Investment Alternative Benchmarking for Bernard Lester
James A. Graser
University of Phoenix
MBA/540 Maximizing Shareholder Wealth
Professor Eddie Broadway
Group ID: AMB-1107 (11/11/08 -12/16/08)
Week Two
Employee Culture and Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions
MCI and Worldcom
In early 1998, a small Arkansas-based company (WorldCom) that was created by shear will and creative telecommunication acquisitions sat poised to acquire MCI, the global telecommunications giant. When the two boards met in Washington D.C. to discuss the final elements of the acquisition, the contrast between the two boards was stark. ''The MCI board is much older, more corporate almost; it has two women and an African-American, said one person who was present where the dinner was held… It's like you'd think a board would look like (Schiesel, 1998, p1). ''The Worldcom board is all entrepreneurial-type guys that came with the previous acquisitions - the difference is almost funny'' (Schiesel, 1998, p1). It should be noted that while John Lin and Bernard Lester are friends their companies and employees are very different including being located in separate countries, speaking different languages; having diverse histories and having very separate cultures. When contemplating an international merger or acquisition as they are, it is important to face these very important cultural differences upfront and set a plan to merge them with a new mission and vision. Employees must be included in the process and lines of communication between the leaderships of the two companies and their employee bases are tantamount to initial and future success of the merger/acquisition. In exploring Worldcom’s acquisition of MCI we do not see as many international differences, but the cultural differences abounded. MCI’s culture was that of a well-established professional US-based...