Wave Of International Mergers And Acquisitions Essays - Finance

Wave Of International Mergers And Acquisitions The wave of international mergers and acquisitions experienced in both the United States and the UK in the 1980s and 1990s is known as the fourth merger and acquisition wave. The fourth wave began just as the U.S. emerged from the recession of 1981-82, which as a result of global competition had laid bare the weaknesses of traditional American center industries. In many cases, changes in markets and technology had resulted in obsolete assets and redundant personnel. The progressive deregulation of airlines, trucking, telecommunications, and banking would also reveal excess capacity in those industries. The conglomerate boom had saddled corporations with unwieldy inefficient/under-managed operations. Massive shifts in investment away from manufacturing to services, along with energy shortages, high inflation, rising interest rates, and falling unemployment had all further contributed to the most serious crisis of confidence in the American business system since the Great Depression. P ostwar corporate profits were reaching a low point, and many of the nations biggest companies were suffering from low productivity and a widely perceived loss of managerial competence. Many of these problems were addressed by the merger and acquisition wave of the 1980s. Brief History of the Merger Waves The American economy has experienced four distinct waves of mergers during the twentieth century. The first wave may be dated approximately as having taken place between 1885 and 1905. This wave consisted predominantly of horizontal mergers. Thus in this period we have an increase in concentration in industrial markets. Mergers were particularly strong in the steel, rubber and tobacco industries. The second wave may be dated approximately as having occurred during the period 1916-30, with the peak during the late 1920s. Horizontal mergers continued to be predominant, but vertical ones and conglomerate in particular started being important. Significant merger activity took place in petroleum, primary metals and food products. The third period started in the 1940s, after the Second World War. Over that period a striking change in the form of merger took place. Horizontal and vertical mergers have declined in importance while conglomerate mergers have become predominant. Fourth Wave and the Leveraged Buyout As the conglomerate wave began to ebb, a new vehicle surfaced for giving dissatisfied shareholders an opportunity to sell their stock in underperforming assets. The tender offer enabled buyers to bypass CEOs and boards of directors to appeal directly to shareholders. Typically, a tender offer gave shareholders the opportunity to sell their shares at prices substantially above the going market value, when a buyer, seeing the potential for increasing the value of the assets, was willing to pay a premium for them. In many cases, this would spell bad news for underperforming managers, who were likely to be replaced by the new owners. In other cases, buyers might retain managers, but under new restructured agreements or understandings about how the assets would be managed. Most often, the tender offer was associated with a corporate raid, or a hostile takeover attempt, that is, one resisted by the target companys board of directors. The fourth wave was different from the previous ones in that both hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts played a significant role, stimulated by aggressive investment bankers, corporate raiders, and heightened shareholder activism. The fourth wave was also characterized by increasing foreign participation, especially following the relative decline in the value of the dollar and the reduction of federal taxes on capital gains in 1986. During the merger and acquisition boom of the 1980s, leveraged buyouts spurred a dual revolution in the American economy- one in corporate finance, another in corporate governance- that profoundly altered the patterns of managerial power and behaviour. They not only substantially improved the worth of specific firms, they also helped to change the ways in which business in general though about debt, governance, and value creation. In order to succeed, they usually required drastic reforms in operations, reallocations of capital, and dislocations of personnel. They aroused the anger of numerous interests- from corporate executives to labor unions, from local communities to bondholders- whose power, status, jobs, and other economic interests were affected by the restructurings. It should be no surprise, then, that the leveraged buyout was denounced in many quarters as just another unproductive, dangerous financial scheme. A leveraged buyout in its

