...investing to SWM or not. SWM has been analyzed step by step in order to find out its true value in the industry. The analysts have first looked into SWM business and strategy where it has been noted that SWM was a result of merger of seven group holdings and Australian West Newspaper in order to expand and use their resources efficiently. Secondly, SWM accounting policies and procedures have been analyzed where they showed that the company is following the accounting standards and using their flexibility that was given by the standard in order to measure some accounts in the financial statement. This flexibility was compared to the industry where it has noted that the company is valuing these accounts in a proper way. Thirdly, a financial analysis was also undertaken. It has been understood that the company, though there was a merger, is managing their resources well that resulted to positive book and cash returns. Lastly, the forecasts of the said company, where the analyst has determined the company’s value and the full set of financial statement for 2012, were estimated and calculated intelligently. With the help of the four steps of business analysis, the group has recommended that it is safe to invest to seven west media even if merger has occurred twice in the last three financial year. I. INTRODUCTION In order for a business to stay competitive in the industry, an effective business analysis must be undertaken. This involves gathering variety of data from different...
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... From its humble beginnings as a cartoon business starring one character, its business expanded to feature films – animated and live-action, film distribution, network and cable television, theme parks, retail stores, merchandising, publishing, and Broadway. After years of growth however, the company recently experienced sub-par performance and slower growth. Strategic Issue This deterioration in performance was preceded by Disney’s ambitious acquisition of CapCities/ABC, which made Disney the largest entertainment company in the U.S. Given its size and recent financial downturn, what opportunities exist for the company to achieve CEO Michael Eisner’s goal of 20% annual growth? Factors Contributing to Problem - With the purchase of ABC, Disney vertically integrated into a mature and highly competitive television industry. The merger also posed synergy challenges due to the immense size of both organizations and the difficulty in eliminating overlap across businesses and processes. - The ABC merger also presented culture clashes between the two organizations. In an attempt to achieve synergies across the company, Disney’s corporate culture became increasingly competitive and cost-driven, leading to an exodus of many high-level executives. - Rising costs in television programming, especially sports, hurting profitability. ESPN, for example, paid $9 billion for the right to air NFL games. - Rising costs in filmmaking and inflated movie budgets resulted after Katzenberg’s...
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...INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT HORIZONTAL MERGERS AND MERGER POLICY MERGERS and takeovers involve the amalgamation of two or more independent firms under common control and are typically divided into: 1. Horizontal mergers 2. Vertical mergers 3. Conglomerate mergers HORIZONTAL MERGERS WILLIAMSON’S FRAMEWORK: • The issue of appropriate public policy to deal with horizontal mergers is discussed below in a frame described by Williamson. • If a horizontal merger simply has the effect of increasing the market power of the merged firms, enabling them to raise prices and profits, then a prima facie case against the merger exists. • Williamson in particular focuses attention on economies or real cost savings as a defense of horizontal mergers. [pic] (fig.1) • Assume for simplicity a competitive market with constant costs, AC1, and a market demand curve, D, as shown in the figure. • In a competitive equilibrium, price is equal to marginal and unit cost, p1, and competitive output is x1. • Assume that a series of mergers now takes place giving rise to real cost savings which reduce costs to AC2. • Such costs may arise, for example, from rationalization of production and the exploitation of economies of scale. • If the merged firms continue to charge price p1 or below then consumers are no worse off and...
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...History Creating ABC From the organization of the first true radio networks in the late 1920s, broadcasting in the United States was dominated by two companies, CBS and RCA's NBC. Before NBC's 1926 formation, RCA had acquired AT&T Corporation's New York City station WEAF (later WNBC, now CBS-owned WFAN). With WEAF came a loosely organized system feeding programming to other stations in the northeastern U.S. RCA, before the acquisition of the WEAF group in mid-1926, had previously owned a second such group, with WJZ in Newark as the lead station (purchased by RCA in 1923 from Westinghouse) . These were the foundations of RCA's two programming services, the NBC "Red" and NBC "Blue" networks. Legend has it that the color designations originated from the color of the push-pins early engineers used to designate affiliates of WEAF (red pins) and WJZ (blue pins). After a three-year investigation, the FCC in May 1940 issued a "Report on Chain Broadcasting." Finding that NBC Red, NBC Blue, CBS, and MBS dominated American broadcasting, this report proposed "divorcement", requiring the sale by RCA of one of its chains. NBC Red was the larger radio network, carrying the leading entertainment and music programs. In addition, many Red affiliates were high-powered, clear-channel stations, heard nationwide. NBC Blue offered most of the company's news and cultural programs, many of them "sustaining" or unsponsored. Among other findings, the FCC claimed RCA used NBC Blue to suppress competition...
