Machinery

Production Systems 2020

OEMs have to create new strategies to face global challenges. Having been hit severely by the global recession in 2009, the mechanical engineering industry is expected to fully recover until 2012 on a global level.

On top experts expect that over the next decade, there will be a continued structural shift of machinery demand and production from developed countries to emerging countries, mainly into China.
http://www.rolandberger.com/expertise/publications/2011-01-13-rbsc-pub-Production_Systems_2020.html  

Mergers & Acquisitions in the Machinery Industry

Which motives initiate managers to merge or to acquire other corporations? While there is a long-lasting history of empirical research on M&A in a cross-industry context, our knowledge about industry specific drivers of M&A is more than limited.
Given this background, the machinery industry is an attractive segment to address questions on M&A motives – as it is on the one hand a very fragmented industry and on the other hand a bundle of in some parts highly consolidated sub-industries.
In his thesis, Florian Geiger makes an effort to answer the question why firms in the machinery industry follow M&A strategies and how successful they are in their transactions. This is not only a remarkable endeavour because Florian Geiger uses some hand selected unique datasets, but in particular, because he presents state-of-the-art analyses which are competitive and meet highest international standards.
The thesis on hand carefully identifies and addresses open research questions related to M&A strategies in a very specific industry. Its primary objective was to identify M&A motives for different types of companies in various sub-segments of the machinery industry by analyzing stock price and accounting data. Thus objectifying managerial action allows deriving recommendations for financing practice.

http://www.rolandberger.com/expertise/publications/2010-10-01-rbsc-pub-Merger_Acquisitions_in_the_machinery_industry.html