2 Akg Paper in Zijmr Vol1 Issue10 Oct2012 Cp

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International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research

Vol.2 Issue 10, October 2012, ISSN 2231 5780

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MERGERS AND ACQUISITION: STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH

DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

ANOOP KUMAR GUPTA*; SACHIN GUPTA**

*Assistant Professor,

Department of Management,

Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology,

Rohini, New Delhi.

**Assistant Professor,

Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies,

Rohini, New Delhi.

ABSTRACT

Supply chain management consists of complex decisions that need to be taken from time to time

in today‘s global competitive scenario. As the complexity of supply chain management increases

the decisions become more interdependent, more complex in nature and more cost gets involved.

This article classifies the complexity of supply chain according to the functional behaviors.

Studying the complexity will be helpful to gain competitive advantage in today‘s cut-throat

competition. The role and type of mergers and acquisition with respect to supply chain

management are also specified. Extensive literature review in area of supply chain management

and mergers & acquisition is also done and supply chain strategies under merger and acquisition

are discussed.

KEYWORDS: Complexity in Supply Chain, Mergers and Acquisition, Supply Chain

Management.

_____________________________________________________________________________

1. INTRODUCTION

In such a competitive situation every organization wants to be better than its competitor, and to

achieve that it requires customer satisfaction and needs to be a good service provider for long

period of time. All the operations must be done efficiently and effectively. Here the term

―operations‖ implies the activities that are required to satisfy the demand of a customer.

All the activities, e.g., choosing supplier for the raw material, delivery of raw material,

production process, i.e., converting raw material into semi-finished goods and finished goods,

packing and distribution to the wholesaler to retailer and then satisfying the demand of customer

by means of product and services together constitute the Supply chain management (SCM). SCM

consists of performing and managing operations in such a way that customer is satisfied.

Efficiently and effectively implies the smooth conduct of all the processes in such a manner that

the cost is minimum, for example while dealing with marketing, the goal of the organization is

maximizing service level; while dealing with distribution, the aim is maximizing throughput at

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minimum cost; also while manufacturing, the aim becomes reduction in the finished goods

inventory.

Efficiency can be increased by the following ways:

• responding to wide range of quantities demanded by customers

• meeting short lead times

• handling a variety of products

• meeting very high service levels

There are various reasons by virtue of which SCM is growing day by day. Globalization,

dispersion in manufacturing and distribution facilities enhanced the role and need of SCM.

Demand for customized product is increasing for local markets. Due to introduction of electronic

commerce, electronic data interchange and internet technology, customer can see and respond to

the technological changes very fast. This makes him globally active and sensitive towards the

technological changes occurring at any other part of the world.

As supply chain management consists of numerous activities that are related to each other in

some or the other way. At every step we have to take decisions like

which supplier to choose for raw materials,

what kind of raw material to procure,

what product to produce,

where to produce, when to produce, how much to produce,

whom to sell (target customer),

what would be the target market,

what services are being provided to the customer by the organization, so on and so forth?

SCM can be defined as a task of integrating organizational units along a supply chain and

coordinating materials, information and financial flows in order to fulfill (ultimate) customer

demand with the aim of improving competitiveness of the supply chain as a whole. This

definition is best visualized in Fig. 1.1.

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FIG. 1. ACTIVITIES AND FIRMS IN A SUPPLY CHAIN. SOURCE: NEW AND

PAYNE [35]

Decision taken at one step affects the decision of the next step, thus for the effectiveness of

supply chain every step is to be performed effectively and efficiently such that output of each

step is the same as required by the organization. So it is very much clear that to implement

supply chain management one must have skills to take right decision at right time.

As the nature and type of decisions are different and also different types of parameters and

constraints are to be taken into account while making any decision, the complexity of the

decision making increases with respect to the increase in complexity of supply chain system (as

number of suppliers, types of product, number of manufacturing units, number of retailers

increases). Large-scale nature of network in supply chain, hierarchical structure of decision

increases the complexity of decision making. Randomness of various inputs, operation and

dynamic nature of interaction among supply chain elements also make things difficult for

decision makers.