Social Work Practice Essays

Social Work Practice Essays Social Work Practice Essay Social Work Practice Essay Two Perspectives of Engagement with Clients One thing that makes social work stand out from other professions is the relationship that a social worker builds with their client. It is an important factor but can also be very challenging at times. There are several stages to the social work treatment process. Those stages include; engagement, assessment, intervention, and termination (USC VAC, 2013). It is vital that a social worker begin to develop a relationship with their client during their first session and build on that relationship over time.The treatment stage in which a social worker can initiate the development of a relationship with their client is in the engagement stage, which serves as the foundation for the rest of the sessions to come. One thing to consider as a social worker is to be able to identify with your clients. The best way to do that is to be aware of your own cultural values, beliefs and preferences you hold and also how you would want a social worker to interact with you. Being a self-aware social worker is imperative so that you can keep from bringing you own thoughts and ideas into the treatment plan for your client.Understanding and knowing where you stand on certain issues important thing to be conscious of so that you know what to separate yourself from while trying to build rapport with a client. If I Were the Client As a beginning social worker it is important for me to be aware of my own personal values and beliefs and also think about how I would like to be treated as client by a social worker during the engagement phase. Seeking help for emotional issues is always hard to do no matter how accepting you are of the mental health processes.Building a rapport with my social worker and establishing trust are essential to me in the beginning stages phases of my treatment. I want to feel as if my social worker truly cares about why I am there As a black, female client, working with a hypothetical white, male therapist one thing that would be very important for my social worker to be aware of is where I come from and how my environment might influence my treatment process. I need to my social worker to work with me in finding solutions to the problems I am facing.Utilizing the ecological perspective during my treatment would be very beneficial to getting the root of the problem. I would feel that my social worker does not only care about my treatment but is an advocate in helping to achieve that change. According to McKay et al (1996), the ecological perspective consists of four critical elements; (1) clarifying the helping process, which is the social worker introducing themselves to me and explaining the treatment process and making sure I understand exactly what the process is, (McKay et al (1996) p. 465). 2) Developing the foundation for a collaborative working environment which would include finding a balance between the information needed to obtain the appropriate intake information and allowing me, the client, to tell my story of why I am there in the first place, (McKay et al (1996) p. 465). (3) Focus on immediate, practical concerns; this would mean that my social worker is prepared to respond to crisis situations, negotiate with other systems that may be a barrier of some kind to my treatment and be able to respond to any presenting concerns, (McKa y et al (1996) p. 65). I need to feel as though my social worker is just as active in my treatment as I am and is providing all the resources and help they can give. Lastly, (4) Identify and problem- solve around barriers to help seeking, (McKay et al (1996) p. 465). It would be important for my social worker to know if I have been in therapy before what that experience was for me; whether it was negative or not. It would be easier for me to trust my therapist when they are knowledgeable of all of my obstacles; whether they are personal or environmental.For example, one thing that would be vital for my white, male therapist to explore and understand before working with me is the obstacles I may face just by being a black female. It is important for me to feel as though my social worker really values my thoughts, opinions and feelings. One way to do that would the social workers ability to empathize with me. Empathy is the act of perceiving, understanding, experiencing, and respondin g to the emotional state and ideas of another person, (Gerdes amp; Segal, 2011, p. 41). Even if my social worker does not share the same views as me, being able to see things from my perspective and genuinely understand where I come from is the most important quality my social worker can bring to the table when working with me. According to Gerdes amp; Segal (2011), there are two main components to empathy; emotional empathy and expressed cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy is the ability to be affected by the clients’ emotions, (Gerdes amp; Segal, 2011, p. 141).Although I do not want my social worker to be as distressed as I am, I need to know that they are not an emotional robot and they can see why I am experiencing the emotions I am experiencing. Expressed cognitive empathy is the translation of such feelings into words, (Gerdes amp; Segal, 2011, p. 141). By my social worker being able to verbalize with me that they comprehend my emotional state of mind, that would relie ve a lot of anxiety for me just knowing that what I am feeling is not so far-fetched and that it can be understood by a complete stranger.If I Were the Social Worker Let’s envision a Chinese – American female named Kim Le, who lives in San Diego is coming to meet me; her therapist, for the first time. Kim Le is 17 years old, a senior in high school and is the first generation in her family to be born in the United States. While working with Kim Le, it would be essential for me to be culturally competent. Being culturally competent will allow me to provide care that serves her social, cultural and linguistic needs, (Buckley, T. B. , 2012).Understanding Kim Le’s culturally background is essential in developing a treatment plan and establishing trust with her. Being the first generation to be born in the United States is a barrier that she and I would have work through. It is common for a social worker to acknowledge our own barriers to intercultural understanding, (Buckley, T. B. , 2012). Another to consider while working with Kim Le is to acknowledge the cultural influence on her desire to seek therapy. Chinese cultures are more likely to try home remedies to deal with illness which may also include mental health.If her social worker felt that Kim Le needed mood stabilizing medications it would be important to explore natural ways of obtaining the same results or at least understand why Kim Le might object to the medications. Along with being understood culturally, it would be essential for me as Kim Le’s social worker to evaluate her levels of anxiety and self- confidence. It seems logically to assume that she may be feeling such a way for coming into therapy for the first time and also having a multicultural background. One way for me to explore these emotions with Kim Le would be to use sustaining procedures.According to Woods and Hollis (2000), sustainment can be used to reduce feelings on anxiety or lack of self-confidence. The idea of sustainment is for a social worker to openly express their confidence and esteem for the client. (Woods amp; Hollis, 2000, p. 131). Exploring the nature of the clients difficulties, (Woods amp; Hollis, 2000, p. 131) is a dynamic step in developing a rapport with the client. By trying to figure out what is going on with the client and working together on the problem shows the client that they are values as a person and that the social worker cares about them as a person as well as their treatment process.Sustainment can also be beneficial to use when dealing with multicultural client like Kim Le. By understanding her background and sympathizing with the difficulties of being a minority that can help reduce the anxiety she is feeling about being in therapy. It is common knowledge that the Asian cultural has very specific social etiquettes that differ significantly from that of the American culture. By being aware of different cultural groups meanings to certain non-verbal beha viors, (Hepworth et al, 2012, p. 166) it can help eliminate counterproductive communication patterns.The first step a social worker can do to make sure that they are not silently offending their clients is by simply being aware of their non-verbal behaviors. For example, if I were a male therapist, it might be considered disrespectful if I looked Kim Le directly in her eyes during our session. So I would need to be aware of where I was looking so that Kim Le could remain as comfortable as possible. Differences and Similarities One similarity I can see between me and Kim Le as the client is that we are both minorities and have certain barriers to deal with because of our ethnicity.Our therapist must be cultural competent and aware of our ethnic differences to be able to work with us effectively, and to be able to gain our trust. It is important for us to have social worker to be empathetic of our situation when it comes to dealing with the obstacle our ethnicities gives us. One big d ifference is that, even though we are both minorities, she is the first generation of her family to be born in the United States. Our cultures differ tremendously because I am very much American in my culture and spiritual practices while Kim Le probably does not even speak English at home with her family.Although that difference may seem minuet it is significant enough for a social worker to consider when working with individuals with those differences. For Kim Le, she not only has to deal with being Chinese in America, but she also has to deal with being American in a Chinese household. I do not have to deal with that duel cultural identity. For a social worker is important to see those little differences between their clients and be able to understand them and work with them. It shows the client how invested you are in their care and it also makes you a well-rounded social worker.