Mergers and acquisitions are both aspects of strategic management, corporate finance

and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and
similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new
field or new location, without creating a subsidiary, other child entity or using a joint venture.
M&A can be defined as a type of restructuring in that they result in some entity reorganization with
the aim to provide growth or positive value. Consolidation of an industry or sector occurs when
widespread M&A activity concentrates the resources of many small companies into a few larger
ones, such as occurred with the automotive industry between 1910 and 1940.
The distinction between a "merger" and an "acquisition" has become increasingly blurred in various
respects (particularly in terms of the ultimate economic outcome), although it has not completely
disappeared in all situations. From a legal point of view, a merger is a legal consolidation of two
companies into one entity, whereas an acquisition occurs when one company takes over another
and completely establishes itself as the new owner (in which case the target company still exists as
an independent legal entity controlled by the acquirer). Either structure can result in the economic
and financial consolidation of the two entities. In practice, a deal that is an acquisition for legal
purposes may be euphemistically called a "merger of equals" if both CEOs agree that joining
together is in the best interest of both of their companies, while when the deal is unfriendly (that is,
when the target company does not want to be purchased) it is almost always regarded as an
"acquisition".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergers_and_acquisitions
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140608020520-27554839-mergers-andacquisitions-the-four-4-greatest-risk-factors-for-leaders-and-managers

Mergers and Acquisitions The Four (4) Greatest

Risk Factors for Leaders and Managers
When it comes to mergers and acquisitions, there are critical factors to
consider, and the best leaders and strategic thinkers are astute enough to
recognize the primary risks associated with growth, downsizing and

change as well as the key questions to ask as they lead their

organizations and teams toward success and manage the process.
What stands out from my experiences from working as a strategy
and change consultant with merging entities is that they commonly
have huge miscalculations regarding the scale, scope and
change management implications of the integration and the
level of assimilation requiredbetween the affected departments,
divisions, subsidiaries and leadership and management teams when
taking on a merger or an acquisition.
Getting this right matters! There are large sums of money, time,
resources and hopes allocated and wrapped up into such an
organizational change effort.
When success is realized it is because, among other things, the risks
have been properly evaluated and addressed. This is particularly
important when the merger and acquisition (M&A) is between
companies/organizations focused on different sectors and/or
geographical regions, but these issues are indeed important with all
M&As.
Clearly, acquiring or merging with another business or
organizational entity involves risks, but these risks are exacerbated
when those leading it and making decisions are not intentionally
focused on the full internal and external environments and when
they fail to have contingency plans to address unforeseen business,
service, staffing and leadership liabilities and challenges.

Following are the four (4) greatest risk factors along with the
corresponding questions for leaders and managers to apply on the
road to success. This list has proven useful and helps clients and
organizations focus on mitigating risk.

Poor or inadequate communications

What is/was the catalyst for the merger/acquisition? Now

compare that answer to what those who will be most impacted
believe the catalyst to be.Any discrepancies or conflict?

What is your communication strategy, who was involved in

development, and who will lead it?

How do/will you know you are being heard, and who is
listening?

A lack of transparency and inadequately preparing for

the inclusion and retention of core competencies and
staffing

How transparent do you really want to be? Differing

stakeholder groups will need varying details and information. What
is your plan?

Are there any changes/modifications to the organizational

mission?

What core competencies will you need on board to achieve

strategic outcomes?

Do the people you are keeping/adding/removing possess the

core competencies you will need?

What metrics do you have in place to assess/determine when

core competencies are not covered?

What is the plan to address dislocated workers (if there will be

downsizing)? Does a reduction-in-force strategy exist? Are
supervisors trained on it? Here is one as a guide: Reduction-in-Force:
Best Practices for Managers and Employees.

Not incorporating and building upon the branding,

marketing and sales efforts

What are the distinct aspects of each of the separate

organizational brands that must be maintained or advanced?

Have you assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the

marketing and sales strategies and determined which tactics you
will apply in merging / separating these?

Who is bettercan you be as objective as you need to when

completing overlapping or eliminating one or the other marketing
strategies?

Who is minding the customer and his needs? Are measures in

place to conceal the dirty laundry and ensure the customer does not
experience negative effects?

Having two distinct cultures and service standards

and not taking time to balance and merge the two
(keep the best of both and lose the worst of both)

What is the culture (personality, attitude, character) of each of

the affected companies/organizations and how do you know this to
be the case?

What are the standards for service within each

organization? Do they matter, how were they established, and what
is necessary to merge these?

What "unwritten" policies and processes need to be molded

in/out? Shape the organizational culture early. Who is charged to
focus on the culture?

Leadership Is Responsible for the Results and Should

Be Strategic About It.

Be sure to ask the proper questions, consider the strategy and align
all organizational systems and people.

What do you think?

Have you considered these risk factors, and are you and your team
preparing answers to these questions? Is your leadership and
management team covering these bases?

This paper examines the impact of Greek mergers and acquisitions on the
performance of the Greek Banking Sector during the period 1996-2009. With the
use of event study methodology, we reject the semi-strong form of Efficient
Market Hypothesis (EMH) of the Athens Stock Exchange. We find that ten days prior
to the announcement of a merger and acquisition, shareholders receive
considerable and significant positive cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs).
Also the results show that significant positive CAARs are gained upon the
announcement of horizontal and diversifying bank deals. The overall results indicate
that bank mergers and acquisitions have no impact and do not create wealth. We
also examine operating performance of the Greek Banking Sector by estimating
twenty financial ratios. Findings show that operating performance does not improve,
following mergers and acquisitions. There are also controversial results when
comparing merged to non-merged banks.
The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Performance of the Greek Banking
Sector: An Event Study Approach (PDF Download Available). Available from:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/47456937_The_Impact_of_Mergers_and_Ac
quisitions_on_the_Performance_of_the_Greek_Banking_Sector_An_Event_Study_Appr
oach