synergy

Synergy

Describes a combination whose value is greater than the sum of the separate individual parts.

Copyright © 2012, Campbell R. Harvey. All Rights Reserved.

Synergy

The financial benefit (or, more rarely, detriment) two companies may derive from a merger or acquisition. For example, two companies that merge may be able to produce more revenue than either one could produce independently by combining the most efficient processes each brings to the merger. Synergy may also refer to the cost reduction a merger brings about by eliminating or streamlining redundant processes. Synergy usually has a positive connotation, but one also occasionally hears of negative synergy, such as when the management teams of newly merged corporations do not work well with each other.

Farlex Financial Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All Rights Reserved

synergy

An increase in the value of assets as a result of their combination. Expected synergy is the justification behind most business mergers. For example, General Motors purchased Electronic Data Systems in 1984 with the expectation that considerable synergy would result.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

synergy

the phenomenon whereby the overall return on a firm's resources is greater than the sum of its parts (the so-called ‘2 + 2 = 5 or more effect’). Synergy often results from the exploitation of complementary activities or from the carry over of management capabilities, synchronizing individual, group or organizational activities in a way which achieves a better result than any of the activities by themselves: for example, in the case of a MERGER, one firm may have a strong production organization, while the other excels in marketing; joining the two can make the combined firm more effective overall. See DIVERSIFICATION.

Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson

synergy

see DIVERSIFICATION.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005