The Effects of Airline Mergers on Consumers' Perceptions of Services and Behavioral Responses

Prior literature focuses on customer satisfaction in the airline industry, while research on consumers' perceptions and behavioral responses to airline mergers is limited and understudied. This paper conducts a field survey on the merger between United and Continental Airlines to examine the effects of an airline merger on passenger satisfaction, service value, and behavioral intentions through perceived service quality. Data were collected from airline passengers arriving at three US airports in two phases: before and after the merger across a period of four years. The results show a noticeable increase in customer satisfaction and positive behavioral responses with the postmerger United Airlines due to the perceived improvement in service quality. This study provides insights into the role of airline mergers in improving customer satisfaction, implications for airline managers, and directions for future research.     

Sequential Mergers and Antitrust Authority’s Decisions in Stackelberg Markets

This paper analyses a sequential merger formation game in a setting where: (i) firms compete à la Stackelberg; (ii) mergers may give rise to endogenous efficiency gains; and (iii) every merger has to be submitted for approval to the Antitrust Authority (AA). Two different types of AA are studied: first, we assume a myopic AA, which accepts or rejects a given merger without considering that this merger may be followed by other mergers; and, second, a forward looking AA, which anticipates the final industry structure a merger will give rise to, if approved. We conclude that these two types of AA adopt similar decisions whenever a merger would not trigger the exit of outsider firms. Their decisions are, however, shown to be very different when evaluating exit-inducing merger proposals.     

Do Depositors Benefit from Bank Mergers? An Examination of the UK Deposit Market

This study examines whether depositors benefit from bank mergers Specifically, do horizontal retail bank mergers influence the availability and interest rates of deposit services? This examination is important, as the effect of mergers on customers is a primary merger assessment criterion in the European Union and the United States. The research question is addressed by considering 57 UK banking mergers over the period 1989–2008. It is reported that different deposit services and deposits of different values face statistically insignificant levels of interest-rate change after mergers. The availability of notice deposit services for low and high levels of investment are reduced after mergers and are largely unchanged for other deposit services. It is concluded that UK depositors benefit little from bank mergers, and different types of depositor face differences in the availability of deposit services after mergers.     

Horizontal mergers under uniform resource constraints

Resource constraints have a vertical influence on a firm's competition and it is important to address the issue of horizontal mergers with scarce resources. This article highlights the effects of uniform resource constraints on horizontal mergers with game theory methods. First, the threshold values for the firms to accept the merger, increasing consumer surplus, and increasing social welfare are presented and compared. Second, the threshold value to merge for consumer surplus maximization is larger than that for profit incentive mergers without resource constraints. Thus, under unbinding resource industries, mergers reduce consumer surplus and it is necessary to implement antitrust. Third, resource constraints deter mergers. Finally, under binding capacity (or resource) constraints, the threshold value for firms to merge is larger than that for the social optimality. Therefore, industries with scare resource should avoid antitrust.     

多晶硅行业并购动机及其后果分析

由于多晶硅等新兴产业出现重复建设的倾向,产能过剩的警钟已经敲响,产业链整合成为多晶硅行业健康发展的需要。以保利协鑫能源控股有限公司2009-2010年两次并购事件为例,研究保利协鑫并购产生的财富效应,在总结案例的基础上梳理出我国多晶硅生产企业并购实现规模化的经验,得出一些有价值的启示。     

Merger Patterns in the European Food Supply Chain

This paper investigates merger activity in the food supply chain in Europe as a whole, with an emphasis upon eight individual countries that were most merger active. It finds that M&A activity (vertical, horizontal, inward, and outward) has been substantial in both the production and distribution parts of the supply chain. Using spectral analysis, it also concludes that: (i) there are regular cyclical patterns in merger activity in seven of the eight countries; (ii) most countries exhibit strong coherency with overall EU merger activity in the food industry; (iii) the relative cyclical pattern of mergers in food manufacturing and retailing varies country to country; (iv) there is some evidence that mergers in manufacturing lead or Granger cause mergers in retailing; and (iv) patterns of merger activity in each of the countries studied (except for the UK and the Netherlands) are linked, at least in part, to business and capital market cycles.     

Empirical Analysis of the Assessment of Innovation Effects in U.S. Merger Cases

In merger policy it is still an open question how the negative effects of mergers on innovation should be assessed. In this empirical study all mergers that were challenged by the U.S. antitrust agencies FTC and DOJ between 1995 and 2008 were analyzed in regard to the question to what extent and how the agencies assessed the innovation effects of mergers. The study also contributes to the discussion about differences and convergence in the merger assessments of the two agencies FTC and DOJ. Our results show (1) that in one third of all challenged mergers also innovation concerns have been raised (with no significant differences between the agencies). (2) Despite the wide-spread rejection of the “innovation market approach” in the antitrust debate the agencies used more often an innovation-specific assessment approach that includes also innovation in the market definition than the traditional product market concept. (3) Overall, we found both significant similarities and differences as well as some convergence over time in regard to the specifics of the assessment of innovation effects of mergers between both agencies.     