The randomness of supply chain results in dynamic behavior and stiff competition due to

globalization require such a decision that will result in expansion as well as cost minimization

that‘s why merger and acquisition is considered as strategic tool to deal with complexity of

supply chain management. One organization may be good in given environment but different

structure, process and technologies may create different problem and to deal with such a problem

merger and acquisition is considered as tool which can deal with dynamics of supply chain.

A merger is the result of mutual agreement of the management of two or more companies to

form a new joint legal entity through exchange of shares or other funds. An acquisition takes

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place when the management of one company makes a direct offer to the shareholder of another

company to acquire controlling interest of the firm.

There are various types of mergers and acquisition that redefine the business world with new

strategic alliances. From business structure perspective the various types of mergers and

acquisition are as follows:

Horizontal mergers: both companies operate in same industry and are competitors in the same

market.

Vertical mergers: firms that operate in different stages of the same industry.

Conglomerate merger: two or more companies belonging to different industrial sector combine

their operations.

As far as SCM is concerned we will focus on horizontal and vertical mergers.

The rest of the study is organized as follows. In Section 2 literature review has been discussed. In

Section 3 the complexity of supply chain management has been explored. Section 4 explores the

mergers and acquisition in supply chain management. Section 5 concludes the article.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Supply chain management and other similar terms, such as network sourcing, supply pipeline

management, value chain management, and value stream management have become subjects of

increasing interest in last two decades or so, to academics, consultants and business management

(Christopher, [7]; Hines, [18]; Lamming, [24]; Saunders,[39][40]). Companies seek profit and

cost reduction in terms of efficiency of supply chain Christopher, [7]; Macbeth and Ferguson,

[30]. The development of supply chain management concept has been done in terms of theories.

Forrester [16] illustrates the industrial dynamics model applied to supply chains and provide the

basis on which dynamics of study has been done (Sterman, [44]; Towill, [48]; Van Ackere et al.,

[49]; Lee et al., [27]). Cooper et al.[10] support the view of dynamic behavior of supply chain

management and gives view to deal with the dynamic behavior that results is cost reduction and

increases the effectiveness and efficiency of supply chain management.

Christopher [7] defines ‗Supply chain management is a network of organizations that are

involved, through upstream and downstream linkages in the different processes and activities

that produce value in the form of products and services in the hand of the ultimate consumer.‘

Saunders [40] warns that pursuit of a universal definition may lead to unnecessary frustration and

conflicts, and also highlights the fragmented nature of the field of supply chain management,

drawing as it does on various antecedents including industrial economics, systems dynamics,

marketing, purchasing, and inter-organizational behavior. Croom et al. [12] made a very good

attempt to provide the literature review of supply chain management on the basis of principle

components of SCM (see Fig. 2).

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FIG. 2. PRINCIPLE COMPONENT BODIES ON BASIS OF WHICH REVIEW OF SCM

IS DONE BY CROOM ET AL. [12]

Most of the above-mentioned literature admits the dynamic behavior of SCM. Various authors

emphasize on the structural aspect of supply chain to deal with the dynamic behavior.

Importance of Buyer--supplier partnership (Lamming [24]), supply base management, strategic

supplier alliances (Lewis [28]), supply chain synchronization (Tan et al. [47]), network supply

chain (Nassimbeni [34]), value-added chain (Lee and Ng [26]) are some of the major available

literature. Yet very few literatures are available to show the importance of mergers and

acquisition in SCM. Various authors emphasize on the importance of joint ventures, alliances,

mergers and acquisition for the growth and sustainability of company due to one or other reason.

Craven et al. [11] have done analysis of co-operative inter-organizational relationships, strategic

alliance formulation, and strategic alliance effectiveness. Day [13] and Collins [9] also stress on

teaming up for competitive superiority.

Hitt et al. [19] stated about the corporate objectives in which gain of greater market power, gain

access to innovative capabilities results in the reducing of risks associated with the development

of a new product or service, maximize efficiency through economies of scale and scope and

finally in some cases, reshape a firm‘s competitive scope. According to Kwoka [23], mergers

and acquisitions are among the most important phenomena of modern economies. Lichtenberg

and Siegel [29] put a remarkable effort on describing the direct relationship between productivity

and ownership change. Today‘s increasing globalization and competition force firms to identify

new and creative ways to perpetuate their businesses and possibly make a profit. Mergers and

acquisitions are one of those ways.

