Purpose -The purpose of this research is to investigate post-acquisition differences in share and operating performance, and in risk characteristics, for acquirers who pay cash versus those who employ stock, as well as for acquirers who merge with targets as opposed to those who directly approach target shareholders to tender their shares. Design/methodology/approach -The paper uses event study methodologies, incorporating recent methodological advancements, to determine the effect of the acquisition by various classes of US acquirers during 1975 to 1996, on the variables of interest, by comparing these to a benchmark of similar firms who did not acquire any targets. Findings -Mergers, especially in conjunction with cash payments, are risk increasing transactions. Equity risk increases for cash mergers over three years following acquisitions. Mergers experience a post-acquisition increase in the intrinsic business risk, a decline in the degree of operating leverage and a small deterioration in the operating performance. Tender offers experience, no post-acquisition changes in risk and performance metrics. The paper finds no evidence of post-acquisition abnormal returns. Originality/value -The results pertaining to market efficiency and the various hypotheses for method of payment and mode of acquisition contribute to academic research, where methodological issues have been identified as the sources of the conflicting results in prior studies. Differences due to mode of acquisition and method of payment would be of interest to investors and corporate managers as well.

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In spite of the significant progress towards sustainable cosmetics, mass-produced sustainable packaging has proven to be a challenge. The complexity of environmental, economic, social, technological and policy considerations in conjunction with varying consumer behaviors and corporate goals can make it difficult to select an optimal strategy across heterogeneous supply-chain components spread over the globe; and the cost and effort of developing, testing and validating alternative strategies discourages empirical exploration of potential alternatives. This review discusses the challenges that can be expected in the context of broader sustainability efforts, as well as the experience gained in related fields such as sustainable cosmetics and sustainable packaging, to identify potential pitfalls as well as promising trends towards development of sustainable cosmetics packaging. The findings suggest there may be little to be gained from attempting to induce customers to change their behavior; waiting for a significant increase in global recycling infrastructure; or expecting regulatory constraints to substitute for the lack of technological and business solutions. A research strategy is delineated towards development of sustainable packaging that, with appropriate policy support, could minimize externalities and provide mass-produced packaging that is acceptable to both consumers and producers.

We study post-acquisition performance of US public utilities that acquired other US exchange listed firms during [1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001][2002] INTRODUCTIONignificant Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity commenced for the utility industry following the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The restructurings are in response to deregulation efforts because of technological advancements such as efficient small-scale plants, and transmission systems that facilitate distribution over wider areas, reducing entry barriers and the need for local monopolies (Becker-Blease et al., 2004). Typical reasons why mergers would benefit consumers and shareholders are similar to those provided for M&A activity in other industries, such as potential increases in efficiency, economies of scale, diversification in the sources of power generation and geographic diversification leading to correction of regional imbalances.Results from prior research into whether mergers and acquisitions benefit acquirer shareholders, or the economy as a whole, have been sufficiently contradictory that surveys of the same literature reach different interpretations (Buchholtz, 1991) 1 . For M&A activity in general, acquirer shareholders lose in 65% of the cases around the time of the announcement (Sirower and O'Byrne, 1998). Whether this is because of market inefficiency and acquirer shareholders recoup the losses over the long term is unclear due to methodological biases in long-term studies. However research (e.g. Cakici, 2004) based on recent methodological prescriptions of Barber and Lyon, (1997), Lyon et al (1999) and Mitchell and Stafford (2000) tends to support Fama's (1998) contention that the evidence against market inefficiency is weak and evidence of mispricing disappears when methodological biases are removed.Utility mergers differ from those in unregulated industries in that there is greater regulatory oversight and it takes longer to accomplish the mergers. Additionally, there are restrictions on what benefits can be retained by the company and what must be passed on to the consumers (see for example Berry, 1998; Blecker-Blease et al., 2004). 1 For example Mueller (1980), Halpern (1983, Jensesn and Ruback (1983), Lubatkin (1983), Conn (1985), and Caves (1989. See also Hubbard and Palia (1999) and Agrawal and Jaffe (2000). Our study of the post-acquisition performance of US utilities that acquired other US exchanged listed firms during 1996-2002 also suggests that acquirer shareholders do not gain any abnormal returns from the acquisition over the two years following the acquisition and that stock acquirers showed a decrease in performance. There was no unexpected gain in the underlying operating performance of the company. We also find that the CEO salary increased relative to the industry for stock mergers. This suggests that method of payment may be an important factor in discerning the motivation for an acquisition. Lack of clarity regarding effects of a complex process like an acquisition, for shareholders and perhaps the ev...