Corporate restructuring of British and German non-financial firms in the late 1990s

This paper examines the changes in strategy and structure of the largest 250 non-financial firms in both Britain and Germany in the late 1990s. To this end, the results of a questionnaire survey are presented which were sent to the chief executives of those companies. What came through from the survey was that many firms in both countries are driven by the desire to specialise and internationalise and are primarily achieving this via 'horizontal' mergers and acquisitions. While seeing a definite convergence in certain areas, clear and distinctive differences remain between the two countries. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.