To face the challenges and explore the opportunities, firms are moving towards various strategic

alternatives like mergers and acquisitions (M&As), strategic alliances, joint ventures, etc. The

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M&A are arguably the most popular strategy among firms who seek to establish a competitive

advantage over their rivals. In the last seven years, during the fifth merger wave, the value of

acquisitions has increased dramatically. In 2006 the total value of acquisitions undertaken

reached unprecedented levels, totaling Euro 1,774 billion (Vasilaki and O‘Regan [51]). Fig. 3

represents the number at which mergers and acquisition are increasing in India. The study of

Kumar [22] also shows the mergers and acquisition in terms of financial metrics which is

successful in Indian scenario.

FIG. 3. THE NUMBER OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITION IN INDIA. SOURCE:

KUMAR ET AL. [22]

The SCM literature views vertical integration as one extreme of vertical coordination of supply

chains (Hobbs and Young [20]), or as a fundamental to supply chain integration (Stonebraker

and Liao [46]). According to Rangan et al. [38], vertical integration helps the firms to secure the

distribution channels of their products, especially in markets with increased uncertainties,

whereas Frohlich and Westbrook [17] see it as way to control efficiency gains and cost

reductions in the supply chain. In order to capture the value downstream, manufacturers need to

expand their focus from operational excellence to customer allegiance and rethink the meaning

of vertical integration (Wise and Baumgartner [55]). Now let us see the complexity in supply

chain that may require mergers and acquisition in supply chain.

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3. COMPLEXITY IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The complexity of supply chain depends upon the various factors like number of participants,

products, transportation link, information flow, etc. if one looks for desired outcome then he/she

needs to find the supply chain complexity so that decision making becomes easier (Bozarth et al.

[3] and Closs et al. [8]). How to deal with supply chain complexity is a key issue confronting

supply chain managers (Mentzer et al. [31], Choi and Krause [6]). Applying systems theory

(Dubois et al. [15]) state that in a complex system, a linear change in one part of a system may

cause nonlinear and unexpected changes in other parts of the system.

Choi and Hong [5] explore network complexity in which horizontal, vertical, and spatial

complexities are involved. Choi and Krause [6] elaborate supply base complexity related with

number of suppliers, degree of differentiation among suppliers, level of inter relationships

between suppliers.

Stock et al. [45] explore the dynamic problem that exists because of logistical complexity like

that of globalization (geographically dispersed network of resources). According to Blackhurst et

al. [2] complexity occurs because of multiple levels of suppliers, large network of

manufacturers/distributors, involvement with other supply chains, change and dynamic nature of

supply chain. Sivadasan et al. [41][42] considered operational and structural complexity as key

issue in supply chain management that affect supplier--customer relation.

Today‘s supply chain managers find their roles to be evolving into managing more complex

supply chains that are defined by rapidly changing, continuously expanding and often uncertain

business environments. Given the dynamism and uncertainty of the environment, supply chain

professionals take on responsibility for more complicated tasks and face increased challenges in

supply chain decision making. Due to the dynamic and large-scale nature of the supply chain, it

is impractical to enumerate all of the possible alternatives, activities, information queues,

transactions, linkages, and other factors proposed as drivers of supply chain complexity.

Now the concept of supply chain is nearly two decades old and all the complexity related to the

supply chain literature has been evolved in these two decades. There are various strategies that

are suggested to deal with the supply chain complexity. One of strategy named as merger and

acquisition has come out as solution for managers from past two decades as it can be verified

that number of mergers and acquisitions are increasing day by day (Fig. 3). Although the concept

of merger and acquisition, alliances and joint ventures are not new but used in plenty since the

concept of supply chain management came into existence.

4. MERGER AND ACQUISITION

There are various reasons due to which merger and acquisition take place (Walter & Barney [53],

Weston & Weaver [54]). The foremost reason can be considered as growth, when internal

growth measured does work well companies seek merger and acquisition as a tool for growth

(van Wegberg [50]). Next reason for company is for merger and acquisition which is of survival

when company seeks market share and the fear of being left behind in competition exists because

of change in technology and customer requirement. It is also due to type of industry, life cycle of

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the company, firm-specific problems, timing of the deal and strategic intention and impact of

already existing success stories of mergers and acquisition in testimonials (Stanovich [43]).

