In that case, the buying firm may have hoped to benefit by eliminating a competitor, but there was such a loss of quality that other producers were able to take the lead. This kind of murder of an adopted child is rather common, though seldom premeditated. Most often it comes about because the normal human advantages of people in the acquiring company enable them to outdo the struggling takeover victims. Every meeting where a vital decision has to be made favors the new rulers, even if their product is poorer than the one they took over. Soon, the workings of corporate politics give less and less research funds to the acquired operation, less advertising money, less favorable work space and transportation access.
Death is just a natural sequel.
Companies on the cutting edge of the future not only are subject to this phenomenon, they are among the most vulnerable. For example, AOL has a great need to make merger deals, not only for expansion but also to keep acquiring additional technologies that will enable it to hold its customer base. The price clearly impacts how we do these deals. Yet there also is a catch-22, for if the lack of deals makes the public think the company has stopped moving forward, the stock could fall even lower. The prosperity results from many causes our industry s decades of streamlining, its speed in adopting new technologies, the great surge in worker productivity, the immigration that has brought enough new workers to hold down inflationary wage costs.