Deck 4: IHRM in Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions, International Alliances and SMEs

Question 1

Financial participation programs are offered to small to medium enterprises to increase the manager identification with the firm.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Small to medium firms have as much experience operating in a variety of different countries as large organizations.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Gaining knowledge of both local business conditions and the research and development capabilities of the potential joint venture partner is a reason to enter into an international joint venture.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A tangible asset is money and people.

Question 5

Less qualified employees are employed by small to medium enterprises because they do not meet recruitment requirements of large organizations.

Question 6

Values shape employee's priorities and decision making.

Question 7

Identifying and assessing culture issues in an HR activity is the due diligence phase of merger and acquisition.

Question 8

Performance related pay is more popular in Germany than the USA.

Question 9

Company relationships are not considered a resource in an HR function in a merger and acquisition strategy.

Question 10

An exchange rate advantage is not a factor in considering a merger and acquisition strategy in a given country.

Question 11

In an acquisition a new company is formed with a new identity and operation.

Question 12

Parent companies in an international joint venture do not have a separate legal identity.

Question 13

The command of the partners' language is mainly a requirement for Eastern managers.

Question 14

During most merger and acquisition processes top management retention is very high due to benefits of operating a foreign company.

Question 15

In the USA more than 80 per cent of total employment is with organizations with less than 20 employees.

Question 16

The strongest HR involvement takes place in the first two phases of the merger and acquisition phases.

Question 17

SMEs constitute the backbone of the Asia Pacific region.

Question 18

In small to medium enterprises cross cultural training for expatriates is usually conducted as in-house training seminars.

Question 19

A merger of two companies can be depicted by Company A and Company B form Company C.

Question 20

HR activities can become a significant drain on managerial time and resources in an international small to medium enterprise.

Question 21

IJV positions called "functional gatekeepers" :

A) Provide a governmental regulation function
B) Control the public relations aspects of an IJV
C) Allow functional resources to be inventoried freely
D) Protect their firms assets in specific functional areas

Question 22

A characteristic of a non-equity cross border alliance is:

A) One which establishes subsidiaries thru Greenfield investments or acquisitions
B) The purchase of shares of an enterprise in a country other than its own
C) No other party has to provide financial contribution
D) Each party cooperates as a separate legal entity and bears its own liabilities

Question 23

Which country tends to have the longest recruitment period?

A) USA
B) Germany
C) Japan
D) UK

Question 24

Typical HR problems arising in cross border M&A involve all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Lose up to 20% of its executives
B) Personnel issues are neglected
C) Failure due to not producing intended results
D) Insufficient capital

Question 25

Advising management on dealing with people issues normally occur in which M&A phase?

A) Pre M&A
B) Due diligence phase
C) Integrations planning phase
D) Implementation and assessment phase

Question 26

Integration planning phase of M&A are all of the following except:

A) Planning and leading integration efforts
B) Helping the organization cope with change
C) Defining and organizational blueprint and staffing plan
D) Advising management on dealing with people issues

Question 27

What is defined as a factor which shapes employees priorities and decisions made?

A) Management
B) Values
C) Location
D) Financial

Question 28

A perceived " unaffordable luxury" in SMEs is:

A) Training
B) Research
C) Environmental upgrades
D) Change facilitator

Question 29

Shortage of working capital to finance exports is a top barrier to access international markets in:

A) EEA
B) IJV
C) SMEs
D) HR

Question 30

Which of the following would not be considers a resource?

