Saturday, February 22, 2020

Acquisition strategies in the plastic pipes industry - the case of Dissertation

Acquisition strategies in the plastic pipes industry - the case of Wavin Group - Dissertation Example One of the most important challenges for modern organizations has been the identification of the strategies that can help towards the stabilization of the organizational performance – either in the short or the long firm. Acquisitions have been proved an effective strategic tool for the support of a firm’s position in its market. However, the success of acquisitions is not always guaranteed; there is always the risk of failures especially if the relevant plans are not well designed or in case they are not effectively executed. For this reason, it would be wise for strategic managers to use acquisitions along with other strategic options in order to secure the stabilization (at a first level) and the growth of a particular organization. An indicative example of such methodology is the strategic framework used by AXA (Consultancy Firm) when handling the re-structuring of PWPipe – a leading firm in the plastic pipes industry of USA; in the case of PWPipe the consult ants of AXA decided to implement primarily a series of strategies for supporting the firm’s existing operations – this was mainly achieved through the update of the firm’s IT systems; at the next level, acquisitions were used in order to stabilize the firm’s growth (AMX International, 2011). The proposed study focuses on the use of acquisitions as strategic option by firms in the plastic pipes industry; reference is particularly made to Wavin Group, a key player in the global plastic pipes industry.... h firm, aiming to increase its influence within the global market (Builders Merchant Journal, 2007, Wavin Labko, 2008); in 2010, the expansion of the firm was continued through the acquisition of the Swedish firm KWH Pipe (European Plastic News, 2010). It is made clear that acquisitions has been extensively used by Wavin Group in order to improve its position in the global market; in accordance with ‘Michael Del Pero - vice president in FocalPoint Partners LLC - a lot of plastics M&A announcements were expected in the second half of 2010 because of the tax changes in USA’ (Esposito, 2010). However, in the case of Wavin, the tax rules cannot be considered as the only criterion for choosing acquisitions as a key strategic option – taking into consideration the firm’s relevant activities in the last decade, as explained above. In any case, the plastic pipes industry is a prominent market sector; in fact, in accordance with a relevant report, the specific indus try is expected ‘to advance at the fastest pace up to 2014’ (Bombourg, 2010). The identification of the potentials of acquisitions to support the further growth of the particular industry would be particularly important indicating the potential value of the specific strategic option for firms operating in other industries – which face severe pressures due to the expansion of the globalization and the recession. C. Literature Review The use of acquisitions as a strategy for achieving a continuous growth or for facing the strong market pressures has become a common phenomenon the last three decades (Hitt et al. 2009, 183). In practice, acquisitions can be described as ‘the use of cash outflows for purchasing the net assets or property plant, and equipment of the acquired business’ (Tortiorello 2008,

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Social capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social capital - Essay Example 42) and intricacy and complexity associated with the word has not been reduced since then. But William Sewell (2008, p. 42) goes on to explain that culture is that part of the social life that needs to be separated from the actual human existence constituting economics, biology or politics. The concept culture has itself intrigued our lives and is the most crucial component of human existence yet its constituting elements are different for the people living in the different areas of the world. We are all identified and recognized by our culture we have adopted while living in our own family, society and even our country. Mathew Arnold, the nineteenth century poet and essayist, used the term culture to speak about as model of individual human refinement as he opined that culture means, â€Å"the best that has been thought and said in the world† (1999, p. 190). This conceptual analysis of this culture is quite similar to the German concept of the term bildung (Arnold 1999, p. 19 0). In other words it is an attempt to achieve total precision and a way of knowing others on the matters which are of deep concern to us. Yet the word itself is shrouded in the most debacle position as different propounders, anthropologists and even socialists are explaining the term in different contexts. They go on to the extent of explaining culture as a part of a science as it is associated with the human evolution, while others suggest that it germinates in the minds of the individuals who are more and more linked to their ancestral roots. Cultural socialists felt the necessity to show that culture has an impact on the upbringing of the children and to gain their identity and recognition in the society. This allowed many to formulate the culture as assortment of different items whose impact on the behavior can be scrupulously compared to that of standard sociological variables like class, gender, ethnicity, economic interest and level of education (Sewell 2008, p. 45). It was thus assumed that culture as a system of symbols and meanings defined by Weberian, Parsonian and Durkheimian as ambiguous rather metaphorically it’s a collection of tools understood as a way of carrying out combined activities in the society (Sewell 2008, p. 45). In the United Kingdom, Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams and other scholars as well as sociologists greatly influenced by Marxism formed cultural studies, and connected the culture with consumer goods and services and leisure activities like music, film, art, food, sports etc. It is the various means of production that determine the class relations and how the goods and services are consumed by the large number of people. The term â€Å"cultural studies† was first coined in 1964 by Richard Hoggart when Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies was founded by him in Birmingham. Since then it has been associated with Stuart Hall as he became the next director after Hoggart (Munt 2000, p.4). In United States of Americ a, the terms culture and cultural studies connote the study of the popular culture (Munt 2000, p. 6), in other words, it is the way people feel themselves associated and share voices and ideas and about the things we make use of in the daily life. Today what constitutes culture is the way we live, eat, wear, behave in the