Diploma Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics -
Business Management, Corporate Governance, University of Applied
Sciences Kufstein Tirol, language: English, abstract: The world is
constantly changing, particularly in booming industries such as
logistics. Globalisation, increased outsourcing, customers' demand for
global coverage and integrated services are just a few examples of how
the external environment affects logistics companies. Based on an
external audit for logistics companies with focus on competitive forces,
the thesis answers three main questions, which step-by-step answer the
main question of how logistics companies should react to the changes in
the external environment. Firstly, based on market estimates about
future growth rates of the industry it is assessed whether a growth
strategy is a feasible grand strategy for logistics companies. The
outcome is that the logistics industry is booming and therefore a growth
strategy is feasible. Secondly, it is assessed whether mergers and
acquisitions (M&A) are a feasible growth option by conducting an event
study of logistics M&A transactions for the past decade. The results
show that it can not be proven that logistics M&A destroy value for the
acquirer and in some cases it can even be proven that they enhance the
value of the acquirer. Therefore, it can be concluded that M&A are a
feasible growth option for logistics companies. Thirdly, the main
challenges for logistics companies from the external environment and the
implications for their M&A strategy are discussed. The largest
challenges within the industry include the rise of BRIC countries and
the integration of freight forwarding and contract logistics. An
expansion to China for example is mainly done organically due to the
lack of suitable takeover targets, while the combination of freight
forwarding and contract logistics is often done through M&A. Capital
markets react positively to an integration of the
