Exercises

Exercise 1. Find where in the text it is said about the points given below. Put down the number of the paragraph:

1. three ominous signs about the current merger boom

2. study results of past merger waves

3. the role of culture in mergers

4. things have made culture clashes harder to manage

5. set of obstacles in merging

Exercise 2. Say if the following statements are true or false:

1. The majority of mergers take place in the USA.

2. Many international mergers are failures.

3. Many mergers are done too quickly.

4. Connecting different computer systems together is not usually a problem.

5. Chrysler's pay levels are much lower than the German company's.

6. Engineers have a high status at Daimler-Benz.

7. Most attention is concentrated on what to do after the merger is completed.

8. Some recent deals will prove a stunning success.

Exercise 3. Answer the following questions:

1. What will success of the merged company depend on in the future?

2. Why have many recent mergers been undone?

3. Does culture permeate greatly a company?

4. What are three ominous signs about the current merger boom?

5. What are new things have made culture clashes to manage?

6. What is prized at Chrysler?

7. How are new models made in Chrysler and Daimler-Benz?

Exercise 4. Explain why the merger wave is now sweeping over Europe.

Exercise 5. Prove that success will depend on the merged companies’ ability to create added value.

Exercise 6. List pitfalls for merged companies.

Exercise 7. Comment why post-merger integration has become decisive.

Exercise 8. Compare company structure of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz.

Exercise 9.Make up a plan covering the main ideas. Discuss the text according to the plan.

Texts for translation into Ukrainian in a written form

Text I

Information technology management (or IT management or Management information system) is a combination of two branches of study, information technology and management.

There are two incarnations to this definition. One implies the management of a collection of systems, infrastructure, and information that resides on them. Another implies the management of information technologies as a business function.^[

The first definition stems from the practice of IT Portfolio Management and is the subject of technical manuals and publications of various information technologies providers; while the second definition stems from the discussion and formation of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

The ITIL has been in practice throughout regions of the world mainly conducted by IT service providers consulting companies. The relative paucity in the use of the best practice set can be attributed to a lack of awareness among IT practitioners. However the lack of ready-to-use tools also presents a significant barrier.

Some organizations that value such practices tend to engage consultants to introduce the practice. Such implementations can conflict with the home-grown culture due to a lack of internal buy-in. Other organizations implement the practices by spending resources to develop in-house tools. Most in-house developed tools tend to focus on one or a few specific areas where the organizations feel the most pains. To reap the full advantages, tools will need to be integrated with the organization's IT data in the center.