The idea that merging municipalities will improve local services and economic competitiveness has its roots deep in the nineteenth century. Municipalities in the US were first merged as early as 1848. However, despite being merged at the turn of the twentieth the city of New York was effectively bankrupt by 1975. In contrast metropolitan Boston - often seen as a recent success story in global competition - comprises 282 distinct municipalities. Outside the United States, forced municipal mergers were a popular policy in many European countries and Canadian provinces during the 1960s and 1970s. The city of Laval, just north of Montreal, and the "unicity" of Winnipeg owe their origins to this period – both amalgamations failed to meet their original objectives. Despite the emergence of "public choice" theory - which justifies municipal fragmentation on market principles - some politicians and public servants in the 1990s have continued to advocate municipal amalgamations as a means of reducing public expenditure, particularly in Ontario. In Merger Mania Andrew Sancton demonstrates that this approach has generally not saved money. He examines the history of amalgamation, as well as studying recent forced municipal mergers in Halifax, Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, and Sudbury. In the concluding chapter he examines the case for municipal amalgamation on the Island of Montreal and argues that those who would abolish locally elected municipal councils are obligated to explain very carefully - especially in light of evidence to the contrary - exactly why they think such drastic measures are necessary. A compelling examination of a timely issue, Merger Mania is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of city governments. Andrew Sancton is professor of political science at University of Western Ontario and the author of several books on city politics.

Just as mergers and acquisitions begin to take off once again, this book reminds us that the emotional side of business is often at the heart of success and failure. With a terrific mix of case studies and in-depth conceptual thinking, Managing Emotions in Mergers and Acquisitions addresses the most fundamental of all issues in M&As how and why people sometimes disrupt the best merger plans, simply because they are, well, people. Sydney Finkelstein, Professor of Strategy and Leadership at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, and author of Why Smart Executives Fail This is a very welcome addition to our knowledge on M&A process. This is an in-depth study on emotions, how these are effected due to M&A activity in two firms and how they influence the process itself. It helps us to understand, what emotions are? How we can deal with them? And, Why do M&As so often fail? It offers state-of-the-art knowledge on this complex phenomenon. The four cases present in depth and extremely rich insight into how emotions actually work and influence the success/failure in M&A process. In conclusion, it is a timely and innovative book which is a must read for anyone interested in mergers and acquisitions. Pervez Ghauri, University of Manchester, UK Research suggests that an increasing number of people experience organisational changes such as mergers and acquisitions as highly emotional life events. Indeed, given that, as the authors prove, 70% of all mergers and acquisitions fail to reach their initial goals largely because of neglected people issues, it is a must for every manager and M&A researcher to understand the emotional side of such change processes. This fascinating book explains how managerial behaviour and communication styles influence the emotions of employees and affect their readiness to contribute to a successful post-merger integration. It combines emotion theories from other disciplines with recent M&A findings, and offers practical implications through illustrative case studies. Academics and practitioners will find the combination of management literature with psychology and sociology literature of great interest.

This volume casts light on mergers and alliances in higher education by examining developments of this type in different countries. It combines the direct experiences of those at the heart of such transformations, university leaders and senior officials responsible for higher education policy, with expert analysts of the systems concerned. Higher education in Europe faces a series of major challenges. The economic crisis has accelerated expectations of an increased role in addressing economic and societal challenges while at the same time putting pressure on available finances. Broader trends such as shifting student demographics and expectations, globalisation and mobility and new ways of working with business have contributed to these increased pressures. In the light of these trends there have been moves, both from national or regional agencies and from individual institutions to respond by combining resources, either through collaborative arrangements or more fundamentally through mergers between two or more universities. After an introductory chapter by the editors which establishes the context for mergers and alliances, the book falls into two main parts. Part 1 takes a national or regional perspective to give some sense of the historical context, the wider drivers and the importance of these developments in these cases. Included are both systemic accounts (for countries as France, Sweden, Romania, Russia, Wales and England), and specific cross-cutting in itiatives including a major facility at Magurele in Romania and a Spanish programme for promoting international campuses of excellence. Part 2 is built from specific cases of universities, either in mergers or alliances, with examples from different countries (such as France, UK, Romania, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland). A concluding chapter by the editors assesses these experiences and indicates the implications and future needs for understanding in this domain.

Vikram Suri, CEO of TriNet Communications, is a new breed of corporate criminal---smarter and infinitely more dangerous. Behind the façade of oak-paneled boardrooms, fancy personal jets, and lavish mansions, Vik is masterminding a grand scheme of market manipulation, smuggling, money laundering, and extortion through an international network of banks, brokerage houses and dummy corporations. He is a megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to grow his corporate empire, even murder. As the clock winds down to Suri's deadly triumph, no one suspects his hidden agenda – except Tom Carter, an investment banker working on the deal. Torn between his job and his conscience, and locked in the crosshairs of the SEC, Tom enlists the help of Amanda Fleming, a beautiful and intrepid New York Times reporter eager to "break" a big story. Together, they must not only outsmart the brilliant Vik, but desperately try to stay alive! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The merger-mania of the 1990s has seen half of all US banks in operation at the end of the 1970 disappear. This study shows that it is not operating efficiences driving the mergers, and that consolidation may have effects contrary to consumer and non-financial businesss interests.