Mergers and Acquisitions in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Pharmaceutical Industry Introduction Mergers are done to expand the business and improve profitability by companies with mutual consent. Acquisitions occur when one company takes over another which may be friendly or hostile. Mergers and Acquisitions (MA) are actively taking place in the pharmaceutical and biotech organizations and this trend is expected to prevail for the next one to two years. The bio-pharma industry is dynamic and is currently changing focus from RD to licensing and outsourcing. So before any MA activity a strategy formulation is very essential with emphasis on creating a competitive advantage for the business. Mergers and Acquisitions (MA) are generally done with the following motives: to exploit economy of scale, to eliminate duplicated functions, to share managerial expertise, synergy, taxation, market power because of decreased competition. MA that are done with reduced competition as motive are socially unacceptable and illegal as they lead to monopolistic scenarios. The MA may not be successful in generating returns if the deal was closed with a high price due to impulsive and enthusiastic deals. MA also leads to diversification which has proved to be beneficial in stabilizing the returns. A merger or acquisition is an extremely stressful process for those involved: job losses, restructuring, and the imposition of a new corporate culture and identity can create uncertainty, anxiety and resentment among a companys employees. (Appelbaum 2000) Companies focus on the legal and financial issues involved with the MA and fail to pay attention to the long term effects like corporate identity and communication which greatly influence the employee motivation and productivity. The pharmaceutical industry The Indian Pharmaceutical Sector is currently the largest amongst the developing nations. There is a worldwide structural trend evolving in pharmaceuticals and Indian companies play a key role in this framework, driven by their superior biotech and drug synthesis skills, high quality and vertically integrated manufacturing assets, differentiated business models and significant cost advantages. Companies across the world are reaching out to their counterparts to take mutual advantage of the others core competencies in RD, Manufacturing, Marketing and the niche opportunities offered by the changing global pharmaceutical environment. (Shukla 2006) The pharmaceutical sector offers an array of growth opportunities. This sector has always been dynamic in nature and the pace of change has never been as rapid as it is now. To adapt to these changing trends, the Indian pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have evolved distinctive business models to take advantage of their inherent strengths and the Borderless nature of this sector. (Shukla 2006) Environmental factors The changing environment in the bio-pharma industry is driving an increased activity of Mergers and acquisitions. In 2008, sales growth of prescribed drugs globally has reached the lowest rate in since 2001. Along with this slowdown, the pharmaceuticals sector is faced with an increasingly challenging environment resulting from increasing patent expirations, growing generic sales, reducing new drug pipelines and stricter regulations. The biotechnology sector also faces increased regulatory challenges as well as shortage of credit. The patents are getting expired and there is increased competition for generic drugs. Patients are becoming more aware and manage their own conditions. The healthcare models are thus changing. With such environmental pressures increasing the companies resort to MA as a tool for corporate growth. MA do not exceed their cost of capital. Still companies go for MA because of some strategies like increased market strength consolidating for cost reduction broadening geographic coverage pipeline stuffing (Coles 2002) Some recent MA The US and European generics companies are scouting for alliances/buyouts at the back end of the chain, which would allow them to offset any manufacturing cost advantage held by companies in the developing markets. The Indian companies are looking at the front-end integration as building a front-end distribution set-up from scratch could take significant time. (Shukla 2006) There are also entry barriers for companies from the developing countries and acquisitions make it easy for these organizations to find a foothold in the developed markets. For instance, there is a cultural and language barrier in Europe and Europe is high on the radar of Indian pharmaceutical companies. The sheer heterogeneity of Europe and the fragmented nature of its pharmaceutical market make acquisitions an easy route for entry into this region and the US being the largest pharmaceutical market in the world will always interest the Indian pharma companies for its sheer size. (Shukla 2006) The acquisitions of RPG Aventis (by Ranbaxy) and Alpharma (by Cadila) in France are clear examples of acquisitions proving to be a drain on the companys profitability and return ratios for several years post acquisition. In several other cases acquisitions by Indian generic companies are small and have been primarily to expand geographical reach while at the same time, shifting production from the acquired units to their cost-effective Indian plants. A few have been to develop a bouquet of products. Other than Wockhardts acquisition of CP Pharma and Esparma, it has taken at least three years for the other global acquisitions to see break-even. Most of the acquiring companies have to pay greater attention to post merger integration as this is a key for success of an acquisition and Indian companies have to wake up to this fact. Also, with the increasing spate of acquisitions, target valuations have substantially increased making it harder for Indian companies to fund. In January 2009, Pfizer entered into a merger agreement with Wyeth valued at US$68 billion. The deal is to be financed through a combination of cash, stock and debt. A consortium of banks will provide US$22.5 billion for the MA. In March 2009, Roche acquired the remaining 44 percent of Genentech shares for an all-cash US$46.8 