Should Compulsory Military Service Be Abolished?

Should compulsory military service be abolished ? (ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY) The problem of compulsory military service has always been a controversial issue. Some people strongly support this idea while others are definitely against it. Although it has been claimed that the military service should be compulsory because of its benefits to governments, compulsory military service shouldn’t be abolished because of its limitations to citizens. It is commonly maintained that compulsory military service affects government’s economy in positive way, yet military service is cheaper than mandotary in long-term.Supporters of compulsory military service believe that mandotary military service is a must for countries to develop their economy. The choices of developing countries could be a good example for benefits of compulsory military service. Developing countries mostly prefer compulsory military service to grow their economy. Portugal is one of the these countries. Since Portugal m oved on to free military service there is a rapidly increase in civilian wages. However United States shows that countries can have both powerful economy and strong military power despite using free military service.According to Chapman, the cost of a volunteer is more expensive than full-time soldiers. (2002) Another argument widely claimed against abolishing compulsory military service is based on the assumption that young people could improve themselves physically and psychologically, pn the other hand it may cause harmful consequences on many sensitive young men. Proponents of compulsory military service claim that personality of young men would be developed during military service.They think that military service would make young men disciplined and principled. Laar stated â€Å"During the course of compulsory military service, a number of skills required for civilian life are acquired. † (2011) According to Kelty, Kleykamp and Segal, military service is an experience th at turns youth to adults. (2010) Nevertheless, compulsory military service may cause permanent problems in young people’s character and their lives. Forcing sensitive young men to strict the rules may lead to terrible damage to their psyche or even suicide.Citizens aren’t free to choose how they live in the countries using mandotary military service. They would be forced to something against their plans and they can’t live their lives how they wish. Other frequently heard arguments in support of compulsory military service is its necessity to protect national security against threats, yet it is unnecessary to maintain large armies because the strength of the country doesn’t depend on the manpower of an army; it is related to skills and knowledge of experts who are specially educated.A common claim is that compulsory military service is necessary to protect national security against threats. They think that the increased number of soldiers helps to fight a gainst terrorizm. It can frighten enemies to have a great number of soldiers. However, maintaining large permanent armies is not essential in our age because technology is developed. Nucleer weapons are one of the high-tech weapons and they can be operated by a small force.Professional soldiers are specially educated to operate complicated missles of an intercontinental range so the number of the soldiers is not so important. For exapmle Turkey is one of the countries that have increased number of soldiers but they can’t eliminate terrorizm in many years. In conclusion, best opinion would be forming smaller professional armies consisting of young men who like military life and who can easily adopt to hard conditions. Everyone should be granted freedom of choice and not forced to do something against his plans or nature.

responsibility essays

responsibility essays Being responsible refers to our ability to make decisions that serve our own interests and the interests of others. We first need to be responsible for ourselves before we can be responsible for others. In learning to be more responsible it is important that we know our limitations. It does not matter how smart we are, there is only so much responsibility that a person can handle. It is also important to remember that we are not responsible for things that are out of our control, for example, how other people feel or how they react to ourselves or others. Sharing responsibility for both success and failure can lead to increased responsibility to oneself and others. When you hear the word responsibility, what do you think of first? Many people think of the word BLAME, as in, Whose responsibility is this? I think of responsibility as seizing whats in front of you, exerting choice, and taking control. The real meaning of responsibility is the ability to respond. Its going out and creating what you want through personal choices. The responsibility that each of us has is that we are completely, 100% responsible for how our lives turn out. If you think that being responsible at all times is too hard or too easy, think again; the truth falls somewhere in between. Being responsible involves having some skills, a caring and open attitude, and a good sense of what we can and cannot do. We have a choice to pick out "duties." But I'm "responsible" for myself. You can't drink a glass of water for me. You can't eat a sandwich for me. You could cook a beautiful steak and put it in front of me, but you can't eat it for me, is that correct? And you can't go to the bathroom for me. So I'm "responsible" for all that. I'm responsible for how I feel. You can't think for me. You can't act for me. You can't do any of those things. I'm responsible for my own attitude and I have a duty to ot...

