Theme: Mergers & Acquisitions
Features
Gerry Schwartz, Chairman, CEO, Onex Corporation
By Ed Pearce
Since he started the company in1983, Chairman and CEO Gerry Schwartz has
built Onex Corporation into a diversified, Canadian-controlled company
with revenues of $15 billion and 83,000 employees worldwide. In this
wide-ranging Business Journal interview, Mr. Schwartz describes his
strategies for acquiring a company, for managing and operating it and for
creating shareholder value in every company under the Onex umbrella. A
frequent commentator on issues of national importance, Mr. Schwartz also
offers his opinions on topics as varied as the future of the Canadian
economy; the ability of the education system to train Canadian young
people properly; Onexıs failure to win Canadian Airlines and his choice
for the man best suited to be Prime Minister of Canada. Reprint # TD009B09
An interview with Charles Handy (Part Two)
By Carl Honore
In the second of this two-part interview with Ivey Business Journal, one
of the worldıs leading management thinkers outlines his radical idea of
the model corporation (one in which power is held by others than just
shareholders and financiers, employees, for example) and his unorthodox
views on business leadership today. One of the founders of the London
Business School also discusses why organizations fail, both in the
particular market in which they compete, and in their inability to provide
a challenging, stimulating environment for employees. On a more positive
note, Mr. Handy also explains why the business organization is the
greatest innovator today. Reprint # 9B00TD05
Antitrust: A threat to mergers and acquisitions?
By David Conklin and Peter Pocklington Jr.
Both domestic and global environments have become less and less favourable
to M&As and more and more likely to scrutinize them and their potential
impact on markets and consumers. Obstructionist - or at least impeding - legislation and increasingly wary lawmakers are so common today that itıs
quite reasonable to ask if antitrust laws and sentiments are really threats to mergers and acquisitions. In this comprehensive,
well-documented article, Ivey Professor David W. Conklin and MBA student Peter H. Pocklington Jr. lay out seven factors that are having an impact
on antitrust decisions today. The two authors discuss what corporations hoping to merge or acquire can anticipate from both governments and
citizens, and what business might do in response.
Reprint # 9B00TD13
Case study: The Wall Street Journal: Print vs. Interactive
By Amy Hillman
The focus of this Ivey case study is the dilemma facing many bricks and mortar companies with well-known brands: How to develop and launch an
electronic brand without cannibalizing their older, established brand? As executives of one of the worldıs best-known newspapers, The Wall Street
Journal, analyzed the audiences for their existing newsprint product and their proposed, interactive Journal, they knew they would have to come up
with strategy that preclude a marketing war and ensure the peaceful and prosperous co-existence
of the two formats. Strategies are suggested by commentators Tim E. Macdonald, of
A.T. Kearney and Malcolm C. Smith, an
Associate Professor at the I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba.
Doing it right
By Robert G. Cooper
Only about five percent of new products launched today will be successes in the marketplace, which is why this article is an extremely valuable
resource for marketing and product development people. McMaster University
Professor Robert C, Cooper has conducted consderable research on what the winners do different. In this article, he outlines the
ten critical success factors for launching a new product and briefly explains how to
implement each one. Professor Cooper also describes how to build these ten
factors into a new-product game plan, the Stage-Gate Process. In the second part of his article, professor cooper explains how
corporations can effectively invest its R&D and new-product resources.
Reprint #9B00TD02
If One Goes Wrong, Will the Other Follow?
By Claude Lanfranconi and Christine Wiedman
Accounting regulations distinguish between operating and capital leases, but standard setters
in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. have proposed to
eliminate the distinction. How will the proposal, if successful, affect how companies finance their businesses? This key question and the
potential impact of a new standard are discussed in this article by Ivey professors Claude Lanfranconi and Christine
Wiedman. The authors
also discuss how companies may recat to a new standard and recommend what companies can do
to prepare for the introduction of a new standard and the consequences of it. Reprint# 9B00TD03
A Match Made in Heaven?