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.... Managerial Accounting (ACC560) 04/25/2015 Introduction Activity-Based Costing (ABC), a costing system which is more reliable than traditional cost accounting, has been implemented in manufacturing companies for more than a decade. In many cases, the ABC implementation has contributed substantially to a more efficient use of overhead resources, and therefore, has led to an impressive cost savings. Many service companies, in their experience of high overhead and high capital cost, have costs which are left untraced or are allocated arbitrarily. The resulting distortions may provide misleading information to the management and may lead to poor decision-making. A successful business usually starts with a vision statement that gives detail to potential opportunities of the organization. Managers must have the knowledge to understand the concept of choosing a strategy that can be beneficial to the business operation. Using the information provided by ABC, companies will be able to cut costs, review pricing policies and determine more profitable mix. This paper will evaluate how AOL- time warner can implement an ABC system, how the system can help maintain a competitive advantage, the impact the system has on online business sale. Company history Time Warner, as we know it today, is the result of many mergers and acquisitions. The company’s history can be traced back to 1922, when Warner Brothers was established. The company was later renamed to Warner Communications...
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...Mike Harris Research Paper #2 COM101-002 Professor: Bush Walker November 8, 2013 Media Conglomerate Ownership in the U.S. The United States is being greatly affected by conglomerate ownership of media properties in today's industry. A conglomerate is formed when a large company merges with separate and diverse small firms. By definition a media conglomerate is a large company or corporation that has merged with a number of different media outlets such as TV, radio, newspapers and Internet. Big companies have the tendency to expand by diversifying their holdings among different media products, never fully dominating a particular media industry. A decreasing number of organizations gaining control over an increasing amount of mass media, which defines media consolidation, leads to an oligopoly in the marketplace. Large companies create an oligopoly when only a handful of them dominate the industry and face little economic competition from small independent firms.[1] In 1983, a total of fifty corporations dominated most of the media industry. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, that number shrunk to twenty-nine by 1987. Twenty-three companies had control of the industry by 1990 and in 1997 that number was ten. Presently, media ownership has been concentrated in the hands of only six extremely powerful media conglomerates.[2] The six corporations that control media collectively in the United States today are Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, CBS Corporation...
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...stale. Today he's holding a four-hour brainstorming session about Mickey Mouse, looking for ways to keep the 71-year-old rodent relevant. (One idea: a skateboarding Mickey.) Later, he'll watch Peter Jennings' newscast on Disney-owned ABC and surf the Internet to see how the company's Websites stack up. Is this any way to run the world's most troubled entertainment giant? After all, as Eisner sweats the details, earnings are dropping, top executives are defecting, and Disney stock is plunging like a ride down Splash Mountain. "Maybe I'm crazy," Eisner says, "but I don't consider this a crisis. I don't think our problems are in the fabric of our company. And I don't have my head in the sand." Sitting down for a two-hour interview, he admits mistakes. He says, for instance, that he should have settled former studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg's suit against the company earlier to avoid a "parade of horrors" (see box). And he concedes that the company has sustained real damage: "It's like a train wreck, only nobody got killed." But Eisner denies that he has lost his touch. "The criticisms of me and Disney today," says the 57-year-old chief executive, "are as shortsighted as were the praises of me and Disney in the high economic times." Sunday nights on ABC, Michael Eisner--celebrated CEO, business magazine cover boy, and author of his own life story--still hosts The Wonderful World of Disney. The rest of the...
