We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Mergers, Takeovers, and a Property Ethic.
- Authors
di Norcia, Vincent
- Abstract
The recent takeover and merger trend cries out for ethical evaluation. This essay proposes a model for evaluating them in terms of their impact on a firm's immediate stakeholders: investors, owners, management and employees. Since mergers and takeovers are `Transfers of Ownership of Firms' (TOFs) they entail a property ethic of ownership, control, securing stakeholder interests, and defining which stakeholders should exercise these rights. I use the model to evaluate two fictional cases, a friendly merger and a hostile takeover. The results show that neither TOF serves all interests equitably. Since the control structure of the private firm is legitimized by its interest structure, I reason that both should be reformed. Both rest on a broader economic rationale; but it is controverted. Accordingly, the economic and ethical evaluation of TOFs, I conclude, both entail the democratic reform of the control structure of the firm.
- Subjects
MERGERS &; acquisitions; BUSINESS ethics; STAKEHOLDERS; BUSINESS finance; BUSINESS planning; INVESTORS; ANTITAKEOVER strategies; STRATEGIC planning; CORPORATE raiders; ORGANIZATIONAL structure; CORPORATE reorganizations
- Publication
Journal of Business Ethics, 1988, Vol 7, Issue 1/2, p109
- ISSN
0167-4544
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/BF00382004