Critical essay

Order Description
“The key benefit of Mergers and Acquisitions, over Strategic Alliances, is that they lead to the development of and access to new knowledge, particularly as this external development activity is fundamental in an organisation’s strategic development of knowledge.”

Critically evaluate this statement, using academic literature and current business examples.
Guidance

Introduction for Both Essays:

Include relevant definitions (but not too many, try not to use too many quotes in your essays. They are good for definitions, but you need to re-write information completely in your own words for the rest of your work)

Set the scene – Tell me what you are going to say. What is this essay about? How will the statement or questions be addressed? (First this essay will look at… Next there will be an evaluation of… etc.)

Main Body of Essay – Alliances, Mergers, Acquisitions and Knowledge:

“(Part 1) The key benefit of Mergers and Acquisitions, over Strategic Alliances, is that they lead to the development of and access to new knowledge, (Part 2) particularly as this external development activity is fundamental in an organisation’s strategic development of knowledge.”
Critically evaluate this statement, using academic literature and current business examples.

PART 1:
• Are mergers and acquisitions better than strategic alliances at developing or accessing new knowledge?
• Or are they equally good at accessing and developing new knowledge?
• What are some of the problems related to knowledge access for alliances, mergers and acquisitions?
• Provide some further comparison of mergers, acquisitions and alliances, are they only about accessing knowledge?
• Don’t forget to use current business examples to support the points that you make in your critical analysis throughout.

PART 2:
• Are alliances, mergers and acquisitions the only ways in which you can create, develop and access new knowledge?
• What are the other ways organisations can do this? What about Knowledge Environments?
• Again, could link to some of the problems of knowledge sharing and creation faced by organisations previously mentioned. Are the problems the same with internal development of knowledge as well as external?
• How does governance link into this? How does good governance help both the sharing of knowledge and success of alliances, mergers and acquisitions?
• Again, don’t forget the current business examples throughout.
Conclusions

• Provide a summary of the main points of the critique in the main body of the essay.
• Tell me what you have said
• Do not include any new material in the conclusion, other than whether the evidence presented in the main body of the essay supports or opposes the question or statement you are answering.
• Make sure you link the conclusions to the statement or question.

General Points:

• Do not write in the first person (I or we)
• Do not overuse quotes – rewrite in your own words (a couple of quotes for key definitions are fine)
• No headings, diagrams or tables required
• No subheadings required
• No contents page required
• Use journals that I will upload
• Use current examples 2014 – Now
• Do not use general website reference to support your critique
• Academic Journal Articles and CREDIBLE Industry Reports should be the main focus of the reading for this essay.
• MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE QUESTION OR RELATE THE ESSAY TO THE STATEMENT CHOSEN. This is not an opportunity to tell everything you know about a subject, without relating it to the question.
• Harvard Referencing is to be used throughout