Mergers and acquisitions represent the ultimate in change for a business. Despite this, it is common knowledge that mergers and acquisitions do fail and they do not necessarily create shareholder value. The main aim of this piece of research work was to contribute to the general body of knowledge in the area of failure rates, and the perspectives on why mergers and acquisitions fail. The objective was to investigate from literature on the failure rates and perspectives on why M and As fail, present the various discussions and arguments on the subject matter, and then catalog them for researchers and students in this particular field. It was found that the integration stage of the whole merger and acquisition process was the most problematic area which contributes to merger and acquisition failure, and that the problem in the integration stage has to do with the human factor (the employees-coping with cultural differences, politics, lack of effective communication, etc). Another factor that occurred most after the human factor is poor strategies that are rolled out after the deal is sealed. Again, M and A failure rate is very high; averaging about 50%, regardless of the initial high hopes.

http://www.issr-journals.org/links/papers.php?journal=ijias&application=pdf&article=IJIAS-15-135-02

Mergers and acquisitions failure rates and perspectives on why they fail

Computing has great potential for impacting favorably the rising costs of health care and many other aspects of the health care delivery system. Application of computers in health care has not kept pace with available technology. One substantial factor in this relative lack of progress is the need for more and better trained health computing professionals. Although a number of graduate and post-doctoral programs do exist, these have had little identifiable impact. A part of this problem is due to the fact that career rewards are lacking because the discipline has not been well defined and there is no concrete professional identity among health computing specialists. The ACM Curriculum Sub-Committee on Health Computing Education was founded in the belief that a model curriculum for health computing could provide the foundation and the needed impetus for acceptance of health computing as a discipline or profession. The group has been working since June, 1977, to establish such a model curriculum, and this paper reports on the curriculum status. The group has evolved a core curriculum and has outlined the four specialty areas, or tracks, in which graduates may work. The core curriculum is described, and the probable career paths and training proposed for each of the tracks are discussed.

Health Computing: Curriculum for an emerging profession - report of the ACM curriculum committee on health computing education

/pdf/the-u-s-colombia-free-trade-agreement-a-historical-placement-bhgxeg0ab6.pdf

The U.S. - Colombia free trade agreement - A historical placement of the FTA

It is argued that effects of OD interventions depend on the type of product an organization is concerned with (end vs. process), the type of organiza tion (input us. output focused), and the field of forces in the situation (driving vs. restraining). OD results depend on accuracy of a system analysis, intervening in the correct place, and getting people to believe that positive effects will result. Those involved are classed as "troops," "managers," "resisters," "scientists," and "action researchers." OD practitioners should try to act as action researchers. Key evaluation questions are "What really happened?" "What has been learned?" and "Did the boss like it?"

Can Team Building Increase Productivity? or How Can Something That Feels So Good Not Be Worthwhile?

This paper discusses the contents of an introductory course in the applications of computer technology in the health sciences. A set of instructional goals is described, designed to meet the basic needs of the health professional involved in understanding and developing computer-based applications in his environment. From these goals, a list of specific objectives is constructed and presented as the student's minimum level of achievement for the course. The implementation, evaluation and impact of the course are reviewed.

An introductory course in the applications of computer technology in the health sciences

There are few who, at one time or another, have not read the Odyssey and followed the travels and various adventures of Odysseus (Ulysses). It will be recalled that among his narrow escapes, Ulysses passed the island of the Sirens, located near the west coast of Italy. If it were not for his quick thinking (he plugged his crew's ears and tied himself to the ship's mast), the songs of the island inhabitants would have lured Ulysses and his ships to an untimely (and permanent) stop at the island. Modern-day Ulysses (commonly referred to as consumers) are constantly lured by Sirens, whose call issues forth from pages of advertising. Recently added to these various \"calls\" are advertisements for medical computer systems directed toward the potential \"small system\" physician user. As ear plugs, rope, and masts are sometimes unavailable, there is virtue in examining these islands of song to aid in distinguishing the rocky shoals from the safe harbors.

Song of the sirens

A professional discipline, in its embryonic stages of development yields practitioners who, through interest and/or circumstance, avail themselves of fragmented knowledge from other disciplines, synthesize intellectual common denominators, and apply these common denominators consistently to a multiplicity of problem situations. Eventually, the embryonic discipline will generate additional knowledge from within, which is generally considered to be a necessary precursor to formal acknowledgment by society that a new discipline has in fact emerged.

Architecture for a graduate level educational program in the area of computer systems in medicine

Most researchers will agree that normally there exist a variety of ways of approaching the solution to a problem or comprehension of a process. One interesting approach was noted by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a physician whose medical identity was overshadowed by his literary pursuit of crime detection through the character of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Holmes, of course, represented the ne plus ultra of the detective profession and by inference, the problem-solving business. When asked by his colleague Doctor Watson how he applied his intellectual sleight-of-hand to consistently arrive at the correct conclusion, Holmes' reply was clear and to the point. Holmes advised Watson that the resolution of any problem could easily be discerned by elimination of the possible, and then whatever remained, however improbable, was surely the solution. This problem-solution or process-comprehension formula has not gone unnoticed. Indeed there are ample contemporary examples of a much more efficient variation of the formula which states: the most direct approach to resolving a problem is to immediately implement that solution which is most improbable. Lest this variant of the \"Holmesian process-comprehension technique\" be applied to technology diffusion within the medical computing arena (there are many who believe it already has), the purpose of this Perspective is to examine technology diffusion in medical computing and to offer some observations concerning this process.

The case of technology diffusion.

The confidential nature of the exchange of information between physician and patient is fundamental to the success of the medical encounter. Accordingly, except in those societies in which personal freedoms have been bankrupted in the service of political exigencies, this private character of personal medical data per se has seldom come under attack. Notwithstanding the general agreement as to the importance of confidentiality, medical data nevertheless exist within an increasingly complex health care delivery system buttressed by an equally esoteric, information science technology. Consequently, confidentiality of medical data has surfaced as an issue not in terms of the virtue of the concept but rather in terms of preservation of the concept. The most recent assault upon the preservation of the concept of confidentiality of medical data is exposed in the July 21, 1978, issue of the FederalRegister (43:31371). In this issue, a proposed rule entitled \"Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records\" is described. This rule would, in effect, require employers to make available all employee health records to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Significantly, the proposed rule indicates the transfer of all employee health data, not only those data related to health hazard exposure or occupational health standards. If one considers the enormous attention given the issue of personal privacy over the past several years, in both the public and the private sector, one can only conclude that the OSHA and NIOSH administrators have recently been released from a time capsule or have returned from a 5-year vacation.

Daniel K. Harris

Papers

Song of the sirens

Architecture for a graduate level educational program in the area of computer systems in medicine

The case of technology diffusion.

Confidentiality—Appropriate, but ...