisted me into becoming who I am today. I was a student who struggled until the 8th grade. Luckily, my teachers took their time to tutor me one on one after and before school. One teacher, in particular, had the greatest impact on my education and is the reason why I did not give on learning. Reading and writing were my worst subjects