Assessment Centre Case Study 'University Reunion' Essay

Assessment Centre Case Study 'University Reunion' - Essay Example The major reason companies or businesses merge is to reduce or save on the production cost especially in the case of former competitors, generate capital for entering into the markets or launching products, and possessing technical knowledge and complementary practice needed to compete effectively in the market. (Sanders, 2012) Acquisitions and merger The term merger and acquisitions are usually used by several people as if they are synonyms of each other, but a slight difference exists between the two terms. According to Investopedia (2011), when a single company takes over another company and establishes itself clearly as the new owner, the sale or purchase is referred to as acquisition e.g. Panflow acquiring the Vatline Company. The force that allows for new business enhanced cost efficiencies is known as synergy. Synergy assumes the form of cost savings and revenue enhancement. When the companies merge, they hope to benefit from four major ways, which are also the ones that may g enerate issues if not handled well. These areas are economies of scale, acquisition of new technology, staff reductions, and improvement of industry visibility and market reach. Business issues The subject of employees is usually handled as a minor business issue while it has a huge role to play in the success of the merger or acquisition. John Reh (2012) refers to this issue as merger mania, and advocates for a successful management of people to achieve a successful merger. Bersin & Advocates (2010) supports this idea by presenting it from the perspective of HR consulting and outsourcing. The main reasons for a company acquiring another or merging are critical to the solutions of the business issues that may arise due to the company acquisition. Identifying the strategic reasons why Panflow acquired Vatline aids in concentrating on the synergies that Panflow may require for success. Common strategic reasons or objectives for acquisitions that range from complementary market and pro ducts, acquisition of key technology, gaining creative talent (from Vatline), and eliminating competitor are important in determining the solutions to the business issues. (Daunt, 2002: p.2) Merger pitfalls Gitelson et al (2001) identifies seven key areas that any merger needs to look into from the beginning in order to ensure success. These areas or pitfalls are preoccupation, list-making, organizational proliferation, irrelevant and infrequent communication, triangulation, relatives, and the guiding light. Technical issues The idea of merging organizations or companies always requires the technological integration between the two companies. Vatline and Panflow are utilizing different software and hardware platforms and making the same business units to function as one the companies require a technology in place that would enable the different systems to communicate at a machine level. (William, 2004) The easier way to attain this is for one group to migrate to the same technology functions as the other. The manner that should be followed in selecting the best technological platform to use would be considering the technological superiority of one of the systems over the other. Apart from the superiority of the technology, the major issue is supposed to be the ease at which the transition from one system to another would be achieved from the procedure, organizational structure, and