Plato’s Meno Essays

Plato’s Meno Essays Plato’s Meno Paper Plato’s Meno Paper Aen. 1. 1-7) Aeneid reflects live experience as though it were an object in a mirror. â€Å"There are two gates of Sleep, one said to be of horn, whereby the true shades pass with ease, the other all white ivory agleam without a flaw, and yet false dreams are sent through this one by the ghost to the upper world. Anchises now, his last instructions given, took son and Sibyl and let them go by the Ivory Gate. †(Virgil, Aeneid, Book VI, Lines 893-899). Aeneas left Hades to go back up to the mortal world through the gates of lies, and suggests for the rest of the world, that all of his actions are false. Indeed, it means that the entire world since the founding of Rome is but a lie. From our inner self we are different but we have put the mask of selfishness and absurdity. Humans like Dante in Divine Comedy are all lost in the woods; Midway along the journey of life I woke to find myself in the dark wood, For I have wondered from the straight path (Dante Alighieri, Canto 1, 3. Divine Comedy). We are all in this Western Civilization and at one point of time are asailed by beasts a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf; allegory of temptations towards sin and once fallen into it are unable to then find ourselves towrds â€Å"diritta via† ie salvation. Though Dante realized that he is ruining himself, and is falling into a deep place, but he is not able to come out of the situation himself and he is taken out of it by Vigil who took him towards the pilgrim from Inferno means Hell, To purogato and finally to Paradiso where his Journey ends ie he meet divinity. â€Å"so I searched that strange sight: I wished to see the way in which our human effigy suited the circle and found place in it†-(Dante, Paradiso 33, Divine Comedy). Western Civilization also believes in the choice to live full to his capacity and assume a place in heaven upon death, but when they are fallen to temptation, they suffer in Hell for eternity, but they do get a chance for repentance, allowing them to enter Purgatory, and finally witness God. This gives man inspiration, insight, imagination and abilities to understand or to grasp the realities (actualities/potentialities) around him. Gilgamesh had both the divine as well as devilish qualities that what humans of Western Civilizations are. In the quest to fulfill our materialistic and sexual desires we are moving away from attaining the mutual satisfaction, thus according to me the Epic Gilgamesh is mirror to the Western Civilizations, whereby with the Scientific and Technological advancements we are moving in the pursuit of attaining the immortality but it is the immortality we cannot attain because death is destiny we all have to lead ourselves too. The death is glorified even in Illiad and Aenies. BIBILOGRAPHY The Epic of Gilgamesh, The earliest Sumerian versions dated s early as the Third dynasty of Ur ie 2100 BC-2000 BC). Homer, probably 8th century BC Illiad Virgil, 19th B. C. E, Aeneid The Meno, 380, B. C. E, Plato Dante Alighieri, 1308-1321, The Divine Comedy

Aspects of Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Aspects of Psychology - Essay Example The validity of the study can be accounted both by the objective nature of the study which includes behavioral patterns and the subjective nature that includes the experiences and feelings of an individual. The data collected also accounts for the uniqueness and hence the validity of the study. However, as the case study results cannot be replicated, the reliability measures of the study are generally very low. When the case study pertains to a specific individual the results cannot be generalized to a larger population as they cannot be considered to represent a particular population. The major advantages of the case study method includes the following: in-depth analysis of a case may at times provide insights to a new phenomena which in turn could stimulate a new research, additionally these new findings can contradict existing theories and lead to establishment of newer treatment modalities, a detailed view of the process or phenomena can be obtained through a case study, and inve stigation of extreme and inaccessible conditions. Despite the many advantages, the case study method also suffers from many disadvantages such as low replication and reliability measures, the study data and its interpretation can be influenced by the researcher’s thoughts resulting in researcher bias, documentation depends entirely on the memory of the individual which can result in inclusion of only those factors that are livid in the minds of the people and exclusion of other possible factors which are vaguely remembered and finally as the results of a case study cannot be easily replicated it if difficult to generalize them to a particular population (The case study method, n.d). Naturalistic observation method involves observing the behavior of an organism in its natural surroundings. The method requires no obstruction either from the investigator or the method used to collect data which would affect the behavior of the organism under study.

