能男华经降贸多大星 高级商务英语阅读 There's certainly been a trend to reduce organizational scope in a lot of industries as companies have sought to sharpen their focus,but I think this can be taken too far.In our industry,for instance. if you outsource production and manufacturing,you are really giving up the basis for the development and differentiation of your product.You are extremely reliant on third parties.You can really only differentiate at the marketing level,and,for our industry,I would argue that that is not a position you want to be in long-term. Mike:What in your opinion makes a company attractive to acquire/merge with? Garrard:Synergy is a cliche I know,but you do want something that complements your own capabilities,and where the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.That synergy might come from a number of areas.It might be through optimization of capital,through more effective sales forces,from better branding,access to new markets and so on.I think the most important thing is to be strategic rather than opportunistic-make sure you have a strategic framework to fit the acquisitions into.It shouldn't be an impulse-driven thing! Mike:Is M&Aa real option for all companies?What makes a company ready to take on a merger/acquisition? Garrard:There are two main issues here.Firstly,the core business of the company considering the acquisition has to be in good shape before you consider taking on new responsibilities. Secondly,you need to have a long-term strategy that you are implementing,so that the acquisition fits into an overall strategic framework. Mike:So mergers/acquisitions can't be seen as a quick fix?It was interesting,for example,that just before Ansett's collapse there was an offer made by Ansett to acquire Virgin Blue. Garrard:There are not too many examples of businesses that have acquired their way to success. If you are trying to solve problems in your core business at the same time as you are trying to bed down an acquisition,management attention simply gets spread too thin. 第3页共7页高级商务英语阅读 There's certainly been a trend to reduce organizational scope in a lot of industries as companies have sought to sharpen their focus, but I think this can be taken too far. In our industry, for instance, if you outsource production and manufacturing, you are really giving up the basis for the development and differentiation of your product. You are extremely reliant on third parties. You can really only differentiate at the marketing level, and, for our industry, I would argue that that is not a position you want to be in long-term. Mike: What in your opinion makes a company attractive to acquire/merge with? Garrard: Synergy is a cliché I know, but you do want something that complements your own capabilities, and where the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That synergy might come from a number of areas. It might be through optimization of capital, through more effective sales forces, from better branding, access to new markets and so on. I think the most important thing is to be strategic rather than opportunistic - make sure you have a strategic framework to fit the acquisitions into. It shouldn't be an impulse-driven thing! Mike: Is M&A a real option for all companies? What makes a company ready to take on a merger/acquisition? Garrard: There are two main issues here. Firstly, the core business of the company considering the acquisition has to be in good shape before you consider taking on new responsibilities. Secondly, you need to have a long-term strategy that you are implementing, so that the acquisition fits into an overall strategic framework. Mike: So mergers/acquisitions can't be seen as a quick fix? It was interesting, for example, that just before Ansett's collapse there was an offer made by Ansett to acquire Virgin Blue. Garrard: There are not too many examples of businesses that have acquired their way to success. If you are trying to solve problems in your core business at the same time as you are trying to bed down an acquisition, management attention simply gets spread too thin. 第 3 页 共 7 页