Fusões e aquisições como estratégia de desenvolvimento empresarial

Abstract

Until the end of 1986, Mozambique lived a centralized economy protected by customs barriers. The State decided, what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce. The national economy was dominated by state monopolies. From March 1987 onwards, the economy changed from a centralized economy to a market economy and, as a result, the process of economic liberalization and privatization of companies and, in particular, industrial activity and banking began. The market economy is mainly regulated by the laws of supply and demand, companies are usually price takers or decide prices if they have a market position that allows it, without government protection. This situation changes the rules of the game from centralized planning to individualized profit-driven decisions. In this context, market dynamics are faster and advantages are temporary and the company's survival depends on the way managers act. Customers have more choice of products and tend to buy those products that are most satisfying, taking into account price considerations. This way of being in the market economy requires managers to have a vision of the future and an attitude of proactivity and to anticipate events, so that they can take advantage of that vision. Those companies that do not do this run the risk of disappearing from the market. Mergers and acquisitions also respond to the challenges of globalization. The competition in the global environment is no longer between only national companies, but also with multinationals, more powerful that use their financial power to expand their businesses and crush the smaller ones and strengthen market dominance. For others, the global world requires the adoption of different strategies. One of these strategies is the merger/acquisition as an alternative due to the difficulties that companies face to raise funds for investments. Difficulties in raising funds are sometimes caused by the restrictions imposed by debt (indebtedness capacity and restrictions placed by creditors) and by the high financial costs of financing. Mergers and acquisitions strategies are adopted after a thorough study of the market, namely: competition, existence of substitute products, the possibility of creating a niche and the internal capacity to innovate and to offer something different to the market and difficult to imitate. It is necessary to have a spirit of accepting risks and creating a capacity to respond to the various existing risks.