個人電腦產業併購之探討-惠普與宏□併購案之比較

Abstract

追求持續成長與獲利，除了倚賴組織內成長(Organic growth)，併購 (Acquisition)與策略聯盟(Strategic Alliance)已成為企業經常採用的成長策略，尤其當組織規模十分龐大時，組織內部的成長動力將顯得緩不濟急。電腦發展至今技術已相當成熟，利潤也越來越低，市場上出現大者恆大現象。透過併購以在短期間達到規模效益，迫使其他無法以相同效率經營的廠商被市場淘汰，是廠商提升競爭力的手法之一。

宏□從製造起家，是台灣少數經營國際品牌的公司，早期「倚賴OEM代工扶植品牌」模式使得公司在發展上受到限制，在2000年將製造與品牌分家，專心經營品牌。因為歐洲市場的成功，宏□成為全球前五大個人電腦廠商，但卻遲遲無法在美國市場確立市場地位，2007年八月宣布併購美國捷威品牌，除了營運綜效的考量，亦期望透過捷威與當地通路商關係與品牌知名度，一舉將宏□打入美國市場。電腦產業中併購案持續不斷，本文以2007年宏□與捷威的併購案以及2002年惠普與康柏的併購案相互比較。併購所牽涉的層面很廣，本篇從併購策略的動機與內外在因素考量，以個案研究的方式探討這兩起併購案對主併公司的影響，希望釐清併購在與公司成長策略間關連。

從個案探討可得知，宏□為持續強化自身的競爭能力，希望透過既有品牌捷威搶下美國市場以提升經濟規模，拉近與市場領導者的差距，在西歐市場取得佰德經營權以阻擋其他廠商進入。當技術進入成熟與衰退階段時，以核心競爭力為基礎將優勢延伸，有利於公司永續經營，在宏□的併購案中主要著墨於營運規模擴大與地理市場獲得，未能看見對未來發展的貢獻。

In competitive industry, company use strategic alliance and M&A as growth strategies in order to sustainable growth and profit. Computer technology is in mature phase of technology life cycle, and the profit of personal computers become lower. The top companies own greater power than before. Execute M&A can help company extend operation scale in short time, and increasing the bargain power between vender and channel. In this way, other companies which cannot operate efficiently will exit soon.

Acer is one of the companies build global brand in Taiwan. Because of good performance in Europe, Acer becomes top 5 personal computer companies worldwide. August 2007, Acer announced to acquire Gateway, a U.S computer company, in order to extend the operation scale and improve the performance in U.S. There are many factors are relevant to M&A. This research will discuss which factors should be considered before M&A decision, and the influences of M&A on growth strategy. In order to seek for the answer, this study compares Acer-Gateway merger with HP-Compaq merger.

Acer hopes merge Gateway to raise operation scale quickly, and strengthen the market position in Europe by merging Packard Bell. In technology mature phase, company should base on its’ core competence to extend new market for sustainable growth. However, in Acer-Gateway merger, the contribution to future is hardly to find.