The Television Action Program And Provide Methods to Strategically Essay

The Television Action Program And Provide Methods to Strategically Position - Essay Example The rotary is divided into three categories namely, Rotary Club, Rotary foundation and Rotary international (Rotary International, 2013a). The Rotary club is dedicated towards bringing together individuals from different facets to build relationships, exchange ideas and take necessary actions to improve the program. The international clubs work by providing support to other rotary clubs situated across the globe. This is done by coordinating the campaigns, initiatives and global programs. The rotary foundations use donations in order to fund various projects by community partners as well as rotary members across the globe. Generally, these findings are voluntarily contributed by members, friends as well as willing third parties. The club has also successfully made many partners over time. Some of them include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organizations, United Nations, Shelter Box and Mercychips (Rotary International, 2013c). History and success People star ted bidding and buying services and products from the Rotary Auctions and soon it had gained popularity. Since then, Rotary auction programs were even known as commercial enterprise, another store and such. Many broadcasters started identifying the Rotary club as a good investment as well as promotional strategy (Rotary International, 2013b). The auctions were a perfect fit for the people living in suburban areas. Household antics such as, old books, knickknacks, designer goods and conversation pieces, were the first to be disposed off (Smith, 2002). This was followed by old furniture, consumer durables and other household equipments, which were about to be replaced by new ones. Retailers also took this... This paper approves that the primary goal of this project was to evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of the online auctioning program of RCWS at Windsor. Through primary and secondary research, it was found that the television auction program has been popular and preferred due to lot of factors. It is one of the earliest methods of bidding process after the emergence of television. Before that, bidding process used to happen in one place and very few people were able to participate in the process. Looking at the current marketing trend as well as the changing demographic profile, a mixed approach can be implemented. This paper makes a conclusion that with the advent of online world, the popularity of auctioning programs has started to decrease. Now sellers as well as buyers are more interested in online or internet auctioning because of its efficiency as well as promptness. Television auctioning took place over the telephone which was the major channel. At present, majority of the population owns internet and prefer online bidding. Thus, it has become extremely important to evaluate strategies as well as alternatives in order to revive the television auctioning program. There are two alternatives that had been suggested for the rotary club. Firstly, fostering of partnerships with other local clubs and the secondly, introduction of online bidding process. The recommended approach suggested a mix of both the approaches, which requires strategically implementing each plan during specific part of the year and to specific target segments.

Do the classical theorists still apply to modern warfare in the Essay

Do the classical theorists still apply to modern warfare in the twentieth century What about in the twenty-first century - Essay Example However, governmental bodies and rulers, along with the participants of battles and conflicts have their distinct and particular classical theorists with the consultative expertise, who recommends and propose impeccable opinions to these bodies. These theorist offers with their opinions and recommendations principally for the role of planning as they have encountered the ground realities of the battlefield in a widespread and comprehensive way. In addition, they are masters with the boundless and considerable information and statistics on the past and chronicled researches2. The studies and data demonstrates the fact that classical theorist still apply to the contemporary conflicts and wars in the twentieth century as well as in the twenty-first century specifically concerning the technological advancements and boom in the industrial sector that the world is experiencing. Although the industrial revolution did not bring change largely for the classical theorists, yet they continued t o keep themselves modernized and elucidated the existing and recent truths and information on a continuous basis in order to maintain their worth and significance3. Several of the theories related to warfare in the old times have undergone some changes and are dissimilar and unlike to the modern warfare as the social, political, cultural, economic and technological factors alters with the passage of time and thus, have a great deal of influence on the articulation of the warfare4. Many of the classical theories have come under collection, assembling, and consolidation by the theorists that were imperative and essential intuitions, perceptions and visions that emphasized their extended apprehensions of the warfare, rather than their advice to the explicit activities