Acquisitions and mergers in Saudi Arabia : reasons and effects

The high scale of acquisition and merger's activity has produced great interest among academic and policy makers alike, resulting in the development of a considerable amount of research on the advantages and disadvantages of A&Ms. Previous literature however, focused on the A&Ms' activity in advanced capitalist countries, specifically the USA and UK. Studies of A&Ms in developing countries are rare; this research attempts to fill part of this gap by investigating reasons for and effects of A&Ms in Saudi Arabia. Three main causes are behind the transfers of corporate assets within industry in the Anglo-American nations and some developed countries; managerial, disciplinary and economical. This study, however, suggests that the only group of causes behind A&Ms in S.A., among these three groups, is economical. Recently, the literature described A&Ms' decisions not as comprehensively rational choices but as outcomes of processes governed by several influences. This group of reasons was also tested in this study and gained its support. With regard to A&Ms' effects on firms' profitability as well as on the economic conditions, the research finds that A&Ms in S.A. are expected to improve merging firms' abilities to compete and to improve their profitability. Moreover, favourable effects on economic welfare was accepted. A reasonable step in A&Ms activity is to determine whether there are particular characteristics of A&Ms which are systematically linked to positive or negative effects on the performance. The current research finds that determinants of success could be predictive if analysed with a relationship to the type and cause of A&Ms. This study suggests that the type of A&M (consolidation or acquisition) and causes for A&Ms (synergy or assets stripping) affects the factors of A&Ms' success and failure. These findings were based on a survey of the top 500 Saudi Arabian companies, of whom 124 companies responded to the questionnaire as well as on seven personal interviews with seven executives, who experienced A&Ms before and who answered the questionnaire and accepted to meet the researcher

National Curriculum, a Pathway to Excellence; Exposure Draft (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), 1986, Jan. 31

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1762/thumbnail.jp

Problems of scale : an O.R./systems approach

The history of analyses of scale and the conventional reductionist methodology are briefly recounted in the first chapter of the thesis. A detailed examination is then made of the theory of economies of scale and its development since the days of Adam Smith. A comprehensive survey shows that the description provided by conventional economic theory is quite unrealistic, and has been dictated by the demands of Neoclassical ideas of equilibrium. It is shown that the available empirical evidence does not easily allow conclusions to be drawn about the optimal scale of plants or enterprises. A simple simulation model then demonstrates that static economies of scale alone are insufficient to determine "optimal" scale - dynamic diseconomies depend upon environmental context and uncertainties of forecasting future demand. The question of technological change is closely bound up with issues of scale. The principle of bounded rationality is applied to deduce some conditions about the nature of technical change using Heiner's "Reliability Condition". The existence of "technological heuristics" (such as a bias in favour of scale-augmenting innovations) is predicted. The argument is illustrated with the use of a computer simulation of successive process innovations in a stylised chenical plant. Conflicting ideas about "optimal" scale in electricity generation, papermaking, brewing and cement manufacture are examined. These views are found to be explicable by borrowing the theory of fourfold cultural bias from the field of social anthropolgy. An Evolutionary Model of Increasing Returns (EMIR) is developed as a computer simulation. This model demonstrates that the restrictions imposed by conventional economic theory can be overcome in a dynamic economic model; economies of scale and technical change are married with plural rationalities to provide a range of findings on industry structure. Market share is found to be a more important determinant of industrial success than economies of scale. EMIR is used to demonstrate the phenomenon of technological "Lock-In"; important policy choices may be determined by small random events as critical points. Market selection mechanisms cannot be relied upon to optimise, whether in scale decisions or other important policy choices. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the use of plural models to go with plural rationalities in the analysis of policy issues

The drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in the supply chain. A case study.

Purpose: The paper studies the way in which a SME integrates CSR into its corporate strategy, the practices it puts in place and how its CSR strategies reflect on its suppliers and customers relations. Methodology/Research limitations: A qualitative case study methodology is used. The use of a single case study limits the generalizing capacity of these findings. Findings: The entrepreneur’s ethical beliefs and value system play a fundamental role in shaping sustainable corporate strategy. Furthermore, the type of competitive strategy selected based on innovation, quality and responsibility clearly emerges both in terms of well defined management procedures and supply chain relations as a whole aimed at involving partners in the process of sustainable innovation. Originality/value: The paper presents a SME that has devised an original innovative business model. The study pivots on the issues of innovation and eco-sustainability in a context of drivers for CRS and business ethics. These values are considered fundamental at International level; the United Nations has declared 2011 the “International Year of Forestry”

Bulletin of the University of San Diego Graduate Division 1997-1999

103 pages : illustrations, photographs ; 27.5 cmhttps://digital.sandiego.edu/coursecatalogs-grad/1018/thumbnail.jp

Risk management practices in the main industries of German small to medium-sized enterprises

The business management literature has largely neglected the theme of risk management for SMEs. So the aim of this research was to explore the current state of risk management in German SMEs and to reveal the problems which firms have with implementing a risk management system. Risk management is a relatively new discipline. Thus until now no general standard has been developed what to understand by a holistic risk management. Based on an extensive literature analysis, this study - besides risk management in the stricter sense - also sees the following components as essential for a holistic risk management: business planning and modern instruments of performance measurement. The present investigation places a special focus on these subsystems. Because of lacking empirical data a nationwide postal questionnaire has been chosen to obtain a broad picture of current risk management practices in German SMEs. A validation and further deepening of the results has been carried out by a larger number of research interviews. Derived from a comprehensive analysis of the questionnaire and the interview results, a scoring approacht o assessth e risk managements ophisticationo f SMEs has been developed. The approach does not, as usual, evaluate one single scoring figure. Insteadi t allows a differentiated assessmenbt y evaluating separates coring figures for each component of a holistic risk management system. The scoring approach presented is very transparent and thus can easily be adapted for similar research problems of risk management. Based on the scoring approach, this study introduces a new typology of risk management practices, derived from the empirical findings. It extracts three types of firms' risk management practices: reactors, defender/prospectors and analysers. The typology draws on the well-established approach of Miles and Snow who developed their types for classifying business organizations. The present study develops the Miles and Snow typology and makes it applicable for the purpose of risk management practices. Each of the three risk management types is described by its determinants with respect to the components of a holistic risk management. Then recommendations are formulated which actions a firm of the respective type should take to improve its risk managementt,h us contributing to the firm's further positive developmentEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Accountants\u27 index. Twenty-seventh supplement, January-December 1978, volume 1: A-L

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_accind/1031/thumbnail.jp