billion deal. Prior to the deal, Roche raised US$39 billion through bond sales. In March 2009, Merck Co. acquired Schering-Plough in a cash-stock deal worth US$41.1 billion. The cash component includes US$9.8 billion from Mercks cash reserves and US$8.5 billion committed by JP Morgan Chase. (MA: Outlook for pharmaceuticals 2009) If a company was acquired for its RD pipeline and development projects or platform technology, in majority of cases, the acquiring company failed to derive full benefits and most of the projects were later discontinued or terminated. Diversified companies like Roche, JJ, Abbott and Novartis with devices, generics and diagnostic performed better as compared to pure pharmaceutical RD driven company like Pfizer and Merck. Strategies for successful MA The industrys experience shows that megamergers often do not produce the intended synergies, but rather tend to erode shareholder value and create major integration challenges, while not achieving improved new drug pipelines. (Alternatives to mega mergers 2009) Tetenbaum (1999) suggests an alternative set of seven key practices to assist with a successful merger or acquisition: Close involvement of Human Resources managers in the acquisition process; they should have a say in whether or not the deal goes ahead. Building organisational capacity by ensuring that close attention is paid to the retention and recruitment of employees during the acquisition. Ensuring that the integration is focused on achieving the desired effect (for example, cost savings), while at the same time ensuring that the core strengths and competences of the two companies are not damaged by the transition. Carefully managing the integration of the organisations cultures. Completing the acquisition process quickly, since productivity is harmed by the disorganisation and demoralisation that inevitably occur while the change is underway. Communicating effectively with everyone who will be affected by the change. Other authors agree that being truthful, open and forthright during an acquisition is vital in helping employees to cope with the transition. (Appelbaum 2000) Developing a clear, standardised integration plan. Tetenbaum cites the example of Cisco Systems, which, like GE Capital, makes large numbers of acquisitions and has been able to learn from its experiences and build up tried-and-tested processes for carrying them out successfully. (Tetenbaum 1999) Conclusion The companies may be heading towards more megamergers of the scale seen in the recent past or they may move towards smaller strategic acquisitions. Deals in the biotechnology sector could increase further as small and mid-size biotechnology companies become increasingly willing to enter into deals at value prices. Large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are scouting around for deals at much lower valuations, and the current trend of MA in generics is one to watch for in the future. Although there are many different opinions on precisely what causes so many mergers and acquisitions to fail, and on how these problems can be avoided, there are certain points that most analysts appear to agree on. It is widely accepted, for instance, that the human factor is a major cause of difficulty in making the integration between two companies work successfully. If the transition is carried out without sensitivity towards the employees who may suffer as a result of it, and without awareness of the vast differences that may exist between corporate cultures, the result is a stressed, unhappy and uncooperative workforce and consequently a drop in productivity.

Homosexuality in the Military during World War II

Military has a long history with the allegations of homosexuality. They both have always made strange bedfellows. The leadership of armed forces all over the world, usually traditionalists, has in general seen homosexuals as morally wrong, and a threat to solidity. At the start of a war the enormous task of mobilizing thousands of soldiers surpassed concerns about the sexual behavior of troops.But in the case of prolonged war those military men who are found in disgraceful conducts such as homosexuality become a problems for the senior military leadership and they become increasingly determined to rid the services of these types of military men. Paul Jackson’s book – One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II – has discussed this problem in very excellent literary style. In 1990, Allan Berube in his study — Coming out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two –discussed experiences of gays and lesbians in the military of the United States during the World War II.(Berube 1990, 1-22) The reading of Berube’s book had a great excitement and compelled me to read Paul Jackson's book on the World War II experiences of surprising Canadian servicemen (and women). Jackson’s book — One of the Boys — is a deeply researched study of homosexuality in the Canadian military during the years of the World War II. The book contains the result of hours of pouring over court-martial transcripts, police reports, psychiatric assessments, and dozens of interviews.One of the Boys is one of the deeply research researched peaces of writings on the issue as the literature about any feature of gay and lesbian history from the pre-Stonewall period (or to use the Canadian equivalent, before Trudeau's Omnibus bill) requires widespread investigative literary work. No doubt it was not an easy task to discuss the coded disguising of homosexuality and Jackson has done a wonderful job while d eciphering the coded phrases that were used to disguise homosexuality.In the hypermasculine, heteronormative world of the Armed Forces, Jackson has exposed a rich tapestry of homosexual experiences, and thus has made a considerable contribution both to queer history and to the social history of the World War II. In One of the Boys, Jackson seems very careful in choosing words. He avoided using the term gay, which was rarely used in its modern sense during the World War II. He used those terms that were familiar at the time of World War II such as homosexual, queer, fairy or fruit.It seems that Jackson intentionally addressed the subject of homosexuality that he