The merger is not only an external corporate growth method, but it is a strategic choice of the firm, making it more powerful of core competencies. In the last decade, the megamerger has attracted international attention as well as also brought about many changes to the industries. Some motivations for the mergers are proposed, which are mostly drawn from the theory of finance directly however with some kind of inconsistencies (Abdul Rashid, 2017). Furthermore, the market reaction to the distressed firms which are found to become the predators is not always predictable. Many options of financing are generally specified as well as associated with the activity takeover to the acquiring firm. The merger will continue to be challenging but very interesting in our report to expand its profitability as well as the influence of the corporation.

Research Objective of Firm’s Performance in Association with Merger Decision (Case study of Barclay’s merger of Standard Charter)

The main objective behind this report is to present changes that occurred in the performance of two banks after the decision to merger and acquisition of Standard Charter by Barclays Bank. There are some specific objectives linked with this report which are enlisted below. These objectives are established in order to decide the main focal point for following the various criteria of the study. In fact, the research objectives are the points that provide a brief summary and view for research that is being conducted in order to complete the task. These are;

1)      To determine the impacts of the merger decisions on the productivity of the organization.

2)      To depict the post and pre-events effects of acquisition and mergers on the performance of the firm as well as in particular industry.

3)      To investigates the merger and acquisitions in various aspects of the firm. 

4)      To access the performance and productivity of Standard Charter and Barclays after Standard Charter merger with Barclays.

5)      To evaluate the performance of Standard Charter Bank after the merger as well as an acquisition.

6)      To understand the impact of the merger on the financial performance of banks

7)      To conclude how customized operations of banks are tailored after the merger.

8)      To identify challenges after global merger and acquisition services of Standard Charter

9)      To highlight the benefits of the merger decision for Barclays Bank after acquiring Standard charter bank. 

Selected Company of Firm’s Performance in Association with Merger Decision (Case study of Barclay’s merger of Standard Charter)

In this report, we are making a discussion on Barclay’s performance with the merger decision. By taking a look at Barclay’s financial report, which has been released for the last quarter. The banking company revealed that the company’s profits have grown according to the expectations of the market. However, increasing cost stifled the operations of banks and during the fourth quarter, a massive sell-off in the global market, as well as decrease the market activity and the investment destinations in the international markets. The company or firm has a relation to cost and profit. So the company performance can be recognized by the financial performance of the company (Haleblian, Devers, McNamara, Carpenter, & Davison, 2009).

Rationale of Firm’s Performance in Association with Merger Decision (Case study of Barclay’s merger of Standard Charter)

The rationale behind the acquisition and merger of Standard Chartered Bank by Barclays Bank is to enhance profit-making opportunities. Barclays acquired shares and equity of Standard chartered bank intending to bring down the competitive strength and power of the market in the targeted segment. According to the research studies, acquisition and merger are the best strategies to control competitive power in a positive way as it can turn competitive threats in opportunities to generate a new revenue stream for the company. Barclays bank administration and corporate management took this decision of business merger to have complete on the business operations of all branches of Standard Chartered Bank in the selected geographical segment to make sure the stability of Barclay's business operations and ensure sustainable business growth in future ahead. Thus, in short, merger and acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank by the Barclays Bank was a rational decision that later on completely influenced the financial and business outcomes of both banks.      

While the rationale behind this research work is to determine and analyze the impact of merger and acquisition decisions on running business companies and institutions. The research work will identify how businesses in the banking sector got changes because of decisions taken at the corporate management level and how changes in the corporate management of a bank bring change in its capabilities to generate a revenue stream and business expansion. Furthermore, the rationale behind this research work is to study merger and acquisition with real examples to conclude how in reality banks got an impact from merger and acquisition decisions.

There are wide ranges of the study that are conducted to measure the impacts of the merger and acquisition on the financial performance of the firm. But there is a lack of reliability in these study most of these studies are conducted by considering the various sample rather than the case of the single company. This study is unique as compared to various other studies that are conducted on this particular topic as; impacts of merger and acquisition on the performance of the organization because it discusses the case of the real-life example of the well-known firms. It discusses the various financial terms in order to discuss and evaluate the performance of the organization. The detailed financial analysis of the Standard Charter and Barclays have explained in this study along with well explained statistical analysis. By using the financial information of the Standard Charter and Barclays from its annual report the various analysis is conducted as regression, correlation, frequency and reliability analysis.

Limitation of Firm’s Performance in Association with Merger Decision (Case study of Barclay’s merger of Standard Charter):

There are some limitations associated with this research work which are discussed in this section. The research study is primarily focused on secondary research data rather than a collection of primary research data which can be considered as original and credible data information. Thus, generalizing and drawing a conclusion based on secondary data-based information is a limitation of this research work. Moreover, another limitation of this research work is limited areas and reasons studied to reach the conclusive argument.  Research is based on limited data available about historical performances and research articles analysis. Because of this limitation of information, there are chances that we may have ignored some other hidden contributing and influencing factors for business performances.      

This study conducted to measure the impacts of the merger and acquisitions on the financial performance of the organization but there are few limitations of the study due to which the results of the study can be impacted. There are various limitations of the research study that must be ignored in the future research study and this is lemmatized for its particular points. This study is based on the quantitative research method. The qualitative research method is not used in this study. This study discusses the annual reports of the organization quarterly it must be on annually. Therefore the various financial situations of both companies are discussed and it must be evaluated in round figures. In this study the sample size is round about the 250 respondents and but the population is not decided for a particular region or profession. This sample size is considered too small when the results are specified according to the country. A limited number of variables are discussed in order to conduct the cross-sectional analysis.

Research Question of Firm’s Performance in Association with Merger Decision (Case study of Barclay’s merger of Standard Charter)

The research questions are established in order to achieve the objectives of the research study and these questions provide an extensive summary of the objective of the study. These questions offer a broad and wide overview to generate the answer of the particular as; association of merger and firms performance. The major question of this research study is; what is the performance level of the organization by aligning it with merger and acquisition? There is various other sub-question of this research. These are;

·         What are the impacts of the merger decisions on the performance and productivity of the organization?

·         What are the post and pre-events effects of acquisition and mergers on the performance of the firm as well as in a particular industry?

·         How the merger and acquisitions can be investigated in various aspects of the firm? 

·         How the synergy can be generated for resolving the claims of mergers for the financial performance of the organization?

·         How the performance and productivity of Standard Charter and Barclays can be accessed after the Standard Charter merger with Barclays?

·         What are the effects of mergers on the performance of Standard Charter Bank and Barclays?