Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies Essay - 13

Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies - Essay Example I clear separation must b made between mergers and consolidation. In the latter, both companies lose their identities and come together to form one major corporation which a completely new identity (Gomes, 2011). Mergers are regulated by the state laws as they are likely to eliminate competition leading to creation of oligopolistic firms which may collude to form cartels that may tend to harm the economy. Mergers and acquisitions are beneficial to the economy in the sense that they can bring about better approaches to management of the firm. They lead to economies of scale which has the effect of increasing production, reducing operation costs leading to decrease in the selling price which favors the consumers of various commodities. A merger can enable a business owner to sell the firm to someone who is already familiar with the industry and who would be in a better position to pay the highest price. Less competition will also mean low risks to the owners of the merged firms (Cardel, 1998). There are basically three categories of mergers which are based on the competitive relationships that exist between the merging firms. Vertical merger is a form of merger in which one firm acquires a customer or a key supplier of another firm. Horizontal mergers is where one firm acquires or takes over another firm that manufactures and sells an identical product in the same geographical location in a bid to lower competition that was originally existing between the two firms. Conglomerate mergers are those that the merging companies do not have any evident relationship between them. This paper takes an in-depth analysis on two public corporations in the United States in which one has a history of mergers and acquisitions and operated internationally and the other does not bear any history in relation mergers and acquisition and only operates within the nation. The two companies are Apple that has a long