Tuesday, May 11, 2010

If a Company can acquire another Company, why can’t Countries do the same.

Among the recent big acquisitions, Kraft Foods acquired Cadburys. Why? the competition is increasing, Cadbury is increasing its product portfolio they are entering into the territories of Kraft Foods; the target market is same, same customers around the world; the strengths of one are the weakness of other, which brings opportunity in the market; both are encountering the common problems and facing common threats; hence the acquisition of Cadburys.

This leads me to think about possible acquisition of a country by another country. Why Pakistan can’t be acquired by India??

Yes, the idea may seem strange and childish, but I have a point to prove. Pakistan is drowning in huge debt, it is fighting with high inflation, it is struggling to grow, it has weak and highly unstable government, it has loose economy. Over the decades India has proved itself, it has vast currency reserves, strong central government, strong economic stability. The weaknesses of Pakistan are strengths of India, so why can’t India acquire Pakistan.

Both India and Pakistan are fighting for last six decades over Kashmir ('the target market' as in Kraft foods analogy), if Pakistan is acquired, no more fight. Now this acquisition would bring another opportunity. Instead of wasting time, energy and Resources and focusing on too much on LoC (Line of Control) the focus would be on strong international boundaries with Afghanistan and other new neighboring countries. Please note that both India’s and Pakistan’s army is deployed at 3000 Kms long international Boundaries between two countries, which can be utilized to guard combined Hindustan against vulnerable Afghanistan.

Acquisitions fail because of the cultural differences between two entities, but India and Pakistan are born from same mother, lived on same soil and similar language. Hence cultural harmony between nations would not result in the failure of the combined Hindustan.

Before the acquiring entity completes acquisition, there are certain tasks that have to be completed, primary task is the removal of bad assets. India and Pakistan combined too can get rid of their bad assets. By bad assets I mean the militant groups active in PoK and in the region of Pakistan. (Pakistanis please don’t behave as of you don’t know about those bad assets). Strong military action is required to remove these bad assets, but they can be removed. These bad assets are doing no good for either of the nations.

Finally, the idea may seem illogical, but I have tried my best to make a point and support it. There are political glitches which can never be solved because of many Jinnah’s and Nehru’s either side across boundaries.