A) Money
B) People
C) Brand
D) Regulations

Question 31

One of the largest merges in history was between:

A) IBM and Wang
B) Chrysler and Daimler Benz
C) Ford and Jaguar
D) Lincoln and Ford

Question 32

The HR managers role as an innovator in a IJV means:

A) Create a win-win situation by sharing rather than competing between entities
B) Taking all stake holders needs into account
C) Conceptualize and implement new strategies
D) Identify talent for executing IJV strategies and adapt to changes

Question 33

M&A conceptual tool which converts resources into valuable goods and services is:

A) Values
B) Processes
C) resources
D) experience

Question 34

An International joint venture is defined as:

A) One international company buys another company and combines the operations into a different company
B) One international company purchases another company and integrates operations into its company
C) Separate international companies in which the headquarters or controlling parent is outside of the country of operations
D) Two companies purchasing a third company in order to operate in another country

Question 35

The due diligence phase of a M&A is:

A) Putting all the planning into action
B) An in depth analysis of the benefits on the mergers
C) The plan to carry out the merger
D) Designing key talent retention programs

Question 36

A major reason to engage in a merger or acquisition is to:

A) Facilitate the rapid entry into a new market
B) Acquire capital
C) Build prestige
D) Learn new technology

Question 37

Cross-border alliances are:

A) Cooperative agreements between two or more firms from a different national background
B) Investment in which profits and other responsibilities are assigned
C) Agreement between 2 companies to join their operations
D) Multinational attempting to integrate its operations across more than one dimension

Question 38

Performance-related pay is more popular in which country?

A) Germany
B) USA
C) France
D) Japan

Question 39

Equity modes of foreign operations car be best described as:

A) Selling stock to a foreign country
B) Involving a foreign direct investor purchase of shares of an enterprise in a country other than its own
C) Each part contributes non-financial resources to the operation
D) Shares are listed on both countries stock exchange

Question 40

Which expatriate role or characteristic is found to be most important for a successful integration in a M&A activity?

A) Prior work experience with a country
B) Language skills
C) A manager's industry experience
D) Creative analytical skill

Question 41

What is the difference between merger and acquisition?

Question 42

Internationalization process theory suggest which person has the most impact on internationalization process of a small to medium enterprise (SME):

A) Owner/Founder
B) Exporters
C) Investors
D) HR manager

Question 43

An option for SMEs to improve Human Resource related issues rapidly is to:

A) Outsource the HR department
B) Rely less on the resources
C) Send managers to external training institutions
D) Fire the weaker employees

Question 44

Many international joint ventures (IJV )fail in the long-term due to:

A) Changing market conditions
B) Inadequate attention to market synergies
C) Lack of interest in the human resource management and cross-cultural management aspects of IJV
D) The failure to restructure the IJV appropriately

Question 45

What are the four phases of M&A and what happens at each phase?

Question 46

The best way to address intercultural conflicts is to:

A) Ignore the conflicts as they will diminish with time
B) Have local country experts to interpret these conflicts
C) Take explicit measures to build and maintain the identity of the IJV organization
D) Let the two sides battle it out and the stronger of the two will prevail

Question 47

In their "partnership role" supporting an International Joint Venture,HR managers must:

A) Conceptualize and implement new strategies involving communication and cooperation with new partners
B) Identify talent sources for executing International Joint Venture strategy
C) Take all stakeholders' needs into account and show a thorough understanding of the business and the markets
D) Take the properties of the parent company almost exclusively

Question 48

Learning in small to medium (SME)international firms is characterized by:

A) Reliance on local and national agencies
B) The use of family contacts exclusively
C) The use of formal and informal business networks
D) An overreliance on formal networks

Question 49

Why would a company enter into an international joint venture?

Question 50

All of the following are characteristic of a SME human resource development EXCEPT:

A) Training and development are short term oriented
B) Tacit knowledge related to the specific context of the firm
C) Informal learning approach
D) No motivation to report and share information

Question 51

The European Commission's definition of SME is which of the following?

A) Small company with less than 50 employees
B) Medium company with less than 500 employees
C) Small balance sheet with less than 25 million in assets
D) Medium balance sheet with less than 75 million in assets

Question 52

There are three conceptual tools between business strategy and HR strategy.What are these tools?

Question 53

Which companies have a difficult challenge to enter foreign markets?

A) Conglomerate
B) Small to medium companies
C) Partnerships
D) Chinese based firms

Question 54

A major difference between merger ,acquisition and international joint venture is:

A) Licensing a product
B) Government regulations
C) Ownership identification
D) The nations involved

Question 55

What are the two equity based forms of cross-border alliances? Describe each function.