broadly defined to be â€Å"the ability to derive sexual pleasure from members of one's own sex† (Jackson 148). By this way in fact Jackson refused to narrowly limit homosexuality to those who self-identified as such, or to exclude those who engaged in homosexual sex for bodily pleasure, rather than emotional love. Jac kson has not included in the book the controversial debates over whether homosexuality is innate or learned behavior.For the reasons of this work, he casts a wide net to cover the very diverse personifications of homosexuality in the Canadian military during Second World War. To be sure, as Jackson points out, military psychiatrists often decided that a person was not a â€Å"homosexual,† despite overwhelming proof that the person had engaged in same-sex sexual activities, and often regardless of the claims of the man himself that he was homosexual (Jackson 145).While the analysis in One of the Boys of the queer experience of World War II is inspiring, there are a few areas in which Jackson’s work might have been stronger. Unlike Allan Berube's work, Jackson has a very small portion in his book about female homosexuality. However, he seems justified in this omission partly on methodological grounds, since the Canadian military did not target women for courts martial or psychiatric evaluation on this basis. Given that these are Jackson’s main primary sources, one can see how this could pose a major challenge.In terms of oral history, he asserts that lesbians could not be found to be interviewed because the Canadian Legion Magazine would not allow the word â€Å"sexuality† in his advertisements, and that as a gay man he found it difficult to find lesbians to interview (Jackson 22). However, it can be said that this is a rather unsatisfying basis for not including lesbians in the book. Certainly, it might have been better to simply argue that the experience of homosexual women in the World War II is likely to have been qualitatively different from that of men, and consequently out of the range of the book.Jackson included the occasional reference to the experiences of lesbians in the Wrens. It can be little disappointment for those hoping Jackson’s book will provide the comprehensive examination of lesbianism in World War II cal led for in Ruth Roach Pierson's â€Å"They're Still Women After All†. (Pierson 1986, 219) Although the works of Berube and Jackson are good analyses of the subject, but they differ on many occasion.As the Canadian experience of the World War II was clearly different from that of the United States, and Jackson clearly indicates why and how his methodology is different from that of Berube, it is likely that many readers of Jackson's book will be well known with that of Berube. In some respects, the differences and similarities between the two countries are well addressed. For instance, the Canadian regimental system, organized by region, is different against the US buddy system that in views of Berube provided cover for homosexual relationships, and certainly fostered them.On the other hand, Jackson also is of the view that contrary to the American experience found by Berube and John d’Emilio, discharges for homosexuality did not lead to postwar gay activism among Canadi an old boys. (d'Emilio 1983, 1-7) However, it would have been useful to test some of the other conclusions of the American experience. For example, to what amount did Canadian veterans who had homosexual experiences during the World War II stay in urban centers where queer networks survived after demobilization?How did the fight between psychiatrists and military police for authority over the issue of homosexuality play out and what were the larger impacts of this for the psychiatric profession? Berube seems arguing in his book that US psychiatrists went far towards setting up their professional credentials during the World War II; it would be attractive to know if the same held true for their Canadian counterparts and the degree to which identifying homosexuality was important for this.Jackson’s book reads almost as if it is two books merged together: one a policy analysis, the other a social history. The first three chapters of â€Å"One of the Boys† deal with how th e different sections of the Canadian military tried to regulate homosexuality. Chapter I looks at the quite confused efforts of the military to describe its policy on homosexuality. Chapter II looks at the court martial proceedings of those accused with homosexuality-related legal offences, while Chapter III discusses how military psychiatrists attempted to declare their authority over homosexuality as a medical issue.The latter two chapters are oriented around a systematic reading of their respective primary sources: court martial transcripts and psychiatric evaluations. Jackson methodically attracts the attentions of his readers and takes them through the various phases of the court martial and psychiatric assessment processes, providing detailed and personalized accounts of how these two sections of the military dealt with the issue of homosexuality, the first as a moral and legal issue, and the second is trying to make it a medical issue.Jackson’s arguments in his book ma ke it clear that there was a serious unwillingness on the part of authorities to discharge homosexuals from military service. Courts martial were used primarily to discourage homosexual activity, but rarely led to the discharge of noncommissioned servicemen. More commonly, the soldiers would be sentenced to serve time in a custody, after which they would be allowed to return to service. Officers were more likely to be discharged if guilty was established, but were conversely much less likely to be convicted.Jackson’s book suggests that the reason here matches the reason as to why psychiatrists were so unwilling, more so than the courts martial, to state that a man was homosexual. The medical model of homosexuality constructed a homosexual as an antisocial individual, a standpoint reflected in the moral standards of the court martial officers. Yet it was hard to settle this conception with the productive, healthy men who stood under examination; so, many were released, especia lly when they had fellow officers and servicemen keen