Description

1.0 Introduction In the popular film "Wall Street", the ruthless investment banker played by Michael Douglas, devotes an ode to "Greed", as part of his speech to the shareholders' meeting of a paper company he aims at acquiring: "The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for the like of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works! Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of evolutionary spirit. .. " Even though the aforementioned acquisition deal did eventually fail, in today's economy M&A activity is surging to levels previously unknown. With the exception 1 of the first quarters of 2002, the last decade has been characterised by unprecedented 2 number of transactions - It appears that "greed" is gaining ground amongst top executives and shareholders. Inasmuch as greed is an integral part of human nature, so is the propensity to grow and develop a part of organisational nature. Greiner (1998: p.66) claims that organisational evolution is not merely a self-implied process, but a "contest for survival". In other words, if organisations are to reach and potentially surpass their average life 3 expectancy range of 20 to 50 years, they need to evolve . Mergers & acquisitions seem to play a primary role in the evolution, and thus survival, of organisations.