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...range of strategic options using a SWOT analysis. ABC Optical SWOT: New Market: Latin and South America? Asia? Existing Market: US PEST analysis: Political(政治): Government policies, taxation changes, foreign trade regulations, political risk in foreign markets, changes in trade blocks. WTO negotiations. Remember to local issues: Planning Permissions, Trading Licenses. Result: No Economic: business cycles, interest rates, personal disposable income, exchange rates, unemployment rates, GDP trends. Remember to local issues - closure of a factory, grants, poor/excellent transport links. Proximity to a University or Science Park Result: Situational Social: population changes, income distribution, lifestyle changes, consumerism, changes in culture and fashion. Consider local issues: Ethnic groups, local languages, local customs and holidays. Result: customers need more high volume, high added value optic devices (e.g. telecommunication industry) Technological: new discoveries and technology developments, ICT innovations, rates of obsolescence, increased spending on R&D. Result: Photonics SWOT: Internal Strengths: -Impeccable customer service/satisfaction. -Outsourcing to overseas producers and the development of in-house optical design. -Quality and manufacturing expertise. -Strong financial position would enable it to enter the market without the need for a bank loan Loyal employee? Internal Weaknesses: -ABC used to have a unique competency in optic design ...
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...the same mobile device and phone number. The merging of these two very powerful companies will potentially increase 4G-network coverage worldwide, to reach more consumers everywhere, and to create over an estimated 95 thousand jobs; many of which would be in America (AT&T). Corruption in technology makes most think of corrupt files and error messages on digital devices. However, corruption also often occurs in the technology industry between digital design firms, computer companies, and even wireless phone service providers. Corruption is the impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle (Webster); it occurs in many markets and countries. This report will be focused on corruption in technology, with concentration in the wireless phone service industry. Before wireless phone providers are discussed though, digital design firms, and computer companies will be briefly discussed. This large merger between AT&T and T-Mobile has raised many eyebrows in multiple markets, because if successful, it could be one of the largest technological mergers in history (AT&T). This raises flags because, to many consumers and even manufacturers, it sounds too good to be true. There are also many questions of...
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...754 • Case 24 • ABC Chemical Company Goes Global The ongoing economic recession in Japan will continue to erode consumer purchasing power and confidence; luxury goods will suffer as consumers move toward cheaper products. This is already becoming evident: consumption of cognac and premium whisky is declining in Japan. Since TWO DOGS was launched in 1998, there has been massive growth in the sales volume of cheaper products, such as ‘‘Can Chu-Hi’’ and ‘‘Hyoketsu Chu-Hi’’. These locally made Japanese brands are, in convenience stores, almost half the price of fully imported TWO DOGS. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Should TWO DOGS maintain its premium price and thus risk losing volume growth to cheaper products during the recession? 2. What effect would lowering its price have on its brand positioning? 3. Would lowering its price require TWO DOGS to change to a licensing strategy? If so, should local production be in Japan? Or in nearby Asian countries with lower manufacturing costs, such as China or Thailand? 4. What other options does TWO DOGS have? Could the company change to a multi-brand strategy by introducing a new brand targeting the low-end segment? C ASE 24 ABC CHEMICAL COMPANY GOES GLOBAL Driven by competitive pressures, and the attractiveness of the industry’s fastest growing market in the world, a U.S.-based chemical manufacturer, ABC Chemical Company (name changed to maintain confidentiality) considered expansion into Asia, specifically, China. William Smith is...
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...Master of Commerce and Management at Lincoln University By Jiyun Xu Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand 2011 I Abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of M. C. M. An Empirical Analysis of China Big Four State-Owned Banks’ Performance: A Data Envelopment Analysis By Jiyun Xu Banks are becoming more international, disintermediation, concentrated and contestable in the financial market in providing services to foreign enterprises and individuals. There is also a shift from the traditional bank lending activities towards investment banking activities. Competition in financial markets encourages consolidation of banks and other financial institutions through mergers and acquisitions in order to increase contestability (Bikker & Bos, 2005). Hence, it is important to determine whether the bank is performing well under constant changes in the financial markets. This study examines the efficiency and performance of the Big four state-owned commercial bank...