to vow for their good character innocence.The first chapter of One of the Boys discusses in details this contrast between official military policy denouncing homosexuality on the one hand and the routine leniency towards homosexual behavior on the other. This attitude of military examines the various facets of the military's policy on homosexuality as crafted by the medical services, the National Film Board, the military police, and the RCAF. Generally the first chapter presents a rather random and inconsistent approach to homosexual behavior in the Canadian military: ruthless investigations on the one hand, routine denials on the other.The chapter highlights amusingly in Jackson's satirical â€Å"Routine Order† on homosexuality, in which he describes the de facto military policy on homosexuality, in the absence of an official one. Boiled down to essentials, the de facto policy was to ignore or reject homosexual behavior u nless the performer was otherwise a misfit or a behavioral problem. Any punishment should be light for men in combat units, and heavy for noncombatants, unless they were well liked.Again and again, Jackson discovers that the Canadian military attempted to ignore homosexuality unless individuals were otherwise problematic or were flaunting their sexuality. This silent policy followed from 1940s beginnings of sexuality: all military men were supposed to be male, masculine, and heterosexual, and in the absence of overwhelming proof to the contrary, would be treated as such. In the second half of One of the Boys, Jackson focuses on the social history of homosexuality in the military during the World War II.Chapters IV and V look at the experiences of queer servicemen in Canada and overseas, and chapter VI looks at the impact of homosexuality on esprit de corps, unity, and confidence. The chapters of the second half of the book rely a lot on oral histories and war diaries in addition to the sources used for the earlier chapters, and paint bright pictures of the wartime experience for queer servicemen. Certainly, these sections bring to mind Desmond Morton's excellent work on the experience of Canadian soldiers in the World War I.(Morton 1993, 7-15) In conclusion it can be said that an inspiring amount of research has gone into Jackson’s book, and it would be a remiss if one neglected to mention the visual component of One of the Boys. The book presents an impressive array of war art, including many works by gay war artists that demonstrate aspects of homosexuality and the homosocial bonds that formed during the war. Many of these pieces illustrate homoeroticism and same-sex emotional bonds in the armed forces more clearly than a chapter of text can.Combined with images from drag shows, stills from NFB films, and photos of young military men together, these pictures add a rich visual element to the text. Jackson should be praised also for his use of frank, op en language in unfolding cases of homosexuality during the World War II. Not only does this reflect the actual language used in the records he found, but it is appropriate to the sexually charged material he is dealing with. The book tells the story with frankness and humor. Works Cited Berube, Allan. , Coming out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two (New York: MacMillan, 1990).d'Emilio, John. , Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983). Jackson, Paul. , â€Å"One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II† McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press 2004. Morton, Desmond. , When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War (Toronto: Random House, 1993). Pierson, Ruth Roach. , â€Å"They're Still Women After All†: The Second World War and Canadian Womanhood (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986), p. 219.

Restaurant †Eating Essay

One of my favorite restaurants is Olive Garden. Without going to Italy to taste their traditional food just come in to Olive Garden and experience the Italian food. They offer wide varieties of Italians food. While the restaurants are similar in the type of food they prepare the difference in their atmosphere, menu and services will assist the customers in making the big decision on which one they like to satisfy their appetite. Olive Garden is the perfect place for a meal if you’re looking for both exquisite and casual dining. The atmosphere is very comforting and the mood is relaxed with the dà ©cor being contemporary but restrained. The tables are in a good distance apart so the diners are given their privacy, but at the same time do not feel isolated from others. When my first time walked in their restaurant, I said to my self that this is a place that I can bring my family to enjoy our dinner together. Even though, I have to spend time waiting to get the table, but it is worth to wait. While the atmosphere is a place to go so do their services. The staffs are friendly, welcoming and efficient. They are always willing to go to lengths to help make your dining experience as memorable as possible. My family and I were very new to the restaurant; the waitress came make us feel like home. She took us to the table and asked to order the drink. She greed us and told us that she will be your table service for tonight. The service was very knowledgeable of the menu and was very polite while taking order. Olive Garden offers wide varieties of Italian food. You can order from an exclusive range of starters, main courses and desserts. The dishes are quite reasonable price range from $10 to $25 including entrà ©e and dessert. I was order Chicken Alfredo which is my favorite. While we were waiting for our main course the entrà ©e came with the salad and breadsticks and also the wine are exclusively sold only at Olive Garden for their customer to taste; then our order came in a short time after. While we were eating the waitress came asked for drink refill or how did we enjoy the food. We were really enjoying our dinner at Olive Garden where we can enjoy good food, a place where we can relax and the staffs treat us as family. We brought friend and family their many time after and everything is treating us the same way even better. This is our favorite Italian restaurant of all time.