in the war. According to some of the classical theorists, ethical and principal manipulation, climatic conditions, territory, or region of a country, authority, control and domination, and regulation and obedience were fe w major and elementary aspects that were critical and crucial to the planning of the war5. Whereas, when looking at the other end of the spectrum, in contrast to the extensive knowledge about the past records of the army and their headship and management, the above mentioned aspects of consideration at the planning of the war by few theorist was irrelevant, out of date or even pedestrian6. As the classical theorist had different perspectives, their ideas and thoughts differ from each other and this can come under witness by the diverse and deviating past situations and surroundings. Some of the theorists focused and emphasized that, victory in the fight and conquering and defeating the rivals through paramount focus was the leading and vital solution. While others highlighted and accentuated the fact that deceit and dishonesty is the key to success and winning in the battle, and ruling over, and controlling the enemy’s insight and opinions will make them fight to the directed side7. Despite of the fact that the classical theorists were poles apart, nevertheless, they had abundant and plentiful chief and significant resemblances and relationship in their theories. The

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay Example for Free

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay In the literature, several motives for takeovers have been identified. One is the desire for synergy. That is, similarities or complementarities between the acquiring and target firms are expected to result in the combined value of the enterprises exceeding their worth as separate firms (Collis and Montgomery, 1998). A second motive involves the expectation that acquirers can extract value because target companies have been managed inefficiently (Varaiya, 1987). A third motive is attributed to managerial hubris the notion that senior executives, in overestimating their own abilities, acquire companies they believe could be managed more profitably under their control. Agency theory motive is the anticipation that firm expansion will positively impact the compensation of top managers since there tends to be a direct relation between firm size and executive pay. Contemporary specialists contend that managerial ownership incentives may be expected to have divergent impacts on corporate strategy and firm value. This premise has been recognized in previous studies. For instance, Stulz (1988) has examined the ownership of managers of target companies and has proposed that the relationship between that ownership and the value of target firms may initially be positive and then subsequently become negative with rising insider ownership. Moreover, Shivdasani (1993) empirically shows that the relationship of the ownership structure of target companies with the value of hostile bids is not uniformly positive. McConnell and Servaes (1990) have likewise analyzed the relationship of equity ownership among corporate insiders and Tobins q. Their results demonstrate a non-monotonic relation between Tobins q and insider equity stakes. Wright et al. (1996: 451) have shown a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and corporate strategy related to firm risk taking. Ownership Incentives and Changes in Company Risk Motivating Acquisitions An agency-theoretic motive for acquisitions has been used to explain managerial preferences for risk-reducing corporate strategies (Wright et al., 1996). The implication is that both principals and agents prefer acquiring target companies with higher rather than lower returns. In that, shareholders and managers have congruent interests. The interests, however, diverge in terms of risk considerations associated with acquisitions. Because shareholders possess diversified portfolios, they may only be concerned with systematic risk and be indifferent to the total variance of returns associated with a takeover. Senior managers may alternatively prefer risk-reducing corporate strategies, unless they are granted ownership incentives. That is because they can not diversify their human capital invested in the firm. In the literature, it has been argued that agency costs may be reduced as managerial ownership incentives rise. The reason is that, as ownership incentives rise, the financial interests of insiders and shareholders will begin to converge. Analysts conjecture, however, that such incentives may not consistently provide senior executives the motivation to lessen the agency costs associated with an acquisition strategy. Inherent is the presumption that the nature of executive wealth portfolios will differently influence their attitudes toward corporate strategy. The personal wealth portfolios of top managers are comprised of their ownership of shares/options in the firm, the income produced from their employment, and assets unrelated to the firm. Presumably, as senior executives increase their equity stakes in the enterprise, their personal wealth portfolios become correspondingly less diversified. Although stockholders can diversify their wealth portfolios, top executives have less flexibility if they own substantial shares in the firms they manage. Hence, if a significant portion of managers wealth is