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...board of Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, has agreed to acquire a long-time rival, Wyeth, for $68 billion. The Pfizer-Wyeth merger will create a prescription pharmaceutical company of extraordinary scale. Despite long-term patent and marketing challenges, most industry observers believe Pfizer has little choice but to engage in some type of major acquisition, especially given the recent loss of income on Lipitor. Pfizer needs to reassure its investors that it can get back on track. With having to freeze its dividends, hundreds of layoffs, and stock prices falling, it is imperative to convince the stakeholders that Pfizer will come out of this economic dilemma on top. The acquisition with Wyeth will reduce Pfizer’s negative sales outlook; however, there is only one route to delivering profit growth to investors, and that is by buying growth and cutting costs. Pfizer has announced that it expects to create savings of $4 billion by the third year after closing the acquisition. This is in part due to the 15% reduction in Pfizer-Wyeth’s combined workforce. After the merger, Pfizer will operate through a patient-centric business units in two major areas, biopharmaceuticals and diversified businesses. Its biopharmaceutical business units are emerging markets Where as Pfizer currently has one of the largest sales forces in the industry, Wyeth’s antibiotics and specialty drugs will not require a lot of marketing to consumers, and Pfizer may regard that as a big advantage...
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...Today digital or electronic communication makes up a great deal of world’s communication. The reasons behind that leap from written and hardcopy to softcopy communications has to do with technological advances and the speed in which individuals and businesses can now communicate accurately. The electronic media that surrounds the average consumer consists of television commercials, e-mail advertisements, Internet stores, paying bills and banking online, blogs, social sites, business ventures, and many other forms of electronic communication are taking over the way the world communicates. This paper will discuss E-mails importance, present three business-to-business messages taken from the text-book, analyze them and provide a message from ABC and an unfavorable reply XYZ Company sent. E-mails can be sent as a letter, memo, or as a document with an attachment. The convenience of e-mails is that the business has the option to send the message to one receiver or to multiple receivers simultaneously. The best thing about companies conducting business through e-mail is that the company will have a written record of the information sent. E-mail also allows a company to transmit complex information fast and conveniently in a matter of minutes across the world. In a descriptive analysis of the e-mail, an individual has multiple options to design the message in which he wishes to send. Analyzing message on Tobacco-free work facility This message was sent to stress out the risks of cigarettes...
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...insider trading and whether the actions of these board members could amount to a breach of the law, as well as speaking about ASIC and their investigation into the men. ASIC conducted a thorough, two month long investigation, only to find themselves no choice but to declare no further action could be taken. The area of risk management frameworks and whether the David Jones board members even followed their own stated frameworks, as set out in their constitution and printed yearly in their annual report were followed to the best of their ability. Finally, continual disclosure as a provision of the Corporations Act and the issue of David Jones’ board decision not to disclose the merger offer with Myer constitutes a breach of the act. David Jones’ board were clear in their explanation that the merger offer was incomplete and still to be negotiated – an area in which they are protected by ASX rules. 1. Introduction Corporate governance in Australia has become one of the more hostile areas of debate this century....
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...Sara Odette Battikh Walt Disney Company Report COMM 387 – Spring 2011 Walt Disney Company Report Note that all information and graphs below are obtained from the websites sited on the reference sheet at the end of the paper. “Creativity continues to be the essence of Disney, even as our businesses expand across borders and media platforms, it is the foundation for almost everything we do, the source of our strength and our success, and the fuel that will power us into the future” - Robert Iger, President and CEO - When we hear the word Disney, what is the first think that comes up in our minds? Most people think about Disney and relate it to magical, exciting and large attractions parks and hotels, and the famous Mickey Mouse. However, they missed to see how big and influential this organization really is. Walt Disney Company is one of the World largest communications organizations. Everyone knows Disney! It is everywhere in our lives, from TV, radio and movies, to parks, clothing, accessories and toys. Owning diverse media markets, Disney has build a tradition of culture and niche by efficiently managing its markets and products, allocating them among different cultures, age groups and preferences. In this report I will be analyzing some of the major managerial decisions within the Company, its influences over the market and the way it has established across the years in our culture. We are now about to discover all the financial numbers, facts, operational...
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