Has the Product Patent Regime Impacted Mergers and Acquisitions? Unveiling with a Systematic Literature Review

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are one of the most practised inorganic strategies to multiply economic profits, acquire new product capabilities, expand markets, diversify risk and bring synergistic gains. The purpose of the study is to review the literature related to companies’ financial analysis, pre and post-M&A after the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005. The study follows a systematic literature review (SLR) process where 128 research publications from 2005–2020 are examined after applying the required review protocols. SLR found a deficient practical contribution of the limited literature on the three perspectives, namely, from accounting, productivity and managerial perspectives at the international level. Furthermore, there is also a dearth of studies from the three perspectives for the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (IPI) post the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005. This review finds that there is a need for a unified approach for evaluating the success of M&A in IPI. Future studies can encourage research that ties these three perspectives to a common thread and furnishes a holistic approach for analysis. It will further bolster the research to provide practical insights to companies’ rooting for a robust financial analysis.

Task complexity moderates group synergy

Complexity—defined in terms of the number of components and the nature of the interdependencies between them—is clearly a relevant feature of all tasks that groups perform. Yet the role that task complexity plays in determining group performance remains poorly understood, in part because no clear language exists to express complexity in a way that allows for straightforward comparisons across tasks. Here we avoid this analytical difficulty by identifying a class of tasks for which complexity can be varied systematically while keeping all other elements of the task unchanged. We then test the effects of task complexity in a preregistered two-phase experiment in which 1,200 individuals were evaluated on a series of tasks of varying complexity (phase 1) and then randomly assigned to solve similar tasks either in interacting groups or as independent individuals (phase 2). We find that interacting groups are as fast as the fastest individual and more efficient than the most efficient individual for complex tasks but not for simpler ones. Leveraging our highly granular digital data, we define and precisely measure group process losses and synergistic gains and show that the balance between the two switches signs at intermediate values of task complexity. Finally, we find that interacting groups generate more solutions more rapidly and explore the solution space more broadly than independent problem solvers, finding higher-quality solutions than all but the highest-scoring individuals.

Cooperative Game-Based Synergistic Gains Allocation Methods for Wind-Solar-Hydro Hybrid Generation System with Cascade Hydropower

In order to encourage hybrid generation of multiple wind/solar/hydro power stakeholders, synergistic gains from hybrid generation should be allocated fairly, efficiently and reasonably to all power stakeholders. This paper explores how cooperative game theory resolves conflicts among multiple wind/solar/hydro power stakeholders. Elaborate allocation processes of the nucleolus, Shapley value and MCRS methods are presented in resolve synergistic gains allocation problems of wind–solar–hydro hybrid generation system with cascade hydropower. By analyzing properties such as existence, uniqueness and rationality, we find that both the Shapley value and MCRS methods are fair, efficient and rational allocation methods whereas the nucleolus method is limited by reservoir volume of hydro power stakeholders. Analyses on computational feasibility show that the Shapley value method may induce combinational explosion problem with the integration of more power stakeholders. A further application in Yalong River basin demonstrates that, compared with the Shapley value method, the MCRS method significantly simplifies allocating process and improves computational efficiency. Therefore, the MCRS method is recommend as a fair, efficient, rational and computational feasible allocation method for hybrid generation system with large number of wind/solar/hydro power stakeholders.

Exploration and attribution of synergistic gains from joint optimal operation of downstream Jinsha River cascade and Three Gorges cascade reservoirs for hydropower generation

Joint operation for multi-reservoir systems leads to synergistic gains. This study aims to explore and attribute the driven mechanism of synergism from joint operation of a multi-hydropower system. It quantified synergistic gains in spatial, temporal, and interannual scales by establishing and solving an individual and a joint reservoir operation model. It then proposed an attribution method for identifying the contribution of water released and water head to synergistic gains using total differential equation. Results of the case study of the downstream Jinsha River cascade and Three Gorges cascade reservoirs during the drawdown season show that: (1) synergistic gains generally occur in May and are mostly generated in Xiangjiaba and Gezhouba; (2) joint reservoir operation is driven by the rapid drawdown policy of Xiluodu and the Three Gorges in early May, which lowers down their water head and gains for most cases; (3) the main contribution factor to synergistic gains of Xiangjiaba and Gezhouba are water released and water head, respectively; and (4) the influence mechanisms of synergistic gains of Xiangjiaba and Gezhouba are jointly determined by their storage and power release capacity conditions. The study provides new insights for analyzing synergism of joint hydropower operations.

Motives for Mergers and Acquisitions in the Nepalese Perspective

<p>This paper attempts to identify the motives of mergers and acquisitions in the Nepalese financial sector.Questionnaire survey method is used to obtain the views of randomly selected 122 bankers of 21 post-merged financial institutions.A two-stage multivariate procedure is used to identify the important factors that drive the merger of financial institutions.In the first stage, an exploratory factor analysis is performed using ten statements that were put in the Likert scale in the questionnaire. In the second stage, important motives of mergers are determined by conducting an ordinary least squares regression using the factors extracted from factor analysis. It checks the internal consistency and reliability of the data using the Cronbach’s Alpha. The paper concludes hat the three most important motives for mergers of Nepalese financial institutions are: (i)meeting the regulatory requirement of paid up capital, (ii) realization of economies of scale and scope, and (iii) generation of efficiencies due to synergistic gains.</p><p> <strong><em>Economic Literature</em></strong><em>, </em>Vol. XIII August 2016, page: 9-18</p><p> </p>

Productivity and Spillover effect of merger and acquisitions in Malaysia

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the productivity and spillover effect of Malaysian horizontal merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the long run. Design/methodology/approach – In terms of analytical tools, economic value added (EVA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are used. Findings – The results of this study reveal that M&As in the absence of antitrust laws could be driven by managerial self-interest to create market power instead of realizing synergistic gains. Also, in Malaysia, the non-merging rival firms have significantly higher productivity improvement than the control bidder firms, and therefore, this study has identified the spillover effect as a behavior of M&A reaction. Originality/value – This paper differs from previous studies in that it attempts not only to examine the real long-term gains of horizontal M&A activities in Malaysia but also the spillover effects of M&A activities on similar but non-merging firms.