REALITY versus TEXT

by Serene Ong Tee Yuh
(Singapore)

I learnt of the term “Mergers”, “Acquisitions”, “joint venture” and etc through friends, news reporting and my hubby previous company merger stories (Pepsi group buy over Tropicana). Most of these companies are European or American corporation for the reasons of monetary, better market bargaining position, economics of scale, technological collaborations and etc. Mergers”, “Acquisitions”, “joint venture” seems less active in Asia context probably due to Asia perception, viewing these processes as overtaking rather than complementing.

I have a better picture of the said subjects when I attended Pamela 30hrs lessons on “Managing Joint ventures, Strategic Alliances and Technological Collaborations”. In order to achieve synergy, companies required to go through detailed processes and strategies. However, in my view, text may present thousand and one great ideas of managing Merger, acquisition or alliances, rich practical experiences in corporate world still count for the success of managing these processes and strategies.

The session I enjoyed most are group case studies presentation – as a participant or spectator, the exchanging process is fun and enriching. I am amazed also by interesting paraphrase from the text on Prebid and Postbid defenses examples “Poison pills”, “Shark repellent”, “Golden parachute”, “Greenmail”, “White knight”, “Employee Stock ownership plans”. How will layman associate this paraphrase with strategic defenses? They will probably translate “poison pills” as pills that will poison people, “Shark repellent” as some kind of tools that keep shark away, so on and so forth…..”Wow”, these brilliant academics, impressed and still impressed by their great imagination and sense of humor!!!

I like the idea of journal - a simple diary and reflection of what been taught and how I can apply to my own life. I feel sad by the fact that the lesson had ended and I need to wrap all up in the last journal.

Theories without practical application are dead, my wish and my hope, whatever I learnt from the text or from the class, I can have the opportunity to bring these knowledge to life in future endeavor.

Last but not least, thanks Pamela for your vast experiences and lively sharing’s, do keep in touch with us!