That was until many of the conglomerates proved unprofitable and broke up. And it happened in the Deal Decade of the '80s. For the first time, we saw non-manufacturing mergers more numerous than manufacturing ones. This time it is different. It is different because globalization is driving it.
Companies now have choices.
Sometimes because they want to for economic reasons. It is different because information technologies play a role as never before. And it is different because the way countries regulate their economies is converging. That is especially true in the emerging unified market in Europe. And it is hard to ask for more than that.