Task 1. Read and translate the text on p. 118 and answer the following questions:

Why should business schools add anthropology to the curriculum?

What parallels can be uncanny? Why?

What is a typical example of a merger failure?

What advantages did the supposed alliance of drug giants promise?

Why was the deal off?

Why are problems of corporate egos inevitable?

What is a fundamental prerequisite for climbing to the top of the corporate ladder?

Why is there always a high probability of a boardroom bust- up?

What do personality tests show?

Why do companies want precisely this sort of personalities?

When do the problems appear?

What was Europe's most spectacular and public bust – up?

How did it all happen?What were the shareholders and management concerned about?

What added spice to the management revolt?

At what expense was the deal called off?

Why is it so difficult to make mega – mergers work?

What is a textbook example of a successful merger?

Why was it successful?

Why is compromise essential when two powerful corporations merge?

What can control the egos of managers?

Sum up what you have learned about the problems caused by the clashes of personalities in mergers.

Task 2. Translate into English using the vocabulary from the text.

1. Очень типичным примером сделки, которая не состоялась, является нашумевший крах предполагаемого слияния между гигантскими фармацевтическими компаниями.

2. Если бы сделка состоялась, то ближайшие соперники остались далеко позади. Бюджет на исследование и разработку новых лекарств вдвое превзошел бы бюджет их конкурентов.

3. Столкновения властолюбивых амбиций и завышенных самомнений корпоративных руководителей неизбежны при слияниях, и поведение первых лиц корпораций приводит к пугающим сравнениям.

4. Неудивительно, что каждый раз, когда объявляют о платных слияниях, существует высокая степень вероятности срыва сделки наверху.

5. Многие руководители крупных корпораций не выдерживают тесты на многочисленные характеристики, поскольку находятся на грани паранойи. Но именно такие люди способны трансформировать бизнес, и именно поэтому они нужны корпорациям.

6. Срыв предполагаемого союза между гигантами автомобильной промышленности Вольво и Рено стал самым нашумевшим публичным скандалом в Европе.

7. Руководство Вольво и акционеры отказались от брачных намерений из-за опасений, что сделка недооценивала их компанию, превращаясь в поглощение.

8. Говорят, что расторжение сделки стоило Вольво несколько сотен миллионов долларов и вынудило председателя совета директоров уйти в отставку. Он занимал руководящий пост более двадцати лет.

9. Самолюбие руководителей играет такую огромную роль при слияниях, что сделки не работают, если один из руководителей не уступит свой пост.

10. Слияния могут быть успешными, если ключевые сотрудники готовы уступить свои позиции ради новых возможностей в других обстоятельствах.

Task 3.

Reading

1. Each of the following statements refers to one of the companies mentioned in texts A-C. Write the letter of the text referred to (A. B or C) and the name of the company in the spaces provided.

1. A company that is combining several acquisitions into a new business unit.

Text:___________ company:_____________

2. A company that has reached an agreement with another one that will help it to perform better.

Text:___________ company:_____________

3. A company whose shareholders have rejected an offer.

Text:___________ company:_____________

4. A company that is working with one of its direct competitors.

Text:___________ company:_____________

5. A company that has been trying to take control of a foreign operation but that has faced unexpected opposition.

Text:___________ company:_____________

6. A company that was hoping to own almost two thirds of the share capital of another.

Text:___________ company:_____________

7. A company that will soon lose one of its top executives.

Text:___________ company:_____________

8. A company that has a guaranteed source of revenue for the next few years.

Text:___________ company:______________

9. A company that has started negotiations to purchase one part of another business.

Text:___________ company:______________

10. A company that will now have to review its expansion strategy.

Text:___________ company:______________

A. MADRID – Endesa SA’s shares fell Thursday after Spain’s largest power company lost a bid to control Enersis SA, Chile’s biggest utility* holding** company. Enersis shareholders blocked a $1.5 billion offer late Wednesday that would have let Endesa double its 32 percent stake.

The shareholders refused to increase the maximum amount an investor an investor can own in Enersis, dashig Endesa’s hopes of taking over Enersis to make it the vehicle for its Latin American expansion plans.

«We were very surprised by the outcome of the vote, « said Ramon Olleros, a fund manager at AB Asesores, a brokerage in Madrid. «It’s very bad news for Endesa.» International Herald Tribune

B. NEW YORK – Dell Computer Corp said Thursday that it would buy $16 billion of equipment from International Business Machines Corp under a seven- year deal that also calls for the companies to jointly develop new computer technology.

Both companies’ stock rose on the announcement.

The deal initially calls for Dell to buy such IBM equipment as disk drives, flat- panel displays and memory chips to use in its computers. The companies eventually expect broader sharing of technology, including co-developing new products.

Dell said the deal would help the company increase its competitiveness in notebook personal computers, storage products and servers, which are powerful corporate machines that run networks of PCs, IBM, in turn, will get a guaranteed source of sales.

«These companies are about the biggest competitors that I’ve ever seen get together on a technology agreement», said George Logemann of Boston consulting firm Yankee Group. International Herald Tribune

С. NEW YORK – Siemens AG of Germany is about to expand into the fast-growing data networking business by forming a new American subsidiary, acquiring two private companies in the Unite States, investing in a third and hiring a senior executive from IBM, executives close to the company’s planning said.

Siemens, one of Europe’s biggest manufacturing companies, also is in preliminary discussions with 3 Com Corp about paying $1.2 billion for the 3 Com unit that sells networking equipment to telephone companies, the executives said.

Siemens plans to announce Monday that it has agreed to acquire Castle Networks Inc, a private data-networking company based in Westford Massachusetts, for about $300 million cash, and Argon Networks Inc, a private data-networking company in Littleton, Massachusetts, for about $240 million in cash, executives said.

Siemens also will announce an agreement to acquire a $30 million stake in Accelerated Networks Inc, a private company based in Moorpark, California.

The acquisitions will be folded into a new Siemens venture to be based in Boston, the executives said.

International Herald Tribune

Notes: *utility company = a company which supplies the public with gas, water, electricity etc.

**holding company = a company that holds a controlling number of shares in one or more companies