It is not like that the merger and acquisition means success for organization only. There are many

other reasons and cases also due to which mergers and acquisition fails. The present study

attempted to develop to provide a workable model for M&As but the study revealed that only 17

percent of financial service firms those merged globally in the past two years could manage to

create good returns (Mohan and Suganthi [32]). Research showed that merger did not lead to

improved performance. The only significant gain to the acquired firm was through an increased

leverage. The analysis further shows that merger did not lead to excess profits for the acquiring

firm (Pawaskar [36]). Poor corporate performance in post-merger period has been attributed to

numerous reasons – manager‘s desire for position and influence, low productivity, poor quality,

reduced commitment, voluntary turnover, and related hidden costs and untapped potential

(Buono [4]).

But then the increasing number of merger and acquisition implies that the positive part of merger

and acquisition is more than that of its negative side. Very revealing of the changing structure

and dynamic of numerous industries is the trend of M&As, which reached great heights in the

last 10 years. The last decade has accounted for 80 percent of all M&As (in terms of their total

transaction value) occurring in the period between 1982 and 2006 (Vizjak [52]).

There are numerous examples that show the mergers and acquisition may be a solution to the

problems that are related with dynamic behavior of supply chain management. Consider the

merger that takes place due to the motive of increasing the value chain of a supply chain in

coffee industry. Coffee growing is a highly fragmented part of the value chain in the coffee

industry (there are around 25 million growers worldwide), coffee roasting is much more

concentrated: three leading coffee roasters (Kraft Foods, Nestle, and Sara Lee) produce 45

percent of global volume. In this strategy formulation process a mere focus on a ―high-level‖

industry concentration process is not enough. An industry‘s value chain should be understood as

a constellation of individual concentration curves (for each part of the value chain) instead of a

single one. Analyzing the value chain (its structure and interrelationships) is also crucial in

decisions about vertical integration or whether to ―make or buy‖ (Kalpic [21]).

There are several reasons for the development of mergers and acquisition including technology

development, risk management and non-conformance cost reduction (Mowery [33], Dodgson

[14]).

Dodgson [14] suggests that there are at least two specific technological dimensions or

considerations for firm collaboration: technological complexity, where the breadth and depth of

expertise required exceeds the capability of an individual firm; and technological uncertainty,

where the risk of pursuing a technological configuration is deemed too high for an individual

firm. Powell [37] suggests mergers and acquisition can be looked for when case efficient,

reliable information is required, further a small firm can become dynamic is alliance with bigger

firm. Anderson and Narus [1] summarized these perspectives by suggesting that the fundamental

reason for the relationship-building activities and efforts is to either add value or reduce cost.

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Consider the case when Tata Steel acquires Corus to improve the value chain for Tata Steel. Tata

had a strong retail and distribution network in India and South East Asia. This would give the

European manufacturer an in-road into the emerging Asian markets. Tata was a major supplier to

the Indian auto industry and the demand for value-added steel products was growing in this

market. Hence there would be a powerful combination of high quality developed and low cost

high growth markets. There would be technology transfer and cross-fertilization of R&D

capabilities between the two companies that specialized in different areas of the value chain.

Another example in which supply chain integration plays a huge role in merger and acquisition

can be illustrated as case of Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Gillette merger. P&G is already the

world's largest consumer products company, which had sales of $ 51.4 billion and Gillette had

sales of $10.3 billion, at the time of acquisition. Merging the two supply chains was a high

priority because it would significantly contribute to P&G's bottom line. The amalgamation, it

was believed, could deliver $1 billion in cost savings and another $750 million in incremental

sales. Despite that complexity, by June 2007 P&G had completed 97 percent of the supply chain

integration. A look at how the company managed this considerable challenge offers some insight

into how very large organizations can combine their operations with minimal disruption.

5. CONCLUSION

The number of mergers and acquisition is growing day by day and the rate has been increasing

for last two decade. It is a same time period in which the concept of supply chain management

came into picture. It has been illustrated that there are various reasons because of which

companies go for mergers and acquisition which are related to the issues in supply chain

management. To deal with dynamic behavior of supply chain, to improve value chain, to get

technological expertise, to cope with competitiveness in era of globalization are some of the

reasons. Hence mergers and acquisition can be considered as tool to deal with the problems that

are related to supply chain management.

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