By Jay Anand
The hype and glory surrounding mergers and acquisitions is often so loud that very often, scant
attention is paid to the underlying, sometimes uncomfortable truths. In fact, myths about M&AS
abound and they are laid bare and explained in this article by University of Michigan Business
School professor Jay Anand. Professor Anand lays bare ten myths ranging from the belief that
most acquisitions improve performance to the widely held belief that stock transactions are better than cash deals. In the
second half of his article, Professor Anand offers managers valuable advice
on the building blocks of any successful merger or acquisition.
Reprint # 9B00TD12
A Guide for Directors
By James E.A. Turner
Though deeply experienced in running a business, members of boards of directors are often less
knowledgeable - and vulnerable to - about their legal responsibilities as a director of a target
company. In this article, James E.A. Turner, a senior partner at the law firm of
Torys, outlines a
directorıs liability in the event of a takeover, particularly a hostile one, and how that director
should conduct him or herself. Among Mr. Turnerıs recommendations? Act on an informed basis with
the advice of outside experts and consider any and all conflicts of interests. These and
other questions are important, for as Mr. Turner points out, there are no clear answers to the hardest decisions. Reprint #9B00TD10
Departments
Headstart
Todayıs Board and the Academic Option
By Michael Maher and Malcolm Carlyle Munro
Most corporate boards have few academics on them, but argue these two professors, an
academic can add a very important dimension and perspective, and knowledge, to a board.
Professors Maher and Maher, of the University of Calgary, first describe the usual composition of a
board and then detail the specific benefits and value that an academic would
deliver.
Reprint #9B00TD07
Five Lies About e-business
By Michael Parent
A day doesnıt pass today with at least one article or TV report about Canadiansı great love affair
with the Web. But the hype, argues Ivey Professor Michael Parent, is mostly lies, so much so that businesses and
consumers better stop believing those lies if they donıt want to fall behind other
countries. The most blatant lies? Canadians like to shop on the Web (in fact, only 9 percent of
Canadian households made online purchases in 1999) and the future belongs to the young (few e-businesses
succeed with a senior manager and venture capitalist).
Reprint #9B00TD04.
The End of Pooling Envy
By Claude P. Lanfranconi and Darroch A. Robertson
Canadian business, argue Ivey professors Lanfranconi and Robertson, suffer
from pooling envy, especially compared to firms in the U.S., who have the option and freedom of using the more favourable pooling-of-interest
alternative. Ironically, however, Canadian companies will soon be allowed to use pooling, especially when acquiring a company, when at the same
time, American companies will be denied the opportunity to use it. Yet the
elimination of pooling will have a serious impact on financial managers. Just how those managers will behave is discussed in this timely article.
Reprint #9B00TD011
Diversity
By Trevor Wilson
Under-representation of visible minorities in senior positions in Canadaıs
workforce is a serious problem. In 1999, for example, one-third of visible
minorities in the federal government reported that they had experienced discrimination in their work
unit - almost double the average reported for public servants overall. In this article, diversity consultant and
strategist Trevor Wilson says that this is unacceptable - that the government must create a
federal public service that truly reflects and values the contributions of all
Canadians.
Reprint # 9B00TD14
Asian Influence
Sonyıs Nakamura on Structure and Decision Making
By Paul W. Beamish
Sony Corporation is respected around the world as much for its management style as for its
innovation and the sleek look of its products. In this rare interview with the director of Sonyıs Core
technology and Network Company, Ivey professor Paul W. Beamish takes readers inside the soul and
nerve centre of one of the worldıs most admired and envied corporations. The results are insights into Sonyıs passion for excellence, innovation
and marketing savvy.
Reprint # 9B00TD08
Viewpoint
By John S. McCallum
It may be the best of times now, but a strong dose of economic bad news could turn it into the worst of
times, says regular contributor and University of Manitoba economist John S. McCallum. What
could go wrong that would tilt the high-flying Canadian economy? For starters, there is
the potential serious impact of a U.S. slowdown and debt-burdened citizens
and businesses. These and other not-so-cheerful scenarios - and their likelihood, are discussed, as usual, in his
distinctive writing style, by professor McCallum. Reprint # 9B00TD01
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