Michael Faraday, Inventor of the Electric Motor

Michael Faraday (born Sept. 22, 1791) was a British physicist and chemist who is best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis. His biggest breakthrough in electricity was his invention of the electric motor. Early Life Born in 1791 to a poor family in the Newington, Surrey village of South  London, Faraday had a difficult childhood riddled with poverty. Faradays mother stayed at home to take care of Michael and his three siblings, and his father was a blacksmith who was often too ill to work steadily, which meant that the children frequently went without food. Despite this, Faraday grew up a curious child, questioning everything and always feeling an urgent need to know more. He learned to read at Sunday school for the Christian sect the family belonged to called the Sandemanians, which greatly influenced the way he approached and interpreted nature. At the age of 13, he became an errand boy for a bookbinding shop in London, where he would read every book that he bound and decided that one day he would write his own. At this bookbinding shop, Faraday became interested in the concept of energy, specifically force, through an article he read in the third edition of Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Because of his early reading and experiments with the idea of force, he was able to make important discoveries in electricity later in life and eventually became a chemist and physicist. However, it wasnt until Faraday attended chemical lectures by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London that he was able to finally pursue his studies in chemistry and science. After attending the lectures, Faraday bound the notes he had taken and sent them to Davy to apply for an apprenticeship under him, and a few months later, he began as Davys lab assistant. Apprenticeships and Early Studies in Electricity Davy was one of the leading chemists of the day when Faraday joined him in 1812, having discovered sodium and potassium and studying the decomposition of muriatic (hydrochloric) acid that yielded the discovery of chlorine. Following the atomic theory of Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich, Davy and Faraday began to interpret the molecular structure of such chemicals, which would greatly influence Faradays ideas about electricity. When Faradays second apprenticeship under Davy ended in late 1820, Faraday knew  about as much chemistry as anyone else at the time, and he used this newfound knowledge to continue experiments in the fields of electricity and chemistry. In 1821, he married Sarah Barnard and took up permanent residence at the Royal Institution, where he would conduct research on electricity and magnetism. Faraday built two devices to produce what he called electromagnetic rotation, a continuous circular motion from the circular magnetic force around a wire. Unlike his contemporaries at the time, Faraday interpreted electricity as more of a vibration than the flow of water through pipes and began to experiment based off of this concept. One of his first experiments after discovering electromagnetic rotation was attempting to pass a ray of polarized light through an electrochemically decomposing solution to detect the intermolecular strains the current would produce. However, throughout the 1820s, repeated experiments yielded no results. It would be another 10 years before Faraday made a huge breakthrough in chemistry. Discovering Electromagnetic Induction In the next decade, Faraday  began his great series of experiments in which he discovered electromagnetic induction. These experiments would form the basis of the modern electromagnetic technology thats still used today. In 1831, using his induction ring—the first electronic transformer—Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries: electromagnetic induction, the induction or generation of electricity in a wire by means of the electromagnetic effect of a current in another wire. In the second series of experiments in September 1831 he discovered magneto-electric induction: the production of a steady electric current. To do this, Faraday attached two wires through a sliding contact to a copper disc. By rotating the disc between the poles of a horseshoe magnet, he obtained a continuous direct current, creating the first generator. From his experiments came devices that led to the modern electric motor, generator, and transformer. Continued Experiments, Death, and Legacy Faraday continued his  electrical  experiments throughout much of his later life. In 1832, he proved that the electricity induced from a magnet, voltaic electricity produced by a battery, and static electricity were all the same. He also did significant work in electrochemistry, stating the First and Second Laws of Electrolysis, which laid the foundation for that field and another modern industry. Faraday passed away in his home in Hampton Court on August 25, 1867, at the age of 75. He was buried  at Highgate Cemetery in North London.  A memorial plaque was set up in his honor at Westminster Abbey Church, near Isaac Newtons burial spot.   Faradays influence extended to a great many leading scientists. Albert Einstein was known to have had a portrait of Faraday on his wall in his study, where it hung  alongside pictures of legendary physicists Sir Isaac Newton  and  James Clerk Maxwell. Among those who praised his achievements were Earnest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics. Of Faraday he once stated, When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.