concentrated in one investment, then they may find it prudent to diversify their firms via risk-reducing acquisitions. In the related literature, however, takeovers and risk taking have been approached differently from the described approach. Amihud and Lev (1999) have contended that insiders employment income is significantly related to the firms performance. Thus, managers are confronted with risks associated with their income if the maintenance of that income is dependent on achieving predetermined performance targets. Reasonably, in the event of either corporate underperformance or firm failure, CEOs not only may lose their current employment income but also may seriously suffer in the managerial labor market, since their future earnings potential with other enterprises may be lowered. Hence, the risk of executives employment income is impacted by the firms risk. The ramification of Amihud and Levs (1999) contentions is that top managers will tend to lower firm risk, and therefore their own employment risk, by acquiring companies that contribute to stabilizing of the firms income, even if shareho lder wealth is adversely affected. Consistent with the implications of Amihud and Levs arguments, Agrawal and Mandelker (1987) have similarly suggested that managers with negligible ownership stakes may adopt risk-reducing corporate strategies because such strategies may well serve their own personal interests. With ownership incentives, however, managers may be more likely to acquire risk-enhancing target companies, in line with the requirement of wealth maximization for shareholders. The notion that at negligible managerial ownership levels, detrimental risk-reducing acquisition strategies may be emphasized, but with increasing ownership incentive levels, beneficial risk-enhancing acquisitions may be more prevalent is also suggested in other works (Grossman and Hoskisson, 1998). The conclusion of these investigations is that the relationship between insider ownership and risk enhancing, worthy corporate acquisitions is linear and positive. Some experts assert that CEOs personal wealth concentration will induce senior managers to undertake risk-reducing firm strategies. Portfolio theorys expectation suggests that investors or owner-managers may desire to diversify their personal wealth portfolios. For instance, Markowitz (1952: 89) has asserted that investors may wish to diversify across industries because firms in different industries. . . have lower covariances than firms within an industry. Moreover, as argued by Sharpe (1964: 441), diversification enables the investor to escape all but the risk resulting from swings in economic activity. Consequently, managers with substantial equity investments in the firm may diversify the firm via risk-reducing acquisitions in order to diversify their own personal wealth portfolios. Because they may be especially concerned with risk-reducing acquisitions, however, their corporate strategies may not enhance firm value through takeovers, although managerial intention may be to boos t corporate value. The above discussion is compatible with complementary arguments that suggest that insiders may acquire non-value-maximizing target companies although their intentions may be to enhance returns to shareholders. For instance, according to the synergy view, while takeovers may be motivated by an ex-ante concern for increasing corporate value, many such acquisitions are not associated with an increase in firm value. Alternatively, according to the hubris hypothesis, even though insiders may intend to acquire targets that they believe could be managed more profitably under their control, such acquisitions are not ordinarily related to higher profitability. If acquisitions which are undertaken primarily with insider expectations that they will financially benefit owners do not realize higher performance, then those acquisitions which are primarily motivated by a risk-reducing desire may likewise not be associated with beneficial outcomes for owners. Additionally, it can be argued that shareholders can more efficiently diversify their own portfolios, making it unnecessary for managers to diversify the firm in order to achieve portfolio diversification for shareholders. Risk Associated with HRM practices in International Acquisitions There are a number of reasons why the HRM policies and practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and cross-border acquisitions are likely to be different from those found in domestic firms (Dowling, Schuler and Welch, 1993). For one, the difference in geographical spread means that acquisitions must normally engage in a number of HR activities that are not needed in domestic firms such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity. Second, as Dowling (1988) points out, the personnel policies and practices of MNCs are likely to be more complex and diverse. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in acquisitions because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to many different groups of subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Finally, there are more stakeholders that influence the HRM policies and practices of international firms than those of domestic firms. The major stakeholders in private organizations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could also think of unions, consumer organizations and other pressure groups. These pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, but they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This probably means that international companies need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than domestic firms. Acquisitions and HRM Practices: Evidence from Japan, the US, and Europe In contemporary context, international human resource management faces important challenges, and this trend characterizes many Japanese, US and European acquisitions.   