基于中国视角的跨国并购现状与风险分析

公司并购是一种有效的经济增长机制和一种产业经济结构调整的机制。但众所周知,并购有风险。国内外企业的并购不乏成功案例,更不缺失败的例子。2005年联想正式宣布完成收购IBM全球PC业务,进过了一系列的融合,现今已经成为了一个极具代表性的成功跨国并购案例。而失败的案例也是不甚枚举,2004年10月,上海汽车斥资5900亿韩元(当时折合约5亿美元)收购双龙汽车48.92%股权(后增持至51.3%)。但四年后,韩国双龙进入回生程序,上海汽车正式退出双龙汽车的经营管理。上汽为此付出了惨痛的代价。因此,在现今中国企业积极走出去的大背景下,对跨国并购的风险进行一定的分析显得具有一定的现实意义。本文通过对我国企业跨国并购的现状与风险进行分析,并通过分析提出一些跨国收购的风险管理的建议。     

Impact of Horizontal Mergers on Research & Development and Patenting: Evidence from Merger Challenges in the U.S.

This paper contributes further empirical evidence on the effects of mergers on innovation using company level data. Evidence on this issue has implications for the relationship between innovation and market concentration. Our departure from previous work is that we focus on a sample of horizontal mergers whose market concentration impacts were flagged by U.S. antitrust authorities as potentially posing a problem for antitrust law compliance. We employ propensity score matching and difference-in-differences estimation to compare the innovation activities of challenged and non-challenged merger firms to a control group of non-merged firms. We use R&D, patent grants, and citation-weighted patent grants to measure the innovation activities of firms before and after a merger. Our results indicate that the post-merger innovation outcomes of firms whose mergers were challenged are lower than they would have been had the firms not merged. But for non-challenged mergers, or mergers that do not raise concerns about market concentration, post-merger innovation outcomes are not significantly different from what they would have been without a merger.     

企业合并会计方法选择的经济后果分析

根据我国现行《企业会计准则》的规定,企业合并的会计处理方法原则上分别采用权益结合法和购买法进行会计处理。企业合并对会计方法的选择差异将会带来不同的会计后果,如果产生盈余管理的动机,则会利用会计方法的差异进行利润操纵。为了防止企业的这种行为,相关部门有必要出台相关政策予以完善,即以政策性规定或条文的形式,严格维护购买法和权益结合法的互斥关系;提高公允价值评估机构的获准入行的标准,确保公允价值评估的准确性和可信度;强化从业人员的专业胜任能力;对相关政策或准则规定有冲突的地方进行适当的修订。     

Capital Structure and Mergers: Retrospective Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This analysis evaluates the impact of corporate debt in influencing mergers of local exchange companies in the United States telecommunications industry between 1988 and 2001. Firms’ financial structures significantly affect behavior and performance; yet no evidence has shown how firms’ financial structures influence their merger activities. The impact of corporate debt levels on the various mergers that took place during the merger wave in the sector is significantly negative for the first set of mergers carried out, and significantly negative, but with smaller impact, for the second set of mergers. The results support the idea that firms with high debt levels can be monitored carefully, precluding engagement in potentially-risky mergers so as to not engender negative financial outcomes.     

基于Bertrand模型的横向兼并单边效应分析

刻画横向兼并的基准模型一般为Bertrand模型,通过对无效率改进情形下两厂商横向兼并的价格效应建模分析和测算可知,将价格维持在兼并前的均衡价格水平所需的边际成本下降幅度与两种产品的边际利润率和分流率成正比,同时可以得到对称条件下不同的分流率和边际利润率所需的效率改进程度。     

Small firms and the merger mania

Empirical research has found an average or even superior performance of small firms. This seems to be at variance with the secular concentration process and the recurrent merger waves. This paper tries to integrate size and merger research. Higher profitability of small firms is explained by their incentive structure and shorter decision lags but also by lower wages and higher individual risk (premia). Their faster growth in the eighties was, in addition, fostered by diversification of demand, miniaturization of technology, and a need for flexibility under uncertainty. The merger wave on the other hand does not necessarily prove that large firms are superior. Managers and shareholders may be seduced by stockmarket optimism, a sizeable industry of banks, agents and lawyers have their own interests in mergers, mergers may be important in declining markets and for the acquisition of technology. On average, mergers do not improve efficiency, profits or internal growth. Small and large firms serve different purposes. Performance depends on the market, incentives and technology. The establishment, growth and closure of small firms as well as mergers are attempts to find the optimal organization for utility maximization in a world of severe uncertainty and diverse needs.     

