1. Introduction
Diversification, mergers or acquisitions since the 1980's, and even more in the late nineties, has become a growing trend for companies, both large and small, domestic and foreign, to form strategic alliances within their particular industries. There are many specific goals that companies may be looking to achieve by doing this, but the main underlying reason is to guarantee the long-term sustained achievement of "fast profitable growth" for their business. They have to keep up with a rapidly increasing diversified global market and increased competition.…