From the critical point of view, Japanese companies experience more problems associated with international human resource management than companies from the US and Europe (Shibuya, 2000). Lack of home-country personnel sufficient international manage ­ment skills has been widely recognized in literature as the most difficult problem facing Japanese compa ­nies and simultaneously one of the most significant of US and European acquisitions as well. The statement implies that cultivating such skills is difficult and that they are relatively rare among businessmen in any country. Japanese companies may be particularly prone to this problem due to their heavy use of home-country nationals in overseas management positions. European and Japanese acquisitions also experience the lack of home country personnel who want to work abroad, while it is less of an impediment for the US companies. In the US acquisitions expatriates often experience reentry difficulties (e.g., career disruption) when re ­turning to the home country: This problem was the one most often cited by US firms.   Today Japanese corporations report the relatively lower incidence of expatriate reentry diffi ­culties, and it is surprising given the vivid accounts of such problems at Japanese firms by White (1988) and Umezawa (1990). However, the more active role of the Japanese person ­nel department in coordinating career paths, the tradition of semi ­annual musical-chair-like personnel shuffles (jinji idoh), and the continu ­ing efforts of Japanese stationed overseas to maintain close contact with headquarters might underlie the lower level of difficulties in this area for Japanese firms (Inohara, 2001). In contrast, the decentralized structures of many US and European firms may serve to isolate expatriates from their home-country headquarters, making reentry more problematic. Also, recent downsiz ­ing at US and European firms may reduce the number of appropriate management positions for expatriates to return to, or may sever expatri ­ates relationships with colleagues and mentors at headquarters. Furthermore, within the context of the lifetime employment system, individ ­ual Japanese employees have little to gain by voicing reentry concerns to personnel managers. In turn, personnel managers need not pay a great deal of attention to reentry problems because they will usually not result in a resignation. In western firms, reentry problems need to be taken more seriously by personnel managers because they frequently result in the loss of a valued employee. A further possible explanation for the higher incidence of expatriate reentry problems in western multinationals is the greater tendency of those companies to implement a policy of transferring local nationals to headquarters or other international operations. Under such a policy, the definition of expatriate expands beyond home-country nationals to en ­compass local nationals who transfer outside their home countries. It may even be that local nationals who return to a local operation after working at headquarters or other international operations may have their own special varieties of reentry problems. Literature on international human resource practices in Japan, the US and Europe suggest that the major strategic difficulty for the MNCs is to attract high-caliber local nationals to work for the company. In general, acquisitions may face greater challenges in hiring high-caliber local employees than do domestic firms due to lack of name recognition and fewer relationships with educators or others who might recommend candidates. However, researchers suggest that this issue is significantly more difficult for Japanese than for US and European multinationals. When asked to describe problems encoun ­tered in establishing their US affiliates, 39.5% of the respondents to a Japan Society survey cited finding qualified American managers to work in the affiliate and 30.8% cited hiring a qualified workforce (Bob ; SRI, 2001). Similarly, a survey of Japanese companies operating in the US conducted by a human resource consulting firm found that 35% felt recruiting personnel to be very difficult or extremely difficult, and 56% felt it to be difficult (The Wyatt Company, 1999). In addition to mentioned problem, Japanese acquisition encounter high local employee turnover, which is significantly more prob ­lematic for them due to the near-total absence of turnover to which they are accustomed in Japan. The US, European and Japanese companies admit very rarely that they encounter local legal challenges to their personnel policies. However, in regard to Japanese acquisitions large   amount of press coverage has been given to lawsuits against Japanese companies in the United States and a Japanese Ministry of Labor Survey in which 57% of the 331 respondents indicated that they were facing potential equal employ ­ment opportunity-related lawsuits in the