The Effects of Market Concentration and Horizontal Mergers on Hospital Costs and Prices

Antitrust advocates believe that horizontal consolidation in hospital markets can reduce competition and increase prices while merger advocates believe it can benefit consumers by reducing service duplication. This study analyzed the market conditions, operating characteristics, and costs and prices of approximately 3500 short-term general hospitals (including 112 within-market-area mergers) from 1986 to 1994 to investigate the effects of market concentration, hospital mergers, and managed care penetration. The results show: a shift away from non-price competition toward price competition in health care markets; that this shift was fueled by increased market penetration by price-sensitive buyers; that horizontal hospital mergers produced average cost savings of approximately 5%, which were generally passed on to consumers as lower prices; that cost savings were generally greater for mergers of similar-size hospitals, with a higher degree of duplicative services, and with lower pre-merger occupancy rates; and some evidence that post-merger price reductions were smaller in less-competitive markets.     

Socially responsible mutual fund exit decisions

This paper studies, for the first time, socially responsible (SR) mutual fund exits. We analyse a sample of 534 U.S. SR equity mutual funds in the period 2003–2017, in which 182 exit events occurred (53 liquidations, 109 mergers within the same family, and 20 mergers across different families). The results obtained indicate that both liquidations and mergers are more likely among smaller funds that suffer net money outflows in the previous year to the event. At the family level, mergers are more frequent in outperforming families with a larger number of funds, whereas liquidations occur in families with a lower number of funds. When comparing mergers within the same family with mergers across different families, we observe that the former share more drivers with liquidations than the latter. In addition, we observe that religious and environmental funds are more likely to suffer exit events than other SR fund types. Finally, other interesting findings point out that mergers financially benefit investors in merged SR mutual funds and the financial outcomes of acquiring fund investors are not jeopardized.     

Two ethical issues in mergers and acquisitions

With the recent rash of mergers and friendly and unfriendly takeovers, two important issues have not received sufficient attention as questionable ethical practices. One has to do with the rights of employees affected in mergers and acquisitions and the second concerns the responsibilities of shareholders during these activities. Although employees are drastically affected by a merger or an acquisition because in almost every case a number of jobs are shifted or even eliminated, employees at all levels are usually the last to find out about a merger transaction and have no part in the takeover decision. Second, if shareholders are the fiduciary beneficiaries of mergers and acquisitions, then it would appear that they have some responsibilities or obligations attached to these benefits, but little is said about such responsibilities. In this essay I shall analyze these two ethical issues, and at the end of the paper I shall suggest how they are related. Patricia H. Werhane is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University of Chicago. She is one of the founding members of the Society for Business Ethics. Her publications include Philosophical Issues in Art, Ethical Issues in Business, coedited with Tom Donaldson, Persons, Rights and Corporations, Philosophical Issues in Human Rights, edited with D. Ozar and A. R. Gini.     

Cross-Cultural Diversity,Leadership and Workplace Relations in Australia

Australia, as a multicultural society, faces many challenges, not the least of which is that of coping with increasing cultural diversity in the workplace, and - as the global trend continues, even accelerates, in the new millennium - managing cross-cultural issues will become more and more of a priority. The specific cultural diversity issue considered in this contribution is the relationship between perceived leadership behaviour and subordinate job satisfaction in two different cultural groups, Vietnamese and Australian. The validity of the leadership and job satisfaction theories in cultures other than the ones in which they originated is challenged, and it is argued that the change in business environments such as globalization, international mergers and acquisitions, and diverse cultural workforces has made the universal assumptions of these theories questionable.     

我国饭店并购适用法律的困惑与立法方向

我国饭店的并购已成为公众关注的焦点,我国并购法律体系的不足也已经显现出来。因此,完善、修改现有的法律法规是关键;现在,跨国并购是跨国饭店进入中国饭店市场的主要方法,为了保护国有资产的不流失,制定反垄断法也是当务之急。     

The New EC Merger Control Regulation: Guaranteeing the Effectiveness of the Architecture of Separate Jurisdictional Zones?

Merger control in the European Union is shaped by an architecture of separate jurisdictional zones: the European Commission vets all mergers where the competition concern is of Community interest whereas mergers lacking a Community interest come under the jurisdiction of the relevant member state. For this architecture to be successful an effective case allocating test is essential. Since the original 1989 Merger Control Regulation (MCR) the allocating test – the Community Dimension test(s) – and the corrective structures supporting it have not fully conformed to the architecture of jurisdictional zones in practice. Why has this been the case? Does the new 2004 MCR solve the underlying problems?

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*Hull University Business School, UK.     

Mergers in Sealed versus Oral Auctions

In this paper, we study mergers in oral or second-price auctions and compare them to mergers in sealed-bid or first-price auctions. We use an adaptation of the logit qualitative choice model to characterize the underlying bidder value distributions. In second-price auctions, this model has a closed-form relationship between winning bids (prices) and the probabilities of winning (shares), and this relationship gives rise to a Herfindahl-like formula that predicts merger effects. We compare mergers in second-price auctions to mergers in first-price auctions. Despite their differences, sealed-bid merger effects are predicted by the oral Herfindahl-like formula.The source of this curious similarity is not apparent.