Horizontal Vs Vertical Integration

This case study examines the proposed merger of Vulcan Materials and Martin Marietta both providers of construction aggregates. A stock-for-stock merger had the potential of making the company a global leader in construction materials, but was marred by disagreements over executive succession, location of new headquarters and the stock exchange proposed by Martin Marietta. Furthermore, as negotiations deteriorated Martin Marietta attempted a hostile takeover of Vulcan and also tried to get its directors appointed to

Growing through integration is concerned with mergers and takeovers of businesses. There are a number of different ways of integrating: Horizontal (same industry, same stage of production), backward vertical (same industry towards a supplier), forward vertical (same industry towards the customer) and Conglomerate (different industries).

2. He did not know anyone at The University of Mississippi when he arrived, however he was given the choice and the opportunity to go to the school.

What driving forces do you see at work in this industry? Are they likely to impact the industry’s competitive structure favorably or unfavorably? (Did we answer this question?)

In America, the land of the free, people believe that it’s the greatest place to be. And America would probably be what everyone believes, but it has a very serious problem that could eventually destroy the country as whole. America is built upon Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but it has a strong equality issue that has to be taken care of. Equality is a social contract in America and unfortunately it is a broken one. A social contract is an agreement amongst the members of a society, but equality is a serious issue. Equality poses the biggest problem to America simply because in any country the people make the country, and if the people can’t get along either internal conflicts occur, or people eventually leave. Throughout America everyone regardless of race, color, or sexual orientation has experienced inequality in some part of America. Words are exchanged, fists are thrown, and in serious cases lives are lost because people are racists to one another. Equality is a broken social contract in America that will eventually be its demise if not attended to.

Of these 212 firms, only 156 of these mergers had compustat data on acquirer’s past and future R&D intensity. R&D intensity is derived by dividing the R&D by the total revenues of the firm. After consolidating these 156 mergers we determined which mergers saw a positive change in R&D intensity. Of the 156, 102 mergers saw a positive change in R&D intensity. From this point on we will focus only on these positive changes in R&D intensity and look at how CARs relate to them. The main objective is to look at the sign of the CARs not the magnitude, meaning is the CAR negative or positive, not big or

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories told by pilgrims on their trip to Canterbury. The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Medieval Times. In Medieval Times women were only seen as being wives who had to obey to men. This is different from how women are perceived today. Women are now known as more than wives.

The threat of entry of the supermarket industry in US is low, which base on the analysis of the three major sources that related to the entry barriers. The first barrier is the economies of scale of the existing large supermarkets. When these incumbents achieved larger volume sales, they can have lower unit costs than new entrants, and it will very difficult for those new entrants to compete with them (Johnson, Whittington, &Scholes 2011). For example, Wal-Mart had invested in innovative procurement, automated distribution centre and bar coding to increase its economies of scale, and these investments created a great barriers for new small retailers to enter into the supermarket industry (Porter 2008). The second barrier is the incumbency advantages, which mean the incumbents established their own strengths that cannot be used by competitors (Porter 2008). For example, the top ten supermarkets in US have accumulated extensive experiences on how to run their businesses more efficiently than new entrants (Johnson, Whittington, &Scholes 2011). The subtle differentiation between the products that sold in supermarkets is the third barrier for new entrants. Because most of the product assortment is same or similar between each supermarket,

activities. The industry is already vertically integrated to some extent. They also deal with similar suppliers

Coming out of the first year of the merger, what new opportunities should the new “Defining Entity” pursue in order to grow business?

Paulson E. (2001). “Inside Cisco: The real story of sustained M&A growth”, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

When it comes to the impact of the Five Forces of Competition and its effect on the performance of Staples and Office Depot, there does not appear to be a strong threat of new entrants in the big-box retail office supply segment of the industry. It seems unlikely that anyone will want to open a new office supply store. While there is a level of service differentiation between the two companies, there is little product differentiation between the two. Likewise, there would be little product differentiation from a new competitor. The threat of substitutes comes into play between Staples and Office Depot in that both companies offer basically the same products. If the customer can’t get what he wants at one store, he can go to the other. Likewise, if the customer becomes disenfranchised with one company for whatever reason, he can easily go to the other company. There doesn’t seem to be much bargaining power of customers or suppliers. There does seems to be a strong industry rivalry which, as with most industries, is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry.

The previous arrangement followed by Marks and Spencer demonstrates the concept of hierarchical structure, however in the last five years, due to a rise in their competitors within in the retail industry in the UK, their strategies have now become more focused on innovation and customer service’s quality. Therefore, their tall structure was redefined to adapt to these changes.

The global supply chain in the retail industry has witnessed changes and shifts which have led to opportunities and challenges for the involved players. This has occasioned shifts in trade and consumer behavior patterns. Among these are global growth patterns brought about by explosion of more cities and thus growth in infrastructure. There have been flexible supply chain trends which have enabled retail operators to adapt effectively to unexpected circumstances and changes. Moreover, globalization has changed the way retail supply chain is managed as more mature markets emerge to provide logistic and standard solution needs of the businesses. Conversely, near-shoring has

Companies in the retail industry operate in a high price elasticity environment as there is not much product differentiation to leverage. Buyers face almost no switching cost if they chose a substitute offering better value. On the contrary, large and diverse population making small purchases works in favor of the industry. No one individual or a small group has the power to significantly impact the industry, but overall buyers enjoy have a high bargaining power in the industry.