Discuss 2 Cases Mainly, RBS and ABN AMRO Acquisition Where Overconfidence and Planning: Mergers & Acquisitions Essay, NTU, Singapore

The topic of the essay

Discuss 2 cases mainly, RBS and ABN AMRO acquisition where overconfidence and planning fallacy based on past success results led to subpar due diligence process (highlighted some parts) and other cases eg( Daimler Chrysler merger which failed due to cross-cultural overconfidence bias) and apply and discuss relevant concepts and findings introduced in the readings and the lectures.

The implication of biases for a particular type of business decisions. This type of essay examines a particular type of decisions (such as acquisitions, credit decisions, predicting the success of new ventures etc) and explores the impact of decision biases. It should discuss the biases the essay will focus on. The essay should discuss the nature of the decision (eg overconfidence) and what type of biases overconfidence is most likely to be influenced by.

a) How the decision bias could be avoided, or,

b) What opportunities the bias can give rise to

For example, consider acquisitions. This is a choice under uncertainty and thus biases influencing risk-taking could impact acquisitions. Moreover, acquisitions require forecasting the value of a firm (forecasting cash-flows). Biases in evaluating probabilities could impact such forecasts. The essay could discuss in what ways these biases could impact acquisitions, how such biases could be avoided, and what opportunities such biases may open. There is no need to cover all possible biases the decision could be influenced by. Rather, I recommend that you focus on one or two particular biases and discuss them in more detail.

The implication of biases for a particular type of business decisions.

• Forecasting: biases and implications
• Acquisitions: biases and how to avoid them