United States (Shibuya, 2000). Conclusion This research investigates whether corporate acquisitions with shared technological resources or participation in similar product markets realize superior economic returns in comparison with unrelated acquisitions. The rationale for superior economic performance in related acquisitions derives from the synergies that are expected through a combination of supplementary or complementary resources. It is clear from the results of this research that acquired firms in related acquisitions have higher returns than acquired firms in unrelated acqui ­sitions. This implies that the related acquired firm benefits more from the acquirer than the unrelated acquired firm. The higher returns for the related acquired firms suggest that the combination with the acquirer’s resources has higher value implications than the combination of two unrelated firms. This is supported by the higher total wealth gains which were observed in related acquisitions. I did however, in the case of acquiring firms, find that the abnormal returns directly attributable to the acquisition transaction are not significant. There are reasons to believe that the announcement effects of the transaction on the returns to acquirers are less easily detected than for target firms. First, an acquisition by a firm affects only part of its businesses, while affecting all the assets (in control-oriented acqui ­sitions) of the target firm. Thus the measurability of effects on acquirers is attenuated. Second, if an acquisition is one event in a series of implicit moves constituting a diversification program, its individual effect as a market signal would be mitigated. It is also likely that the theoretical argument which postulates that related acquisitions create wealth for acquirers may be underspecified. Relatedness is often multifaceted, suggesting that the resources of the target firm may be of value to many firms, thus increasing the relative bargaining power of the target vis-a-vis the potential buyers. Even in the absence of explicit competition for the target (multiple bidding), the premiums paid for control are a substantial fraction of the total gains available from the transaction. For managers, some implications from the research can be offered. First, it seems quite clear from the data that a firm seeking to be acquired will realize higher returns if it is sold to a related than an unrelated firm. This counsel is consistent with the view that the market recognizes synergistic combinations and values them accordingly. Second, managers in acquiring firms may be advised to scrutinize carefully the expected gains in related and unrelated acquisitions. For managers the issue of concern is not whether or not a given kind of acquisition creates a significant total amount of wealth, but what percentage of that wealth they can expect to accrue to their firms. Thus, although acquisitions involving related technologies or product market yield higher total gains, pricing mechanisms in the market for corporate acquisitions reflect the gains primarily on the target company. Interpreting these results conservatively, one may offer the argument that expected gains for acquiring firms are competed away in the bidding process, with stockholders of target firms obtaining high proportions of the gains. On a pragmatic level this research underscores the need to combine what may be called the theoretical with the practical. In the case of acquisitions, pragmatic issues like implicit and explicit competition for a target firm alter the theoretical expectations of gains from an acquisition transaction. Further efforts to clarify these issues theoretically and empirically will increase our understanding of these important phenomena. Bibliography Sharpe WF. 1964. Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. Journal of Finance 19: 425-442 Markowitz H. 1952. Portfolio selections. Journal of Finance 7: 77-91 Grossman W, Hoskisson R. 1998. CEO pay at the crossroads of Wall Street and Main: toward the strategic design of executive compensation. Academy of Management Executive 12: 43-57 Amihud Y, Lev B. 1999. Does corporate ownership structure affect its strategy towards diversification? Strategic Management Journal 20(11): 1063-1069 Agrawal A, Mandelker G. 1987. Managerial incentives and corporate investment and financing decisions. Journal of Finance 42: 823-837 Wright P, Ferris S, Sarin A, Awasthi V. 1996. The impact of corporate insider, blockholder, and institutional equity ownership on firm risk-taking. Academy of Management Journal 39: 441-463 McConnell JJ, Servaes H. 1990. Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value. Journal of Financial Economics 27: 595-612. Shivdasani A. 1993. Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers. Journal of Accounting and Economics 16: 167-198 Stulz RM. 1988. Managerial control of voting rights: financing policies and the market for corporate control. Journal of Financial Economics 20: 25-54 Varaiya N. 1987. Determinants of premiums in acquisition transactions. Managerial and Decision Economics 14: 175-184 Collis D, Montgomery C. 1998. Creating corporate advantage. Harvard Business Review 76(3): 71-83 White, M. 1988. The Japanese overseas: Can they go home again? New York: The Free Press. Bob, D., ; SRI International. 2001. Japanese companies in American communities. New York: The Japan Society.