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Do acquirors profit from acquisitions, or do acquiring CEOs overbid and destroy shareholder value? We present a novel approach to estimating the long-run abnormal returns to mergers exploiting detailed data on merger contests. In the sample of close bidding contests, we use the loser's post-merger performance to construct the counterfactual performance of the winner had he not won the contest. We find that bidder returns are closely aligned in the years before the contest, but diverge afterwards: Winners underperform losers by 50 percent over the following three years. Existing methodologies, including announcement effects, fail to capture the acquirors' underperformance.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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Around five years ago, virtual reality (VR) came back in the spotlight after years of oblivion among the general public. During those years, tremendous technological advances in the field occurred, leading to a resurgence of the technology. Even if it is common to associate virtual reality with the entertainment industry, the corporate world considers it as a key technology for more efficient operations. Moreover, various immersive technologies are developed to enhance virtual reality experiences. Therefore, two different aspects of immersive virtual reality are covered within the scope of this master thesis: virtual reality at the service of companies and hand tracking technologies.
After defining essential concepts of virtual reality, a literature review of business applications is conducted to describe the overall potential of the technology. This managerial approach is also adopted to answer the first research question, seeking to determine if the aviation industry could make use of immersive virtual reality for pilot training. A case study on ASL Airlines Belgium (ASLB) is used as a basis to provide an answer. After analysing the market of virtual reality flight simulators and developing an immersive proof of concept, the technical feasibility of the virtual reality system is confirmed and a differentiation strategy is suggested, based on a competitive analysis.
The second research question is more technical and deals with the comparison between two hand tracking immersive technologies in virtual reality, namely the Leap Motion and the Hi5 VR Gloves. Before analysing these immersive technologies, immersion and presence concepts are presented. Then, a comparative study between the two technologies is conducted using a within-subject experimental design. The proof of concept developed for ASLB serves as virtual environment for the experiments. Results show that the Leap Motion and the Hi5 VR Gloves provide a similar virtual reality experience in terms of presence, tracking, interaction, fluidity and precision. The findings contribute to research on immersive technologies but can also be useful to draw managerial conclusions for ASLB. Indeed, given the findings and the large price difference between the two hand tracking technologies, the cheapest one should be selected for the proof of concept, that is to say the Leap Motion.

Virtual reality --- Immersive technologies --- Aviation --- Flight simulator --- Training --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres

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Because of the economic conditions linked to their sector, the steel companies are constantly searching for solutions to reduce their expenses. For this reason, ArcelorMittal has been forced, for several years, to limit its costs in order to remain competitive in its sector. Its production policy, based on an uninterrupted activity of its production lines, leads the company to face high inventory levels. This is one of the reasons why the company is bound to fall back on some "destocking activities". This process consists in storing the coils in external storage halls when the firm is no longer able to do so in its own premises. Aware that making some changes in its supply chain management strategy could considerably improve its performance and reduce its expenses, ArcelorMittal is ready to take some measures. In that perspective, the company wants to reduce the utilization of the destocking process because of the high cost (composed of transport and handling charges). For the purpose of decreasing the utilization rate of the "destocking activities", the process objectification, allowing a sensible decision-making, seems to be the best feasible solution. 
Therefore, the aim of the project described in this thesis consists in objectifying the destocking process. To this end, the different key elements of the company influencing this process, such as its continuous production policy, the system of production campaigns and the strict quality constraints that ArcelorMittal is forced to face, are analysed. Then, is illustrated how the process objectification has been carried out. This objectification consists in using the company's figures to enable a better anticipation of the destocking process. In that perspective, the company's dispersed data had to be collected and grouped in a same file, the stock forecasting tool. Moreover, a forecasting adjustment method for a part of these data, the production forecasts, has been developed. All along the implementation of this project, a special attention was paid to change management and communication with the different players, which is one of the keys to reach an absolute approval of the project. Finally, this work is concluded with an analysis of the impact of the project on the company's destocking process and a proposal of recommendations for ArcelorMittal.

Steel industry --- ArcelorMittal --- Destocking activities --- Production forecasts --- Industrie sidérurgique --- Délestage des stocks --- Prévisions de production --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Production, distribution & gestion de la chaîne logistique

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Ce mémoire-recherche est axé sur la formation des opérateurs grâce à la réalité augmentée en Région wallonne et bruxelloise. Divisé en plusieurs chapitres, l'auteur a rédigé une analyse factuelle concernant la réalité augmentée et la formation grâce à une étude des documents scientifiques et scolaires existants et a ensuite réalisé une étude auprès des entreprises de la Région wallonne bruxelloise. Ce travail est un outil pour les entreprises qui souhaitent savoir où en est la réalité augmentée dans le monde professionnel et trouver des débuts de solutions pour réussir à l'implémenter. Tout cela est construit via une recherche empirique et une étude qualitative afin de fournir les informations les plus pertinentes possible.

réalité augmentée --- formation --- gestion --- Wallonie --- Bruxelles --- réalité virtuelle --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Stratégie & innovation

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Do acquirors profit from acquisitions, or do CEOs overbid and destroy shareholder value? We propose a novel approach to measuring the long-run returns to mergers. In a new data set of close bidding contests we use losers' post-merger performance to construct the counterfactual performance of winners had they not won the contest. We find that winner and loser returns are closely comoving in the years before the contest, providing support for our approach to identification. After the merger, they diverge: Winners underperform losers by 24 percent over the following three years in the U.S. sample, and by 14 percent in the international sample. Merger characteristics commonly associated with underperformance, such as acquiror size, acquiror Q, or stock financing do not explain the underperformance. Instead, the large underperformance of cash-financed mergers and their post-merger increase in leverage is consistent with behavioral and practitioner views on the determinants of merger outcomes. We also show that commonly used methodologies such as the announcement effect fail to identify the acquiror underperformance.